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English Pages [120] Year 1970
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TALES FROM THE MOHAVES
GO
n o
"'Readers are seldom privileged to have an
opportunity as rare as the one this book
CD
affords," says ethnologist Alice Marriott in a
foreword. "Seldom indeed are the great
:
;
mvths
O o
of a people written bv one of the
people themselves."
Herman Grey the Beaver Clan.
a
is
He
Mohave, Shul-ya of Mohave,
writes as a
but in the literate English of today, in the
hope of preserving
Mohave
this
culture for
vanishing form of
Mohave descendants
and for other peoples as well. Mr. Grev says that the traditional Mohave believes that "all myths, songs, brav-
and good fortune in from dreams. Knowledge
ery, fortune in batde.
gambhng is
to
derive
not a thing to be learned but something
acquired
be
through
his
dreaming."
Thus the "Great Tellings" and "Sings" the Mohaves were the oral expression
of of
dreams, reflecting the culture and beliefs of
this
desert
people.
The
entrancing
which the author recounts were handed down to him bv his uncle, who learned them in the traditional way, stories
through a
The
series of
tales center
dreams.
around the adventures
of the mythical hero Swift
Lance and the
(Continued on bac\ flap) ]acf{et pattern
and headpiece design were
adapted from art by Glen Manuel. 2/70
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1
The
Civilization of the
American Indian
{Complete list on page 88)
Series
Digitized by the Internet Archive in
2010
http://www.archive.org/details/talesfrommohavesOOgrey
TALES FROM THE MOHAVES
TALES FROM THE
MOHAVES lAl
lAi By
1^ J^
B^l
HERMAN GREY with a foreword
by Alice Marriott
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS
I
NORMAN
The paper on which this boo\ is ptinted bears the watermar J^ of the University of Oklahoma Press and has an effective life of at least three
hundred years.
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BOOK NUMBER! O-8061-0899-I LIBR.'VRY
OF CONGRESS CATALOG C.\RD NUMBER." 69-1673I
COPYRIGHT 1970 BY THE UNR-ERSITY OF OKLAHOMA
PRESS,
PUBLISHING DIVISION OF THE UNnTRSiri'. COMPOSED AND PRINTED AT NORJ.IAN, OKLAHOMA, OF
OKLAHOMA
U.S.A.,
PRESS. FIRST EDITION.
BY THE UNTVERSITY
->>->
:
e
gre v
::
to others tell of their dream^s.
ma hood and
listened
Then he dreamed
his
own and became a man.
A
Mm.ave beHeved
that
m
hi>
areams he wen: back
to the source of creatim. Ta.t :rmir- of
revealed to him..
before his It
is
ima
culrurc
e'.
e>.
The km
all
kae Spirit V.'
:'. :
mraurk a vnl. mr:a^k me words
aa.amrr
i^a.ga^ge
Mohave dream. To do
10
:
things a aa a
was
rared
:a ae >er:; a^
rffirie :: :rk
:,:\1
:
so
the
would be
of another
meaning
of
a
to explain the
INTRODUCTION
nature of faith
—the indefinable.
the quaUty of
Mohave dreams. They
It is
the same with are very real;
they exert tremendous pov^er on everything an individual thinks or does.
Mohave
life,
They
are sdll potent forces in
although the outward expression of
dreams through Sings and Great Tellings has greatly diminished, and with
it
the closeness and unity of
Mohave life. Great Dreams were sung
or told to audiences. If
the formalized telling did not conform to traditional
ways, elders were present to correct the
teller.
Dream
Telling was intended to illuminate the future and to
bring help, hope, and encouragement to each listener as
he applied his
In the
Dream
own interpretation to what he heard.
Telling, each listener found symbols
and meanings which were his
The Great
alone.
Tellings (Ich-kamava) and Sings re-
lated legends of persons, places,
Often they were based on
and happenings.
historical events, or the
events were incorporated in the telling. Tellings were
not religious in nature, and no special masks or clothing, except perhaps a skullcap of
owl
feathers,
was
worn. Faces and bodies of the singers were often painted before the telling began.
The
musical accompaniment of a Sing was the
humming of gourd
rattles
small enough to be carried
II
FROM THE MOHAVES
TALES
in a man's pockets
overturned basket.
and the sound
of
The Sing might
drumming on an last
through one
or several nights and the intervening days.
There v^ere
thirty
Sing cycles, some of which can be
listed as follows:
Akaka
Goose Raven
Itacha
Pleiades
Oth-i
Salt
Yellaka
Akwaka
Deer
Kapata
Turde
Few the
now who
people are with us
names
of
all thirty cycles,
can remember
or repeat the 150 to 200
songs of each cycle.
When
Mohaves drove the Halchidhomas out of their lands, the Chemehueyis tried to move into the Mohave Valley. The Mohaves drove the Chemehuevis the
back into the
desert, but in the process divided into
the Northern and Southern
each division developed
its
Mohave
own
within the pattern of the cycle of
So deep
.
is
which they
the belief in dreams, are interwoven, that
without enumerating exact
Sometimes new
The 12
songs
tell
details are
groups. In time
legends, but always thirty.
and the legends with no Mohave
details
and
sings
one
locations.
extemporized by the
teller.
of war, bravery, myths, history, heroes,
INTRODUCTION
travel, places, or curing.
In the old days, singers also
own songs. Sometimes these songs were handed down to younger relatives and so have survived, but others were lost when the singers died. had
their
During a val.
Sing, a singer
He would
might
man
tinue, or to allow another series.
stop at a certain inter-
be asked to repeat the songs, to con-
As he learned and
to take
up
the
same
studied the songs, a singer
gained further insight into their meanings. These could be added to the song.
A
dream might be an actual nocturnal one, or it might be a continued thought or a flash of insight which gave a further comprehension and contemplation of the man's hopes and perceptions. Dreams might give foresight of some obstacle to the achievement of an end and might also reveal the means of overcoming the obstruction. Many times a dream foretold a coming event, such as the outcome of a raid or the fate of a warrior.
A
Sing might honor an event, such
of age of a daughter.
At such times
as the
there
coming
was always
plenty of food, and the Sing might continue for a long time.
A family might celebrate
private affair, or
it
such an occasion as a
might be an occasion
in
which the
whole clan participated.
Dreams were the natural and logical expression of Mohave philosophy. They were not peyote-induced 13
TALES FROM THE MOHAVES
hallucinations or the result of a conscious vision-quest.
Dreams came
to give
wisdom and insight. The intense
concentration of the group of listeners and the feeling of companionship their presence engendered v^ere a part of the spell of the Telling.
All this force unfortunately must be lost in translation.
Mohave
v^ords, like those of
have their ow^n subdeties and
secret
any language,
undertones that
can never be interpreted. They lose flavor in
literal
translation.
People of other races find
it
hard
Mo-
to grasp the
have beUef that knov^ledge comes only partly through experience. In each
man it is
Mohave people have and
enhanced by
his
dreams.
the ability to adapt to other
ways
whom
they
to acquire the skills of persons
with
work and are in association. But Mohave solidarity is unique. The people are joined to one another by the invisible
bonds of an ancient cultural heritage. Psychic
feelings guide
the course of I
am
a
Mohave activities
dream
cycles guide
behavior.
life's
Mohave. These
uncle who has
as
left
tales
were told
to
me
by an
us now.
One dark, stormy night, when I was very young, we were crossing the Colorado on our way home to Fort
Mohave on
handling the
oars,
he slipped and 14
the Arizona side of the river.
and
fell
I
was
my uncle was poling. Suddenly He was a husky
into the water.
INTRODUCTION
man
and, like
all
Mohaves, an excellent swimmer, so
he got back to the boat readily.
We
beached the boat. During the two-mile walk
home,
my uncle began to sing a son['
heard before. Late that night,
he told
as
we
that
I
had never
s^t beside the fire,
me a story he had learned in a series of dreams. I heard a similar tale from a Yuma Indian,
Later
who may
my
have dreamed
uncle at a Sing.
I
it
or
know
may have
heard
that the trip to
it
land and the battles with the Pimas are factual. rest of the tale
So
I
I
who wanted
tales as I
put them together for to take
them
am
learned them.
my own
children,
to school for their teacher
That was the beginning. Since then
studied further and expanded the I
a
The
legend.
have written these
Originally
to read.
is
from
Apache-
Mohave.
I
am
I
have
tales.
Shul-ya, of the Beaver Clan.
15
>*
>>
-D-
COYOTEMAN
One day
as Swift
Lance came back from the hunt, he
found almost everyone on the
There seemed
came
to be a state of big excitement.
to the people,
that six
outskirts of the village.
young women
of the village
had disappeared
while they were hoeing in the gardens. seen
them go; no
trails
great concern, for this
women had the tribes.
As he
he met his father, w^ho told him
No
one had
could be found. There was
made
the third time
young
war with any of come down from
vanished. There was no
No
raiding parties had
the Paiutes.
That night to
a council of
war was
held. Scouts
were
be sent out the next day in different directions to
55
TALES FROM THE MOHAVES
hunt for
Lance and Shy Owl decided
signs. Swift
to
stay in the village.
The next day when some of the women went out to went along, dressed
the gardens, Swift Lance of the
women, while Shy Owl
later Swift
off
some dark dust
that
ments. As they did
so,
had
trance, for they
trying to brush
had gathered on they seemed to
their garfall into
some dust
sniffed
one
Some time
stayed back.
women
Lance noticed the
as
a
into their
nostrils.
Swift Lance to
walk
moved
after the
women
as
they started
single file following a large white coyote
through thick brush, along twisting
trails
and
to a very large boulder. Alongside the boulder
thick foliage of willow.
Through
the coyote slipped, and the
Lance was
last.
