Myths and Legends of Our Own Land, vol 7 | Page 8

its silks and gold lace and kicked it over the ground for hours. That
night a violent rain set in and the town was nearly washed away, so the
populace hastened the work of reparation in order to save their lives.
They cleansed the statue, dressed it still more brilliantly, and addressed
their prayers to the Virgin with more energy and earnestness than ever
before.

GODDESS OF SALT
Between Zuni and Pescado is a steep mesa, or table-land, with fantastic
rocks weathered into tower and roof-like prominences on its sides,
while near it is a high natural monument of stone. Say the Zunis: The
goddess of salt was so troubled by the people who lived near her
domain on the sea-shore, and who took away her snowy treasures
without offering any sacrifice in return, that she forsook the ocean and
went to live in the mountains far away. Whenever she stopped beside a
pool to rest she made it salt, and she wandered so long about the great
basins of the West that much of the water in them is bitter, and the
yield of salt from the larger lake near Zuni brings into the Zuni treasury
large tolls from other tribes that draw from it.
Here she met the turquoise god, who fell in love with her at sight, and
wooed so warmly that she accepted and married him. For a time they
lived happily, but when the people learned that the goddess had
concealed herself among the mountains of New Mexico they followed
her to that land and troubled her again until she declared that she would
leave their view forever. She entered this mesa, breaking her way
through a high wall of sandstone as she did so. The arched portal
through which she passed is plainly visible. As she went through, one
of her plumes was broken off, and falling into the valley it tipped upon
its stem and became the monument that is seen there. The god of
turquoise followed his wife, and his footsteps may be traced in outcrops
of pale-blue stone.

THE COMING OF THE NAVAJOS
Many fantastic accounts of the origin of man are found among the red
tribes. The Onondagas say that the Indians are made from red earth and
the white men from sea-foam. Flesh-making clay is seen in the
precipitous bank in the ravine west of Onondaga Valley, where at night
the fairies "little fellows" sport and slide. Among others, the Noah
legend finds a parallel. Several tribes claim to have emerged from the
interior of the earth. The Oneidas point to a hill near the falls of
Oswego River, New York, as their birthplace; the Wichitas rose from
the rocks about Red River; the Creeks from a knoll in the valley of Big
Black River in the Natchez country, where dwelt the Master of Breath;
the Aztecs were one of seven tribes that came out from the seven
caverns of Aztlan, or Place of the Heron; and the Navajos believe that
they emerged at a place known to them in the Navajo Mountains.
In the under world the Navajos were happy, for they had everything
that they could wish: there was no excess of heat or cold, trees and
flowers grew everywhere, and the day was marked by a bright cloud
that arose in the east, while a black cloud that came out of the west
made the night. Here they lived for centuries, and might have been
there to this day had not one of the tribe found an opening in the earth
that led to some place unknown. He told of it to the whole tribe. They
set off up the passage to see where it led, and after long and weary
climbing the surface was reached. Pleased with the novelty of their
surroundings, they settled here, but on the fourth day after their arrival
their queen disappeared.
Their search for her was unavailing until some of the men came to the
mouth of the tunnel by which they had reached the upper land, when,
looking down, they saw their queen combing her long, black locks. She
told them that she was dead and that her people could go to her only
after death, but that they would be happy in their old home. With that
the earth shut together and the place has never since been open to the
eye of mortals. Soon came the cannibal giants who ravaged the desert
lands and destroyed all of the tribe but four families, these having
found a refuge in a deep canon of the Navajo Mountains. From their
retreat they could see a beam of light shining from one of the hills
above them, and on ascending to the place they found a beautiful girl
babe.

This child grew