289. On the morning of the appointed day they ascended the mountain by a holy trail,[93] and on a level spot, near the summit, they met a party that awaited them there. They found there Hastséyalti, Hastséhogan (the Home God), White Body (who came up from the lower world with the Dĭnéʻ), the eleven brothers (of Maid Who Becomes a Bear), the Mirage Stone People, the Daylight People standing in the east, the Blue Sky People standing in the south, the Yellow Light People standing in the west, and the Darkness People standing in the north. White Body stood in the east among the Daylight People, bearing in his hand a small image of a woman wrought in white shell, about the same size and shape as the blue image which the Navahoes bore.
290. Hastséyalti laid down a sacred buckskin with its head toward the west. The Mirage Stone People laid on the buckskin, heads west, the two little images,—of turquoise and white shell,—a white and a yellow ear of corn, the Pollen Boy, and the Grasshopper Girl. On top of all these Hastséyalti laid another sacred buckskin with its head to the east, and under this they now put Nĭ′ltsi (Wind).
291. Then the assembled crowd stood so as to form a circle, leaving in the east an opening through which Hastséyalti and Hastséhogan might pass in and out, and they sang the sacred song of Hozóngisĭn. Four times the gods entered and raised the cover. When they raised it for the fourth time, the images and the ears of corn were found changed to living beings in human form: the turquoise image had become Estsánatlehi, the Woman Who Changes (or rejuvenates herself); the white shell image had become Yolkaí Estsán, the White Shell Woman; the white ear of corn had become Natálkai Asiké; the White Corn Boy and the yellow ear of corn, Natáltsoi Atét, the Yellow Corn Girl.[94] After the ceremony, White Body took Pollen Boy, Grasshopper Girl, White Corn Boy, and Yellow Corn Girl with him into Tsolíhi; the rest of the assembly departed, and the two divine sisters, Estsánatlehi[95] and Yolkaí Estsán,[96] were left on the mountain alone.
292. The women remained here four nights; on the fourth morning Estsánatlehi said: “Sitĕ′zi (younger sister), why should we remain here? Let us go to yonder high point and look around us.” They went to the highest point of the mountain, and when they had been there several days Estsánatlehi said: “It is lonely here; we have no one to speak to but ourselves; we see nothing but that which rolls over our heads (the sun), and that which drops below us (a small dripping waterfall). I wonder if they can be people. I shall stay here and wait for the one in the morning, while you go down among the rocks and seek the other.”
293. In the morning Estsánatlehi found a bare, flat rock and lay on it with her feet to the east, and the rising sun shone upon her. Yolkaí Estsán went down where the dripping waters descended and allowed them to fall upon her. At noon the women met again on the mountain top and Estsánatlehi said to her sister: “It is sad to be so lonesome. How can we make people so that we may have others of our kind to talk to?” Yolkaí Estsán answered: “Think, Elder Sister; perhaps after some days you may plan how this is to be done.”
294. Four days after this conversation Yolkaí Estsán said: “Elder Sister, I feel something strange moving within me; what can it be?” and Estsánatlehi answered: “It is a child. It was for this that you lay under the waterfall. I feel, too, the motions of a child within me. It was for this that I let the sun shine upon me.” Soon after the voice of Hastséyalti was heard four times, as usual, and after the last call he and Tóʻnenĭli[98] appeared. They came to prepare the women for their approaching delivery.[99]
295. In four days more they felt the commencing throes of labor, and one said to the other: “I think my child is coming.” She had scarcely spoken when the voice of the approaching god was heard, and soon Hastséyalti and Tóʻnenĭli (Water Sprinkler) were seen approaching. The former was the accoucheur of Estsánatlehi, and the latter of Yolkaí Estsán.[100] To one woman a drag-rope of rainbow was given, to the other a drag-rope of sunbeam, and on these they pulled when in pain, as the Navaho woman now pulls on the rope. Estsánatlehi’s child was born first.[101] Hastséyalti took it aside and washed it. He was glad, and laughed and made ironical motions, as if he were cutting the baby in slices and throwing the slices away. They made for the children two baby-baskets, both alike; the foot-rests and the back battens were made of sunbeam, the hoods of rainbow, the side-strings of sheet lightning, and the lacing strings of zigzag lightning. One child they covered with the black cloud, and the other with the female rain.[102] They called the children Sĭnáli (grandchildren), and they left, promising to return at the end of four days.
296. When the gods (yéi) returned at the end of four days, the boys had grown to be the size of ordinary boys of twelve years of age. The gods said to them: “Boys, we have come to have a race with you.” So a race was arranged that should go all around a neighboring mountain, and the four started,—two boys and two yéi. Before the long race was half done the boys, who ran fast, began to flag, and the gods, who were still fresh, got behind them and scourged the lads with twigs of mountain mahogany.[103] Hastséyalti won the race, and the boys came home rubbing their sore backs. When the gods left they promised to return at the end of another period of four days.
297. As soon as the gods were gone, Nĭ′ltsi, the Wind, whispered to the boys and told them that the old ones were not such fast runners, after all, and that if the boys would practice during the next four days they might win the coming race. So for four days they ran hard, many times daily around the neighboring mountain, and when the gods came back again the youths had grown to the full stature of manhood. In the second contest the gods began to flag and fall behind when half way round the mountain, where the others had fallen behind in the first race, and here the boys got behind their elders and scourged the latter to increase their speed. The elder of the boys won this race, and when it was over the gods laughed and clapped their hands, for they were pleased with the spirit and prowess they witnessed.
298. The night after the race the boys lay down as usual to sleep; but hearing the women whispering together, they lay awake and listened. They strained their attention, but could not hear a word of what was uttered. At length they rose, approached the women, and said: “Mothers, of what do you speak?” and the women answered: “We speak of nothing.” The boys then said: “Grandmothers, of what do you speak?” but the women again replied: “We speak of nothing.” The boys then questioned: “Who are our fathers?” “You have no fathers,” responded the women; “you are yutáski (illegitimate).” “Who are our fathers?” again demanded the boys, and the women answered: “The round cactus and the sitting cactus[104] are your fathers.”