American Indian Trickster Tales (Myths and Legends) (40 page)

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Hopi
}

At the beginning of time a number of gods emerged into the world. We don’t know from where they came. They took council together at the foot of a mountain peak. They tried to share out the land between them, but could not agree to who should get what, or how much. They quarreled about this.

Masau‘u traveled south, then he came full circle back to the place from where he had started. Everything within the circle he had thus made he called his land. It was very large, maybe ten times as large as Hopi land is now, maybe a hundred times. This was the land of the Hopitu then.

Masau‘u is a god, a creator, a boundary-maker. He is also a thief, a liar, and a lecher who plays tricks upon men, animals, and inanimate things. He plays jokes even upon his fellow gods. He makes trees grow crooked and makes the faces of humans look ugly or ridiculous so that he can laugh at them.

From a hilltop he would watch the gods meet in council and perform their rituals. From his vantage point he would mimic and make fun of them—ape their movements and songs until the angry gods had to stop whatever they were doing. Often they chased Masau‘u in order to punish him, but he could never be caught.

One day all the gods came together to sing and dance, as was their custom. They were surprised when Masau‘u joined them, and were suspicious, fearing that he would play a trick on them, but he sweet-talked his way into their confidence and was on his best behavior, so that the gods thought he had reformed himself and let him stick around. He had brought a bundle with him, but nobody paid any attention to it. The day and the dances came to an end. Then Masau’u sang to the gods. He sang so sweetly and soothingly that the gods became drowsy and fell asleep.

Still continuing his song, Masau‘u watched the gods snoring, dead to the world, oblivious to what was happening around them. Then Masau’u took out of his bundle an image of himself, which he placed in the attitude of someone sleeping like the rest of the gods, with the legs drawn up under the chin and the head resting on the knees. Masau‘u then climbed a nearby hill and started to roll boulders down its side. The crashing noise woke up the gods, who cried: “This must be Masau’u at his usual tricks, flinging rocks at us.”

“No,” said others. “Look, he is among us, fast asleep.”

They did not know what to think. One god tried to wake up the hunched-over figure, thinking it was Masau‘u. Then they discovered that it was just a lifeless image. The gods got very angry and became even more enraged when they saw the real Masau’u on the hilltop rolling down boulders. Then they all tore up the hill to seize Masau‘u and punish him. Masau’u did not wait for them but ran away. For many days the gods chased after him, but Masau‘u was too fast and could not be caught.

At last Masau‘u got tired. He thought himself so far ahead of the other gods that he thought it safe to lie down for a short rest. But the gods were much closer to him than he thought. Hard on his heels, they heard him snoring and found him asleep in the shade of a large rock.

The angry gods grabbed Masau‘u, stripped him, took away everything he had on his person, and administered a severe beating. Masau’u limped away, naked and hurt. But, being very resourceful, he was soon his old self again. Then he thought how to revenge himself. He went to see Sun, saying: “I am one against many. I need a friend to help me. I need a brother to fight by my side against my enemies.”

Sun said he was too busy with his daily traveling from East to West, making daylight, but suggested that Masau‘u go to Shotukinunwa, the God of the Sky, for assistance. Masau’u followed Sun’s advice. Masau‘u made many promises to the Sky God, telling him of what he would do for him in return for his help. Then Shotukinunwa gave to Masau’u a brother and comrade to help him in his fight. So Masau‘u and his new friend each got himself a club and a round stone and set forth to take vengeance. And any enemy they encountered they clubbed down and robbed. And, likewise, any Hopitu who were lazy and did not want to plant corn for Masau’u, they also beat. They did this for many years.

Today, Masau‘u comes to visit the people in daytime, and shows them by his gestures how he used to beat his enemies and that he would punish them in the same way if they grew lazy and did not plant corn. This ceremony takes place in the afternoon, after the people have planted Masau’u’s corn, and continues until dark. Then Masau‘u lets the people go and returns to his home in the rocks, where he stays for a year. Then he comes back to the people at the end of corn-planting, when they renew their promise not to be lazy and the ceremony is repeated.

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Hopi
}

Aliksa‘i.
It is said Musangnuvi was settled. There, on the east side of the village, lived an old grandmother with her granddaughter, a most beautiful girl.

It so happened that their supply of fuel had been exhausted, so the old woman made plans to collect wood down on the plain to the west of Musangnuvi, where greasewood bushes were plentiful. She picked up her walking cane, along with rope to bind the wood together, and descended to the area north of Toriva. There, along the bank of a wash, she shuffled about, picking up dry sticks.

She had not even gathered a large bundle when someone strode up and struck her a blow that immediately knocked her unconscious. The one responsible for this deed was Masaaw. He had evidently been spying on the old woman and now, after stunning her, he started to flay her. That accomplished, he slipped into the old woman’s skin, transforming himself into her very likeness. Then he picked up her walking stick, shouldered the bundle of wood, and trudged slowly off, imitating her very movement. Masaaw had evidently been studying the old woman’s gait as she approached the area.

When he finally turned the corner of the mesa, he came upon the old woman’s home and tapped on the ladder with her stick. Each time the old woman returned from hauling wood, she was wont to strike the ladder in just that way. And indeed, no sooner had he struck the ladder than the young girl came out onto the roof. “Thanks,” she shouted to her grandmother. “You are home already?”

“Yes, I have arrived,” Masaaw replied, speaking Hopi.

The young girl hoisted the bundle of wood up to the rooftop, whereupon the old woman clambered up, untied the load, and stacked the wood along the edge of the house where the wood was usually piled up. Then both went indoors. By that time it was evening and getting dark. The girl had already prepared bean soup and
somiviki,
and these the two had for supper. After they had eaten, the old lady said: “I’m already sleepy. I got so weary that I’m already drowsy. I think we’ll go to bed,” she suggested to her grandchild.

“By all means. Surely you must be worn out,” the girl replied. “After all, you hauled the wood a long way.”

And so the girl spread out the bedding where the two usually slept and both of them lay down. Quite some time later the old woman suddenly turned over to face her granddaughter and embraced the girl. And then, while grasping her with both hands, she little by little worked her way on top. “Dear me,” screamed the girl. “Why on earth are you doing such a thing?”

“Why, my granddaughter, it seems to be a fact that when a woman gets as old as I, she grows a penis,” the old grandmother explained. “That’s exactly what happened to me. I have grown a penis, and that’s why I am climbing on top of you,” she declared.

The poor grandchild had no wish to suffer such an act, but Masaaw mounted her all the same and started to copulate with her. Oh, how he rammed into the maiden. After he had finished, he muttered: “There, let it be thus. Apparently this happens when you grow as old as me. Wait till you reach old age. You’ll most likely grow a penis, too.”

Following Masaaw’s intercourse, the two fell asleep. Next morning the old woman announced: “Well, I’m going after fuel again.” With these words Masaaw left and shuffled off to gather wood. He was, of course, still garbed in the old woman’s skin. When Masaaw arrived at the same place as the day before, he saw the old woman still lying there stripped of her skin. The wretched creature was nothing but a hump of red flesh. Masaaw now sloughed off the woman’s skin, rolled it into a ball, and flung it at her. Lo and behold, the skin stretched back on the woman just as before. Next Masaaw revived her, however not before he had gathered wood for her. He bundled up about the same amount as she had collected herself, and then left.