The people of Ha´arts made houses for themselves by digging holes in rocks and the earth. They could not build houses as they now do, because they could not see. In a short time the two mothers, Ût´sĕt and Now´ûtsĕt (the latter being the elder and larger, but the former having the best mind and heart), who resided in the north, went into the chita (estufa) and talked much to one another, and they decided that they would make light, and said: “Now we will make light, that our people may see; we can not now tell the people, but to-morrow will be a good day and day after to-morrow will also be a good day”—meaning that their thoughts were good, and they spoke with one tongue, and that their future would be bright, and they added: “Now all is covered with darkness, but after awhile we will have light.” These two women, being inspired by Sûs´sĭstinnako, created the sun from white shell, turkis, red stone, and abalone shell. After making the sun they carried him to the east and there made a camp, as there were no houses. The next morning they ascended a high mountain and dropped the sun down behind it, and after a time he began to ascend, and when the people saw the light their hearts rejoiced. When far off his face was blue; as he came nearer the face grew brighter. They, however, did not see the sun himself, but a mask so large that it covered his entire body. The people saw that the world was large and the country beautiful, and when the women returned to the village they said to the people: “We are the mothers of all.”
Fig. 12—Mixing clay for plaster.
Though the sun lighted the world in the day, he gave no light at night, as he returned to his home in the west; and so the two mothers created the moon from a slightly black stone, many varieties of a yellow stone, turkis, and a red stone, that the world might be lighted at night, and that the moon might be a companion and a brother to the sun; but the moon traveled slowly, and did not always furnish light, and so they created the star people and made their eyes of beautiful sparkling white crystal, that they might twinkle and brighten the world at night. When the star people lived in the lower world they were gathered into groups, which were very beautiful; they were not scattered about as they are in the upper world. Again the two women entered the chita and decided to make four houses—one in the north, one in the west, one in the south, and one in the east—house in this instance meaning pueblo or village. When these houses were completed they said, now we have some beautiful houses; we will go first to that of the north and talk much for all things good. Now´ûtsĕt said to her sister: “Let us make other good things,” and the sister asked: “What things do you wish to make?” She answered: “We are the mothers of all peoples, and we must do good work.” “Well,” replied the younger sister, “to-morrow I will pass around and see my other houses, and you will remain here.”
Fig. 18.—Childish curiosity.
After Ût´sĕt had traveled over the world, visiting the houses of the west, south, and east, she returned to her home in the north and was graciously received by Now´ûtsĕt, who seemed happy to see her younger sister, and after a warm greeting she invited her to be seated. Now´ûtsĕt had a picture which she did not wish the sister to see, and she covered it with a blanket, and said, “Guess what I have here?” (pointing to the covered picture) “and when you guess correctly I will show you.” “I do not know,” said Ût´sĕt and again the elder one asked, “What do you think I have here?” and the other replied, “I do not know.” A third time Ût´sĕt was asked, and replied that she did not know, adding, “I wish to speak straight, and I must therefore tell you I do not know what you have there.” Then Now´ûtsĕt said, “That is right.” After a while the younger sister said, “I think you have under that blanket a picture, to which you will talk when you are alone.” “You are right,” said the elder sister, “you have a good head to know things.” Now´ûtsĕt, however, was much displeased at the wisdom displayed by Ût´sĕt. She showed the picture to Ût´sĕt and in a little while Ût´sĕt left, saying, “I will now return to my house and no longer travel; to-morrow you will come to see me.”
After the return of Ût´sĕt to her home she beckoned to the Chas´ka (chaparral cock) to come to her, and said, “You may go early to-morrow morning to the house of the sun in the east, and then follow the road from there to his home in the west, and when you reach the house in the west remain there until my sister comes to my house to talk to me, when I will call you.” In the early morning the elder sister called at the house of the younger. “Sit down, my sister,” said the younger one, and after a little time she said, “Let us go out and walk about; I saw a beautiful bird pass by, but I do not know where he lives,” and she pointed to the footprints of the bird upon the ground, which was soft, and the tracks were very plain, and it could be seen that the footprints were in a straight line from the house of the sun in the east to his house in the west. “I can not tell,” said the younger sister, “perhaps the bird came from the house in the east and has gone to the house in the west; perhaps he came from the house in the west and has gone to the house in the east; as the feet of the bird point both ways, it is hard to tell. What do you think, sister?” “I can not say,” replied the other. Four times Ût´sĕt asked the question and received the same reply. The fourth time the elder sister added, “How can I tell? I do not know which is the front of the foot and which is the heel, but I think the bird has gone to the house in the east.” “Your thoughts are wrong,” replied the younger sister; “I know where the bird is, and he will soon be here;” and she gave a call and in a little while the Chas´ka came running to her from, the west.
The elder sister was mortified at her lack of knowledge, and said, “Come to my house to-morrow; to-day you are greater than I. I thought the bird had gone to the house in the east, but you knew where he was, and he came at your call; to-morrow you come to me.”
On the morrow the younger sister called at the house of the elder and was asked to be seated. Then Now´ûtsĕt said, “Sister, a word with you; what do you think that is?” pointing to a figure enveloped in a blanket, with only the feet showing, which were crossed. Four times the question was asked, and each time the younger sister said she could not tell, but finally she added, “I think the feet are crossed; the one on the right should be left and the left should be right.” “To whom do the feet belong?” inquired the elder sister. The younger sister was prompted by her grandmother, Sûs´sĭstinnako[4], the spider woman, to say, “I do not think it is either man or woman,” referring to beings created by Sûs´sĭstinnako, “but something you have made.” The elder sister replied,“You are right, my sister.” She threw the blanket off, exposing a human figure; the younger sister then left, asking the elder to call at her house on the morrow, and all night Ût´sĕt was busy preparing an altar under the direction, however, of Sûs´sĭstinnako. She covered the altar with a blanket, and in the morning when the elder sister called they sat together for a while and talked; then Ût´sĕt said, pointing to the covered altar, “What do you think I have there?” Now´ûtsĕt replied, “I can not tell; I may have my thoughts about it, but I do not know.” Four times Now´ûtsĕt was asked, and each time she gave the same reply. Then the younger sister threw off the blanket, and they both looked at the altar, but neither spoke a word.