Long ago they say. There were some people living in a place. One time they went out hunting in the winter. There was snow on the ground, lots of it, about three feet deep. There was a big rock and one of the hunters saw it and climbed up on top of it. Under this rock there was a bear den. The rock was very slippery all over and the man fell off it and into the bear den. When he fell down he landed right on the bear who was living in the den. So the bear got up and Sat with the man. This did not happen long ago. It happened to be a man who used to live here.

Then the bear asked the man, “How did you get here ?” The man answered, “I started out to hunt and got up on this rock to look around. Then I slipped and fell down here in this hole.” Then the bear said that he had never seen a man at this place before, that no one had ever come here. So he told the man that he should stay with him. When it came evening, the bear asked him if he wanted to eat. The man said, ” I would like to eat, but there .is nothing.” “Well, what do you want to eat,” the bear said. “I eat xuctco’ (a cactus fruit),” he said. Then the bear shook himself, and out of his coat fell lots of xuctco’. The man ate these, and then it was evening. How the bear said it was time to go to bed and so they did. About midnight the bear asked the man if he was cold and the man said that he was. Then the bear told him to lie down close against him. This way the man kept warm and slept all the rest of the night.

When they got up in the morning, the bear asked him if he wanted to eat. He said yes, but that there was nothing. So the bear shook himself and lots of juniper berries fell out of his coat. They ate these together. The two stayed in the den all day. When it came sunset, the bear said, “Do you want to eat ?” The man answered that he would like to eat, but there was nothing there. Then the bear shook himself and out from his coat fell lots of xucnk’q-je (a cactus fruit). They ate these together. After this they went to bed. The bear thought that the man would be cold during the night, so he put him right between his legs where he would keep warm. In the morning they got up and the bear asked the man if he wanted to eat. “I would like to eat, but there is nothing,” he said. Then the bear shook himself and out of his coat fell lots of pinon nuts. They ate these together.

This way the bear and the man lived there in the den together for about a year, (Probably an error and should read ‘a month or more.’) till it came to the month of small leaves (corresponds to March) and then the bear went out and stayed in a warm sunny place. Then he came back to the man and said that he smelt xa”itc’rgelba-ye (a plant said to be first to come up in spring), and that was a sign that spring was come. Then the bear made a hat, and put in his time working on it. It was getting warmer. Then the bear had his hat finished and he said, to the man, “You will know me by this one, wherever I go.” The two started off together. The bear went up on a mountain and the man followed him. He told the man that there was another bear living on the other side of the mountain and that they were going to visit him. He said to the man, “When we see this bear, don’t get scared.” