Kotharian Lightning

From Pawnee Folklore

(Told by Thief, Kitkehahki. This is a bundle story, and is related to show the people that the gods of the heavens have superior powers to those of the gods of the earth. It also teaches the children to respect the bundles which come from the stars or the heavenly gods. The individual who had his tipi of living fire and tortured the Hawk is overcome, and the fire is carried back to heaven by the Hawk, who marries Mother-Corn. The pair represent respectively the Morning and Evening Stars. The bundle of the stars among the Kitkehahki has on it an owl which represents the power of the priest. It is said that when Mother-Corn married the Hawk she transferred to him all her power except her ability to make things grow again.)

A long time ago, when Tirawa created the world, he made one man to guard all the fire. His name was Fire-Keeper and his home was somewhere is the west. After a time Tirawa put people upon the earth. These people were descended from certain gods in the heavens, but the man in charge of fire did not like them. They were many, and had a village. On the west of the village was a stream of water which was so deep that no one could cross it. There were two young men who lived across the stream who were Hawk people. They were brothers and were wonderful beings. They wore coyote robes and carried war clubs all the time. They had a log across the stream, but they were the only ones who could cross the stream upon the log.

One day the older brother told the younger that he was going across the stream to get a wife, and so he left his younger brother and went across the stream. He went into the village and entered the lodge of the priest and asked for his daughter. The priest gave his daughter to the young man. Then he sent for all of the girl’s relatives, except the Fire-Keeper, who was the brother of the priest’s wife, to come to his lodge. Fire-Keeper was angry because they did not send for him, and he made up his mind to kill the young man.

The young man lived with his wife for many moons, until she gave birth to a boy. One morning he told his wife that he was going across the stream to see his brother. When he had crossed the stream and had just stepped off of the log he was taken by some mysterious being. It was so foggy that he could not see the being. The being stripped the young man of his leggings, that were decorated with scalps, and his coyote robe, and took them and burned them. The young man tried to see, but he could not, for the being had burned out his eyes. He was carried off by the mysterious being and for several days was led along, until at last he was taken into a lodge and was told that he was a slave.

He was missed at his wife’s place and the people wondered where he could have gone. One night the baby began to cry. The mother tried to quiet him, but he kept on crying. The mother thought that her husband must be across the stream with his brother. Said she: “I will take the child to his father, and when he takes him he will stop crying.” She went to the stream and when she came to the log she was not afraid to cross it. She crossed and went to the lodge of the young men. She went into the lodge and saw only the younger brother. She asked where her husband was and the boy said that he had not been there. The girl said: “Take this baby. It may be that he will stop crying, for he is crying for his father.” The boy took the child, but it cried the louder. The boy said: “Take the child, for I must go and hunt for my brother. I am afraid that some one was killed him.”

The woman went out of the lodge to the crossing. Just as she was about to step upon the log she saw pieces of her husband’s leggings. Then she looked around and found also bits of his coyote robe. She looked carefully and saw his footprints. She followed his tracks, which led toward the setting sun. She went on for many days, until at last she saw a big fire. She went to the fire, which was very bright, for it was night. She came to the fire and found a large tipi with a big fire in it. She peeped in and there sat a man at the west on the inside of the lodge, painted red all over. She knew him. He was her uncle. Again she looked, and close to the entrance sat her husband. He was burnt on different parts of his body and he was blind. The man in the west said: “Blind man, stir the fire. The fire is nearly out.” The blind man went to the fire and took hold of his own war club and stirred the fire. The baby then began to cry and the woman began to sing:

Uncle, you sitting there,

Let him come out.

Yonder the child was left, yonder.

My husband sitting there,

His child is crying;

Ha-o-o, you sitting there.

The man spoke and said: “My niece, I want to kill your husband, for he married you without my knowledge. Stir the fire, you blind man.”

The blind man again stirred the fire. The woman kept on singing till at last the man told the blind man to leave the lodge. The woman could not enter the lodge, for it was hot inside. The blind man came out and took his child, and the child stopped crying. Then the blind man said: “Go in and pick up my war club.” The woman went in and brought the club, though it was half burned away.

She led her husband toward the east. For many days they went toward the east, until one day the blind man told his wife to lead him to a rocky place. She led him up a high hill. One side of the hill was very steep and rocky; the other side was covered with cedar trees. She said, “Here is the place. There are many rocks on the bank and at the bottom.” “Put me on the edge of the bank,” said the man, “and let my legs hang down.” The woman obeyed. “Now,” said he, “push me over, so that I shall fall over this steep bank.” The woman would not do it, for she though that he wanted to die because he was blind. The man kept on begging her to push him over the bank before the sun should rise. The woman would not do it. Finally the man said, “Throw me over; then you go around the bank and you will see me again and I will meet you there.”

The man did not want to tell her what he intended to do, but he had to tell her that much or she would not push him over. After he had told her she pushed him over. Then she took up her baby and went around the bank. Before she came to the end of the hill she saw her husband coming up from a thick cedar tree. He had his coyote robe and also the scalp leggings. “I am here,” he said. “Go to my brother’s house and wait there for me. I am now going west to that being who burned my eyes out, and I am going to kill him. When some night you see meteors flying through the sky you may know that I have killed him.”

They parted and the woman went to her brother-in-law’s tipi and told him all. Her brother-in-law was glad, and said: “Let us now go to your people and let them know that you have come back.” They went to her home. The woman then told her brother-in-law to go back to his home and wait for his brother. The boy went back to his tipi. One night the people saw fire flying through the sky, and the woman told them that her husband had killed her uncle, the Fire-Keeper.

When the young man approached the tipi of the Fire-Keeper, he was sitting at the entrance watching, for he knew that the young man had powers and he feared him. Instead of going to the entrance to attack him the young man turned himself into a hawk, and he flew into the top of the tipi, and flying swiftly downward struck the Fire-Keeper upon the head and killed him. Then the Hawk turned into a human being, and took the fire and threw it through the sky in different places, saying: “You shall do my bidding. Warriors shall carry you and you shall help to kill the enemy.” All the stars then received light.

Then the young man went to the east. When he had journeyed all over the country the animals cried to him and said: “You have done good work. The Fire-Keeper is gone. He can not burn us any more.” When he lay down in the night the owls hooted round him to let him know they were guarding him. On the way to his brother’s, birds of all kinds gathered together upon a certain hill and waited for him. When he came there the birds one at a time spoke to him, and said: “You shall also be known as the Warrior-Bird. Your right wing you shall use as a club to kill small birds for yourself to eat.” Hawk was satisfied with the sayings of the birds.

He returned to his brother’s tipi. He went with his brother to the village. They told the father-in-law that when they died the people would place their skins in a bundle, so that young men might remember to carry the hawk and corn with them when they went out upon the warpath. The priests (owls) were always to remain at home to watch over the people.

Source:

The Pawnee Mythology: Part 1, George A. Dorsey, 1906