Tales from the Mohaves (Mohave, Mojave Indians) [1 ed.]
 0806108991, 9780806108995

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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

n

Grey, I^erman Taleisp-from the Mohaves

jy8.209 GREY

CENTRAL LIBRARY - J76.

DATE DUE

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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-