A very long time ago there was nothing but water.
In the east Hurúing Wuhti[2], the deity of all hard substances, lived
in the ocean. Her house was a kiva like the kivas of the Hopi of
today. To the ladder leading into the kiva were usually tied a skin
of a gray fox and one of a yellow fox. Another Hurúing Wuhti lived in
the ocean in the west in a similar kiva, but to her ladder was
attached a turtle-shell rattle.
The Sun also existed at that time. Shortly before rising in the east
the Sun would dress up in the skin of the gray fox, whereupon it would
begin to dawn--the so-called white dawn of the Hopi. After a little
while the Sun would lay off the gray skin and put on the yellow fox
skin, whereupon the bright dawn of the morning--the so-called yellow
dawn of the Hopi--would appear. The Sun would then rise, that is,
emerge from an opening in the north end of the kiva in which Hurúing
Wuhti lived. When arriving in the west again, the sun would first
announce his arrival by fastening the rattle on the point of the
ladder beam, whereupon he would enter the kiva, pass through an
opening in the north end of the kiva, and continue his course eastward
under the water and so on.
By and by these two deities caused some dry land to appear in the
midst of the water, the waters receding eastward and westward. The Sun
passing over this dry land constantly took notice of the fact, that no
living being of any kind could be seen anywhere, and mentioned this
fact to the two deities. So one time the Hurúing Wuhti of the west
sent word through the Sun to the Hurúing Wuhti in the east to come
over to her as she wanted to talk over this matter. The Hurúing Wuhti
of the east complied with this request and proceeded to the West over
a rainbow. After consulting each other on this point the two concluded
that they would create a little bird; so the deity of the east made a
wren of clay, and covered it up with a piece of native cloth (möchápu).
Hereupon they sang a song over it, and after a little while the little
bird showed signs of life. Uncovering it, a live bird came forth,
saying: "Úma hínok pas nui kitâ' náwakna?" (why do you want me so
quickly). "Yes," they said, "we want you to fly all over this dry
place and see whether you can find anything living."
They thought that as the Sun always passed over the
middle of the earth, he might have failed to notice any living beings
that might exist in the north or the south. So the little Wren, flew
al over the earth, but upon its return reported that no living being
existed anywhere. Tradition says, however, that by this time Spider
Woman (Kóhk'ang Wuhti), lived somewhere in the south-west at the edge
of the water, also in a kiva, but this the little bird had failed to
notice.
Hereupon the deity of the west proceeded to make
very many birds of different kinds and form, placing them again under
the same cover under which the Wren had been brought, to life. They
again sang a song over them. Presently the birds began to move under
the cover. The goddess removed the cover and found under it all kinds
of birds and fowls. "Why do you want us so quickly?" the latter asked.
"Yes, we want you to inhabit this world." Hereupon the two deities
taught every kind of bird the sound that it should make, and then the
birds scattered out in all directions.
Hereupon the Hurúing Wuhti of the west made of clay
all different kinds of animals, and they were brought to life in the
same manner as the birds. They also asked the same question: "Why do
you want us so quickly?" "We want you to inhabit this earth," was the
reply given them, whereupon they were taught by their creators their
different sounds or languages, after which they proceeded forth to
inhabit the different parts of the earth.
They now concluded that they would create man. The
deity of the east made of clay first a woman and then a man, who were
brought to life in exactly the same manner as the birds and animals
before them. They asked the same question, and were told that they
should live upon this earth and should understand everything. Hereupon
the Hurúing Wuhti of the east made two tablets of some hard substance,
whether stone or clay tradition does not say, and drew upon them with
the wooden stick certain characters, handing these tablets to the
newly created man and woman, who looked at them, but did not know what
they meant. So the deity of the east rubbed with the palms of her
hands, first the palms of the woman and then the palms of the man, by
which they were enlightened so that they understood the writing on the
tablets.
Hereupon the deities taught these two a language.[1].After they had
taught them the language, the goddess of the east took them out of the
kiva and led them over a rainbow, to her home in the east. There they
stayed four days, after which Hurúing Wuhti told them to go now and
select for themselves a place and live there. The two proceeded forth
saying that they would travel around a while and wherever they would
find a good field they would remain. Finding a nice place at last,
they built a small, simple house, similar to the old houses of the
Hopi. Soon the Hurúing Wuhti of the west began to think of the matter
again, and said to herself : "This is not the way yet that it should
be. We are not done yet," and communicated her thoughts to the Hurúing
Wuhti of the east.
