He walked on toward the house of the Sun. As he was going along, near sundown, a spider drew its thread across below the boy's knee and tripped him. He got up and went back, but fell again at the same place. Wondering why he had fallen, he started on again, when he saw the head of Spider-old-woman projecting from her hole so far (three inches) away. “Grandchild, where are you going?” she asked. He replied that he was going to the house of his father, the Sun. She told him to come into her house instead. He replied that the opening was too small. When assured that it was large enough, he went in. She told him one could not go to the Sun. The spider girls were lying there without skirts or shirts. They lay with the head of one toward the feet of the next. Spider-woman asked what was the piece of cloth tied to his shirt. He gave it to her and she worked with it all night; and the next morning each girl had a shirt and a skirt. She made them from the young man's piece of cloth.[[38]]
When the Sun rose, Spider-old-woman went out-of-doors. “It is not yet time, my grandson,” she said. She held up five fingers horizontally and said it would be time when the Sun shone over them.[[39]] When the time came to go, they set out toward the house of the Sun. He came to the front of the house where there were twelve doors and all of them were shut. Without anyone opening a door for him, he came to Sun's wife. “What sort of a person are you?” she asked. He replied he had come to see his father. The woman warned him that no one was allowed around there. She rolled him up in a blanket,[[40]] which she tied with lightning, and hid him by the head of the bed.
When the sun set, he heard the noise of the Sun's arrival. The Sun came inside his house. “I do not see anyone,” he said, “but from the mountain where I go down some man had gone along.” “You tell me you do not have love affairs where you go around. This morning your son came here.” She went to the head of the bed, undid the lightning with which he was tied up and took the boy out. The Sun saw it was his boy. There were twelve pipes in which tobacco was burned. The Sun fixed a smoke for him in one of these. It was not the Sun's proper tobacco, but a kind that killed whoever smoked it. The boy drew on the pipe just once and the tobacco was burned out. The Sun prepared another pipeful, which was gone when the boy had drawn on the pipe twice. He filled a third pipe; this time the boy drew on it three times and the tobacco was consumed. The last time the pipe was filled, the boy drew four times before the tobacco was burned out.
Toward the east, there was a blazing fire of black yabeckon into which the Sun threw the boy. He turned into a downy feather and landed in front of his father who expressed his surprise. There was a fire of blue yabeckon toward the south into which the boy was next thrown. He again turned into a feather and landed in front of his father. The fire toward the west was of yellow yabeckon from which the boy escaped in the same manner. Finally, the boy was thrown into a white fire of yabeckon which blazed up in the north. He escaped in the same manner as before. Each time when the boy was thrown in, the fire had been poked with lightning of the corresponding color.
When the boy had successfully withstood this last test, the Sun directed his wife to prepare a sweatbath. She did this by spreading four blankets of cloud: black, blue, yellow, and white. She put on the four blankets from the four sides in proper rotation. The Sun went in with all his boys. While they were in the bath, the skin between the boy's fingers and toes was pulled back and joints made in his fingers. He was also provided with hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, nose, and ears. Hair was placed on his body and nails supplied for his fingers and toes. Counting this boy, the Sun had twelve sons with whom he formed a line. He then asked his wife to find him in the line, but this she was unable to do because they all looked alike, she said.
The Sun then placed a gun and a panther-skin quiver on a shelf and asked his son to choose which he would have. After sighting the gun, he concluded he did not like it. He put the quiver over his shoulder and took out two arrows. When he tried these, he hit the target in the center. He chose the panther-skin quiver saying he liked it.[[41]] All the other sons of the Sun had guns. The Sun had them shoot at each other in fun. Those who had guns beat the boy who had arrows and drove him off.
On one side, horses were being made and on the other deer. The one who was in charge of making these is named Iltca'nailt'ohn.
They put, for him, a light brown mountain, inside of which, cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, horses, mules, and donkeys were living. All these are the food of white people. In this mountain also were guns, blankets, and all kinds of metals.
On the other side he put, for him, a mountain on which century plants were growing with their yellow flower stalks standing all around the edges. On this mountain, too, were sunflowers, yellow with blossoms, cactus, yucca, piñon, oaks, junipers, the fruit of all of which was perpetually ripe. All the other wild vegetable foods of the Indians grew there also. The mountain was always yellow with flowers.
The Sun asked the boy which of these two mountains he would choose. He decided to take the one which was yellow with flowers where fruit was always ripe. He did not care for the light brown mountain which stood toward the east. He announced that the yellow mountain would be his and would belong in the future to the Indians.