As he pushed
the willow shoots
women his
grabbed from behind. Green
finally
was the
followed. Swift
way through, he was
saliva
dripped on his
neck and back, and low growls and the snapping of large teeth fell
the ground.
on
He
his ears.
fell
beat at the sight that
face up, and met his eyes.
There were many of a large
He was tied and thrown
to
his heart skipped a
creatures, each of
them
the size
man. From the waist up each creamre was
coyote
—large animal
chest,
long arms, and hands with sharp claws.
face, ears,
and
teeth,
huge hairy
The
lower half was human, with a breechclout around the 56
COYOTEMAN They Swift Lance. They
and moccasins on the
waist, strong legs,
unknown
used a language
to
feet.
no weapons, only buckskin rope and long whips. Swift Lance was strung up to a tree by his thumbs and left there for the night. All the women carried
were led
to a big hut.
He remembered while he and Shy
then
he had heard. One time
tales
Owl were on
a trading visit to the
Walapais, a runner from the Hopis told the story of a place high in the mountains to the west that
ways hidden by smoke. that
No one had
was
ever found a
al-
trail
would take him there, and any who chanced too ill and could not talk again. It was
near came away said that long
ago
men who had
been banished by
had gathered together and formed their own village. They could grow no food. Only tobacco
their tribes
thrived in the
soil,
and
it
became
their only food.
As
time went on, a change came over them. They became
coyotemen. Since they could no longer
began stealing
women from
work
the fields, they
the different tribes.
coyotemen would spread tobacco dust over the
where fect,
worked.
the white coyote,
led the ers
women
women away
had no will
When
who
the dust
to escape as
fields
had taken
ef-
long ago had been a man,
to the secret village.
with the ashes of tobacco
The
The
prison-
long as they were sprinkled
dust.
57
FROM THE MOHAVES
TALES
The
next day the
were led out
to
a
women field
of Swift Lance's village
where they were put
work chopping down mesquite chopped burned
trees
—dead, dried-up
until there
were only
then piled up there were ;
fields.
trees.
trees.
Every day they
These were then
ashes.
many
to
The
ashes were
such piles
all
over the
Finally the piles of ashes were spread out over
the ground, and into the ashes tobacco seeds were
thrown or planted. Tobacco grown was considered the best of
all
in that
manner
tobacco.
As the women worked. Swift Lance was kept tied They could not make him work, for the tobacco dust had no effect on him. He had managed to keep
up.
his rare charm-stone
on
a string
around
his neck.
To
whatever place Swift Lance traveled, there the people
would
try to
make
trade for the stone.
Now,
if
only he
could free his hands, he could rub the charm between
thumb and middle finger. He prayed to the storm clouds to come swiftly, for he needed the rain to fur-
his
ther his plans for escape.
He had noticed that the coyotemen retired to a long hut for the night and did not come out until early the next day.
was
would
As
58
If
he could destroy
all
the tobacco,
stored in a basket the size of a hut, the
which
coyotemen
perish.
the storm clouds
came overhead and
released the
COYOTEMAN rain over Swift Lance, his bonds of buckskin
wet and
loose, so that
Then he rubbed
he was
became
able to free his hands.
his charm-stone.
But
as
he did
so,
he
remembered that he had dropped his quiver that held
bow and arrows and the poison for had made the poison by pulverizing his
pions,
and wild parsnips into
a
the arrows.
He
red ants, scor-
powder.
He soon reached the spot where he had dropped his weapons, and
among some and
led
them
after a search
He
bushes.
returned, freed the
to the trail.
They became
Then
because of the rain.
he located the quiver
gave the
Shy Owl, call.
put heavy
slept. He women and led them until they
At
village.
call of
He
where the coyotemen
then hurried after the
neared the
head
Swift Lance sprinkled the
poison over the tobacco storage basket. logs against the hut
women
clear of
that time he
went ahead and was met by
the horned owl. Soon he
who had
been waiting to hear the hunting
There was great rejoicing
at the arrival of the
party in the village.
Some days to visit the
later
Swift Lance and Shy
smoke country
Owl
decided
of the weird people.
found that the smoke no longer covered the place,
The
They secret
and the ashes had blown away with the wind.
grass dwellings
were destroyed, and there were
no signs of the coyotemen.
59
TALES FROM THE MOHAVES
Swift Lance and Shy a nearby spot to see
came back. Shy Owl that
spoke.
Owl made camp
that night in
whether any of the coyotemen
"Do vou
say that your charm-stone
you wear around your neck helped you escape.^"
"Yes, Shy Ow^l. There are
Your own
a
is
manv
kinds of charms.
hunting charm, and without
it
you
could never lead us to the best hunting grounds.
There are fishing charms, dreaming charms, and planting charms. getting
My own is to ward off evil or help in
away from
evil spirits
who
are half -people.
When I was tied for two days to the tree, mv thoughts for rain went from my charm to the spirit of the deer Then
from whence
it
around until
it
found the clouds that carried rain and
guided them
to
came.
me."
The next morning they left for
60
the deer spirit flew
their village.
>**
•0-