But just then the bird saw a little piece of turquoise lying on the ground and it sprang and swallowed it. And the daughter saw this and told her father that the bird would eat turquoises. And her father said: “This kind of bird will not eat turquoises, but you may try him.” And she gave it some turquoises and it ate them greedily. And then her father said: “Go and get some nice, clean ones, a basket full.” And she did so, and the bird ate them all, and she kept on feeding it until it had swallowed four basketful.
And then the bird began to run around, and the girl said: “I fear our pet will leave us and fly away” but the old man said: “He will not fly away. He likes us too well for that,” but after a short time the bird got to a little distance and took to its wings, and flew back to the city of Dthas Seeven.
And Dthas Seeven gave it water twice, and each time it vomited, and thus it threw up all the turquoises.
And so Dthas Seeven also had turquoises.
Notes on the Story of the Turquoises
Turquoises seem to have been regarded by all Arizona Indians as magical and lucky stones, and the Story of the Turquoises professes to give their origin.
Of the game, toe-coll, here spoken of, Whittemore gives this account in Cook’s “Among the Pimas:” “One of the amusements of the women was that of tossing balls. They had two small ones, covered with buckskin, and tied about six inches apart. Young women and married, from thirty to seventy-five in a group, assembled as dressed for a ball, their hair carefully manipulated so as to be black and glossy. Each had a stick of willow six feet long. With these they dextrously tossed the balls high in the air, running after them until one party was so weary that they gave up the game from mere exhaustion.
“In order to make the excitement a success they had certain active women, keen of wit and quick of action, practice weeks in advance.”
Sometimes the balls were formed by two large knots in a short piece of rope.