540. They started to walk home together, but night fell when they reached a rocky ridge on the way; here they picked out a nice spot of ground to sleep on, built a shelter of brushwood, and made a fire. Before they went to rest the old man said: “This is a bad place to camp. It is called Kedĭdĭ′lyenaʻaʻ (Ridge of the Burnt Moccasins).” As they lay down to sleep, one on either side of the fire, each took off his moccasins and put them under his head. The old man said: “Take good care of your moccasins, my son-in-law. Place them securely.” “Why does he say these things?” asked the Navaho to himself. As he lay awake, thinking of the warning of the old man, he heard the latter snoring. He rose softly, took away the old man’s moccasins, put his own in their place, and lay down to sleep with Deer Raiser’s moccasins under his head. Later in the night the old man got up, pulled the moccasins from under the young man’s head, and buried them in the hot embers. He was anxious to get home next morning before his son-in-law.
541. At dawn the old man aroused his companion with “It is time we were on our road.” The young man woke, rubbed his eyes, yawned, and pretended to look for his moccasins. After searching a while he asked: “Where are my moccasins? Have I lost them?” “Huh!” said Deer Raiser. “You did not listen to what I told you last night. I said that this was the Ridge of the Burned Moccasins.” In the mean time, on the other side of the fire, the old man was putting on his companion’s moccasins, not noticing that they were not his own. “Look. You are putting on my moccasins instead of your own. Give me my moccasins,” said the Navaho, reaching across the fire. He took them out of his companion’s hands, sat down and put them on. “Now we must hurry back,” he said. “I can’t see what made you burn your moccasins, but I cannot wait for you. I am going now.”[242]
542. Before the young man left, his father-in-law gave him a message. “I cannot travel as fast as you on my bare feet. When you go home, tell my daughter to come out with a pair of moccasins and some food, and meet me on the trail.” When the Navaho got home he said to his wife: “I camped with your father last night, and he burned his moccasins. He is limping home barefoot. He bids his wife to come out and meet him with moccasins and food.” The daughter delivered the message to her mother, and the latter went out to meet her husband with moccasins, food, and a brand of burning cedar-bark. When the old man met her he was angry. “Why have you come? Why has not my daughter come?” he asked. “Your son-in-law said that I should come,” the old woman replied. “Oh, what a fool my son-in-law is,” cried Deer Raiser. “He never can remember what he is told to say.” He ate his food, put on his moccasins, and hurried home with his wife.
543. When Deer Raiser visited his son-in-law on the following morning he said: “I warn you never to stray alone to the east of the lodge in which you dwell. There is a dangerous place there.” The old man went home, and the Navaho pondered all day over what his father-in-law had said, and during the night he made up his mind to do just what the old man had told him not to do.
544. When Natĭ′nĕsthani had eaten in the morning he dressed himself for a journey, left the lodge, and travelled straight to the east. He came to a steep white ridge;[243] when he had climbed this about half way, he observed approaching him a man of low stature. His coat, which fitted him skin-tight, was white on the chest and insides of the arms, while it was brown elsewhere, like the skin of a deer. He wore on his head a deer-mask, with horns, such as deer-hunters use. He carried a turquoise wand, a black bow with sinew on the back, and two arrows with featherings of eagle-tail. He was one of the Tsĭdastóidĭneʻ.[244] When the men met, the stranger, who had a pale face,[245] looked out from under his mask and said: “Whence come you, my grandchild?” “I come, my grandfather, from a place near here. I come from the house of Pínĭltani,” the Navaho answered. “My grandchild, I have heard of you. Do you know how my cigarette is made?” said the man with the deer-mask. “No, my grandfather, I never heard of your cigarette,” was the reply. “There is a cigarette[12] for me, my grandson,” said the stranger. “It is painted white, with a black spot on it, and is so long (second joint of middle finger). It should be laid in the fork of a piñon-tree. I am now walking out, and am going in the direction whence you came. There are people living behind the ridge you are climbing. You should visit them, and hear what they will have to tell you.”
