Good morning from the awesome Sierras The Havasupai Legend of the Canyon The two gods of the universe are Tochopa and Hokomata. Tochopa he heap good. Hokomata he heap bad--hanatopogi--all same white mans devil. Him Hokomata make big row with Tochopa, and he say he drown the world. Tochopa was full of sadness at the news. He had one daughter whom he devotedly loved, and from her he had hoped would descend the whole human race for whom the world had been made. If Hokomata persisted in his wicked determination, she must be saved at all hazard. So, working day and night, he speedily prepared the trunk of a pinion tree by hollowing it out from one end. In this hollow tree he placed food and other necessaries, and also made a lookout window. Then he brought his daughter, and telling her she must go into this tree and there be sealed up, he took a sad farewell of her, closed up the end of the tree, and then sat down to await the destruction of the world. It was not long before the floods began to descend. Not rain, but cataracts, rivers, deluges came, making more noise than a thousand Hackataias (Colorado Rivers) and covering all the earth with water. The pinion log floated, and in safety lay Pu-keh-eh, while the waters surged higher and higher, and covered the tops of Hue-han-a-patch-a (the San Francisco range), Hue-ga-woo-la (Williams Mountain), and all the other mountains of the world. [Its very interesting how the Havasupai legend correlates with the biblical flood.] But the waters of heaven could not always be pouring down, and soon after they had ceased, the flood upon the earth found a way to rush to the sea. And as it dashed down, it cut through the rocks of the plateaus, and made the deep Chic-a-mi-mi (canyon) of the Colorado River Hackataia. Soon all the water was gone. Then Pukeheh found the log no longer floating, and she peeped out of the window Tochopa had placed in her boat, and, though it was misty and almost dark she could see in the dim distance the great mountains of the San Francisco range. And near by was the Canyon of the Little Colorado, and to the west and north was Hackataia, and to the west was the Canyon of the Havasu. The flood had lasted so long that she was grown to be a woman, and, seeing the water gone, she came out and began to make pottery and baskets, as her father had long ago taught her. But she was a woman. And what is a woman without a child in her arms or nursing at her breasts? How she longed to be a mother! But where was a father for her child? Alas! there was not a man in the whole universe? Day after day, longing for maternity filled her heart, until one morning-- glorious morning for Pukeheh and the Havasu race--the darkness began to disappear, and in the far-away east soft and new brightness appeared. It was the triumphant Sun, coming to conquer the long night and bring light into the world. Nearer and nearer he came, and, at last, as he peeped over the far-away mesa summits, Pukeheh arose and thanked Tochopa, for here, at last, was a father for her child. She conceived, and in the fullness of time bore a son, whom she delighted in and called In-ya-a, the son of the Sun. But as the days rolled on, she again felt the longings for maternity. By this time she had wandered far to the west and had entered the beautiful Canyon of the Havasu, where deep down between the rocks were several grand and glorious waterfalls, and one of these, Wa-ha-hath-peek-ha-ha, she determined should be the father of her second child. When it was born it was a girl, and to this day all the girls of the Havasu are proud to be called Daughters of the water. When these two children grew up they married, and thus became the progenitors of the human race. First the Havasupais were born, then the Apaches, then the Hualapais, then the Hopis, then the Paiutes, then the Navahos. And Tochopa told them all where they should live, and you find them there to this day.
Posted on: Sun, 25 May 2014 13:38:58 +0000
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