slender-maiden was to have her dance in twelve days. the acorns were now ripening along ash creek; the stags, their horns fully grown, were taking on fat; thunder-showers were now falling, and the year was at its best. during the preceding spring, slender-maiden’s mother had noted her daughter’s approach to womanhood. the winter before, slender-maiden’s father had gone to the mountains beyond black river and hunted for half a month. the best of the deerskins had been carefully tanned and put away. on cibicu creek, a day to the west, lived a man noted for the fine buckskin suits he could make. slender-maiden’s father took four of these dressed deerskins and two of his best horses to this skilled man. the horses were given him for his work on the skins. slender-maiden’s father was told to come for the garments about the time corn showed its tassels.
slender-maiden’s mother and slender-maiden herself were wormwood clan. many women of this clan lived in the neighborhood and they gladly agreed to help gather food for the feast. slender-maiden’s father was of the adobe clan. his brothers promised to join him before the dance, in a hunt which should provide venison for the feast. there was, fortunately, a large number of horses belonging to the family with which those who sang the songs and directed the ceremony might be paid.
slender-maiden’s father rode up the creek to the marsh where he cut a supply of reeds. of these he made tubes, which he filled with tobacco and tied at right angles, making crosses. these were sent by slender-maiden’s cousin, a young man but recently with a beard to pluck, to the medicine man living on eastfork who knew the songs of naiyenezgani, used for the dance of adolescent girls. when the young man arrived at the home of the singer he placed the cross on his toe. as the old man reached for the token he asked the young man from whence he came.
“i am wormwood clan and i come from the valley of dancehouse. slender-maiden’s father, my uncle, asks that on the twelfth day you 148 sing for his daughter under the cotton-woods on ash creek. he sends you this deerskin, these beads of turquoise, of jet, of white stone, and of red coral. besides he gives you a horse, and a saddle from old mexico.”
“sit, my grandchild,” said the singer to the young man. the old man then filled his pipe and passed his buckskin bag of tobacco to the young man. “call my brothers,” he said to his wife before they began smoking. when they had gathered and the pipes were burning, the singer told the young man’s errand and that their aid was required in the ceremony. food was now brought and the young man was served.
a similar invitation was sent to a medicine man on turkey creek who knew the dance of the gans.
a few days later the women of slender-maiden’s clan and those living in her camp loaded their burros and horses with the food for the feast and the necessary utensils. the sun was well up when they were ready to start, and by sundown the party camped when they reached a stream where oaks grew in profusion, about two-thirds of the way to ash creek. by noon the next day, camp was made under the cotton-woods in the valley of the creek.
the day before the dance was to be held a sweat lodge was built near the stream. in this dome-shaped lodge, parties of six and eight men went repeatedly for baths. the songs of naiyenezgani were sung and the men were purified by the steam and heat. at midday, food was served to all those who had gathered in the vicinity.
just before the sun rose the next morning, four blankets were spread, one above the other, and a cane, bent at the top, was stood up just east of this bed. near the cane was placed a basket of shelled corn.
the singer from eastfork with his chorus of young men formed a line just back of the western end of the bed. slender-maiden now appeared and took her place in front of the singers, facing the rising sun. as the songs were sung in proper order slender-maiden danced, swaying her body from side to side. when the proper song was reached, she knelt and moved from side to side on alternate knees with her face always toward the rising sun. soon she lay prone on the bed and was molded to a form of beauty by her matronly attendant. finally she was prayed for by all the assembled spectators who149 passed in line behind her and put pollen on the crown of her head. when the sun was about half-way to the middle of the sky she ran the appointed race and the morning ceremony was completed.
every one was soon served with meat and soup.
that evening at about sunset a man without clothes, except a breechcloth, his body painted white with black stripes, appeared at the dance-ground and by signs inquired if a dance were in progress. on being told that was the case he ran away to a secluded spot. soon peculiar noises were heard and the sound of rattles. four men came in single file followed by a painted clown. the four wore moccasins and kilts below the waist but were painted black above with symbolic designs in white. their faces were covered and on the tops of their heads were fan-shaped forms of wood covered with painted designs. after making a circuit of the dance-ground, these masked men danced for some time and then withdrew.