By this time Spider Woman had heard about all this
matter and she concluded to anticipate the others and also create some
beings. So she also made a man and woman of clay, covered them up,
sang over them, and brought to life her handiwork. But these two
proved to be Spaniards. She taught them the Spanish language, also
giving them similar tablets and imparting knowledge to them by rubbing
their hands in the same manner as the woman of the East had done with
the "White Men." Hereupon she created two burros, which she gave to
the Spanish man and woman. The latter settled down close by. After
this, Spider Woman continued to create people in the same manner as
she had created the Spaniards, always a man and a woman, giving a
different language to each pair. But all at once she found that she
had forgotten to create a woman for a certain man, and that is the
reason why now there are always some single men.
She continued the creating of people in the same manner, giving new
languages as the pairs were formed. All at once she found that she had
failed to create a man for a certain woman, in other words, it was
found that there was one more woman than there were men. "Oh my!'' she
said, "How is this?" and then addressing the single woman she said:
''There is a single man somewhere, who went away from here. You try to
find him and if he accepts you, you live with him. If not, both of you
will have to remain single. You do the best you can about that." The
two finally found each other, and the woman said, "Where shall we
live?" The man answered: "Why here, anywhere. We shall remain
together." So he went to work and built a house for them in which they
lived. But it did not take very long before they commenced to quarrel
with each other. "I want to live here alone," the woman said. "I can
prepare food for myself." ''Yes, but who will get the wood for you?
Who will work the fields?" the man said. "We had better remain
together." They made up with each other, but peace did not last.
They soon quarreled again, separated for a while,
came together again, separated again, and so on. Had these people not
lived in that way, all the other Hopi would now live in peace, but
others learned it from them, and that is the reason why there are so
many contentions between the men and their wives. These were the kind
of people that Spider Woman had created. The Hurúing Wuhti of the west
heard about this and commenced to meditate upon it. Soon she called
the goddess from the east to come over again, which the latter did. "I
do not want to live here alone," the deity of the west said, "I also
want some good people to live here." So she also created a number of
other people, but always a man and a wife. They were created in the
same manner as the deity of the east had created hers. They lived in
the west. Only wherever the people that Spider Woman had created came
in contact with these good people there was trouble. The people at
that time led a nomadic life, living mostly on game. Wherever they
found rabbits or antelope or deer they would kill the game and eat it.
This led to a good many contentions among the people. Finally the
Woman of the west said to her people: "You remain here; I am going to
live, after this, in the midst of the ocean in the west. When you want
anything from me, you pray to me there." Her people regretted this
very much, but she left them. The Hurúing Wuhti of the east did
exactly the same thing, and that is the reason why at the present day
the places where these two live are never seen.
Those Hopi who now want something from them deposit their prayer
offerings in the village. When, they say their wishes and prayers they
think of those two who live in the far distance, but of whom the Hopi
believe that they still remember them.
The Spanish were angry at Hurúing Wuhti and two of them took their
guns and proceeded to the abiding place of the deity. The Spaniards
are very skillful and they found a way to get there. When they arrived
at the house of Hurúing Wuhti the latter at once surmised what their
intentions were. "You have come to kill me," she said; "don't do that;
lay down your weapons and I shall show you something; I am not going
to hurt you." They laid down their arms, whereupon she went to the
rear end of the kiva and brought out a white lump like a stone and
laid it before the two men, asking them to lift it up. One tried it,
but could not lift it up, and what was worse, his hands adhered to the
stone. The other man tried to assist him, but his hands also adhered
to the stone, and thus they were both prisoners.
Hereupon Hurúing Wuhti took the two guns and said: "These do not
amount to anything," and then rubbed them between her hands to powder.
She then said to them: "You people ought to live in peace with one
another. You people of Spider Woman know many things, and the people
whom we have made also know many, but different, things. You ought not
to quarrel about these things, but learn from one another; if one has
or knows a good thing he should exchange it with others for other good
things that they know and have. If you will agree to this I shall
release you. They said they did, and that they would no more try to
kill the deity. Then the latter went to the rear end of the kiva where
she disappeared through an opening in the floor, from where she
exerted a secret influence upon the stone and thus released the two
men, They departed, but Hurúing Wuhti did not fully trust them,
thinking that they would return, but they never did.