545. The Navaho climbed the ridge; and as he began to descend it on the other side, he observed below him two conical tents, such as the Indians of the plains use. The tents were white below and yellow above, representing the dawn and the evening twilight. As he approached the tents he observed that two games of nánzoz were being played,—one beside each tent,—and a number of people were gathered, watching the games. As he advanced toward the crowd a man came forward to meet him, saying: “Go to the lodge in the south. There are many people there.” He went to the lodge in the south, as he was bidden. A woman of bright complexion, fairer than the Navahoes usually are, the wife of the owner of the lodge, came out and invited him to enter.
546. When Natĭ′nĕsthani entered the lodge he found its owner seated in the middle. The latter was a man past middle age, but not very old. He was dressed in a beautiful suit of buckskin embroidered with porcupine quills. He pointed to a place by his side, and said to the Navaho: “Sit here, my grandchild.” When the Navaho was seated his host said: “Whence do you come? The people who live up on the earth are never seen here.” “I come from the house of Pínĭltani,” the young man answered. “Oh! Do you?” questioned the host. “And do you know that Deer Raiser is a great villain; that he kills his guests; that he talks softly, and pretends friendship, and lures people to stay with him until he can quietly kill them? Has he never spoken thus softly to you? How long have you been staying with him?” “I have dwelt with him for many days,” Natĭ′nĕsthani answered. “Ah!” said his host. “Many of our young men have gone over there to woo his daughter; but they have never returned. Some are killed on the first day; others on the second day; others on the third day; others on the fourth; but no one ever lives beyond the fourth day. No one has ever lived there as long as you have.” “He seems to be such a man as you describe him,” said Natĭ′nĕsthani. “He has been trying to kill me ever since I have been with him.” “You must be a wise man to have escaped him so long; your prayer must be potent; your charm must be strong,”[246] declared the host. “No, truly, I know no good prayer; I possess no charm,” the Navaho replied, and then he went on to tell how he came into that country, and all that happened to him, till he came to the house of Deer Raiser. “He is rich, but he is no good. That daughter of his is also his wife, and that is why he wants to poison her suitors,” said the owner of the lodge, and then he described four ways in which Pínĭltani killed his guests. The Navaho remained silent. He knew all the ways of the Deer Raiser, but he pretended not to know. Then the host went on: “The house of Deer Raiser is a place of danger. You will surely be killed if you stay there. I am sorry you are in such bad company, for you seem to be a good man.” “You speak of Deer Raiser as a great man; but he cannot be so great as you think he is. Four times have I killed him with smoke, and four times have I brought him to life again,” said the Navaho, and then he related all his adventures since he had been with Pínĭltani.
547. The host thanked him for having slain the bears, and went out to call the players and all the crowd that stood around them to come to his tent. They came, for he was their chief, and soon the tent was crowded. Then he spoke to the assembly, and told them the story of the Navaho. There was great rejoicing when they heard it. They thanked Natĭ′nĕsthani for what he had done. One said that Deer Raiser had killed his brother; another said he had killed his son; another said the bears had slain his nephew, and thus they spoke of their many woes.
548. The people were of five kinds, or gentes: the Puma People, the Blue Fox People, the Yellow Fox People, the Wolf People, and the Lynx People, and the host was chief of all.
549. The chief ordered one of his daughters to prepare food for the visitor. She brought in deer pemmican. The Navaho ate, and when he was done he said: “I am now ready to go, my grandfather.” “Wait a while,” said the chief. “I have some medicine to give you. It is an antidote for Deer Raiser’s poison.” He gave his visitor two kinds of medicine; one was an object the size of the last two joints of the little finger, made of the gall of birds of prey,—all birds that catch with their claws; the other was a small quantity (as much as one might grasp with the tips of all the fingers of one hand) of a substance composed of material vomited by each of the five animals that were the totems of this people. “Now have no fear,” said the chief. “The bears are slain, and you have here medicines that will kill the wizard’s poison. They are potent against witchcraft.”[247]