Notes on the Story of Nahvahchoo
The story of Nahvahchoo was celebrated till lately among the Pimas by dancing games, resembling those described in this story, the players wearing masks and gourds, and rattling notched sticks, one of them impersonating Nahvahchoo himself.
In the reference to the earth’s moving, in one of the speeches, one might suspect a glimpse of true astronomical knowledge, but this is likely only a poetic figure.
The “everlasting corn will” reminds a little of the old folk-lore tale of the everlasting salt mill whose continuous grinding makes the ocean salt.
The Story of Corn and Tobacco[1]
There was a powerful mahkai who had a daughter, who, tho old enuf, was unmarried, and who grew tired of her single life and asked her father to bury her, saying, we will see then if the men will care for me.
And from her grave grew the plant tobacco, and her father took it and smoked it and when the people who were gathered together smelled it they wondered what it was, and sent Toehahvs to find out.
But, altho the tobacco still grew, the woman came to life again and came out of her grave back to her home.