after nightfall a great fire was kindled and the masked men returned. slender-maiden, bearing her cane, danced near the fire. with her were other maidens who occasionally invited young men to dance with them. while the masked men were dancing, the singer from turkey creek led the songs of the gans, immortals who join with men in the celebration of attaining adolescence. the time of the songs was marked by the singers beating on a stretched skin.
when the earth was made,
when the sky was made,
where the head of the black earth lies,
where the head of the black sky lies,
where the heads of them meet,
black thunder, black gan, facing each other with life stepped out.
black gan with his dance spoke four times.
about midnight the singer from eastfork and his assistants took their places within a house consisting of four poles only. a fire was kindled here, back of which, facing the east, stood slender-maiden accompanied by a girl of her own age, and two youths. at intervals until dawn the songs of naiyenezgani were sung while the young people danced.
estsunnadlehe
from her house of white cloud
living white shell, her chief,
150
it echoes with me.
estsunnadlehe
long and fortunate life, her chief,
it echoes with me.
after breakfast more songs were sung and then the masked men appeared and assisted, first in painting slender-maiden with white earth and later in marking with symbols the cheeks and hands of all the spectators. the ceremony was now complete and the assembly soon dispersed, some people to the gathering of acorns and some to their camps in order to tend their crops.
among those who had been at the ceremony at ash creek was a young man named red-boy. his home was on san pedro creek, one hundred miles south and west, not far from the country of the pima. he had come to visit relatives in the white mountain country for his mother was of the adobe clan and her brothers and sisters were living on the white river.
red-boy was much interested in slender-maiden and resolved to seek her for a wife. his request was listened to, and his presents of horses were accepted. slender-maiden herself was pleased, for the stranger was tall, and generous with his presents to her. the couple soon moved to a camp on black river, where slender-maiden was left behind while her husband joined a small party which was going to mexico on a raid. ten days later the party returned without loss and with a large number of horses. red-boy had taken ten which he gave slender-maiden’s parents.
the next spring red-boy and slender-maiden went to the village on san pedro and planted the land that had belonged to red-boy’s mother. here they lived for five years, raising good crops and having plenty of deer from the surrounding mountains.
one day in august slender-maiden and her sister-in-law were making baskets under the cotton-woods by the creek. slender-maiden’s five-year old daughter was sleeping under a willow nearer the stream where the breeze was cooler. suddenly a roar was heard and a wall of water, mud, and torn-up trees rushed out of the canyon. the women jumped up, but before they could reach the sleeping child the water had rolled over in a brown flood. the women themselves were able to escape by climbing into the cotton-woods.
saddened by this loss and disconcerted by the washing over of 151 the farm by the waters of a thunder-shower, slender-maiden and her husband moved to the white mountain country and settled on cedar creek near her people. here they lived for ten years. there were now five children, the youngest of which was a girl.
one day a messenger came from white river asking that slender-maiden’s husband come to treat a sick man. red-boy knew the songs and ritual of a healing ceremony. he went with his wife, and camped by the man who had been suddenly taken ill. he was burning with fever and covered with an eruption. the songs were of no avail for before dawn the man was dead. the body was almost immediately placed in a cleft of the rocks in a nearby canyon and covered with sticks and stones.
that afternoon slender-maiden and her husband moved down white river and a few days later to black river in which she and her husband bathed. that night her head ached and she begged her husband to leave, lest he too contract the disease. when twelve days later the fever left her, she saw her husband sitting by, tired and worn with watching over her.
“why did you not leave me?” she asked.
“because i have loved you for many years,” he replied.
in a few days he too was ill and then slender-maiden, still weak, watched him until he was taken to the canyon for burial. when the plague had passed, slender-maiden’s children and near relatives were all dead except the youngest girl who had been left with an aunt on cedar creek.
slender-maiden cut her hair, of course, and wore only a skirt and a poncho of cloth. even when the year was up she did not allow her hair to grow. her husband’s clansmen, noting her disinclination to marry again, respected her wishes and did not assign her a husband. she continued the cultivation of her small farm and the care of her daughter.
the requests of her adolescence ceremony for long life were answered. so old is she that she must walk with a cane. her hair is white, not with the symbolic white earth but with age. her daughter, in middle age, unmarried, highly respected, but much sought for herself and her considerable herds, attends to her physical needs. for the remainder, slender-maiden lives with her memories of a happy youth.
p. e. goddard
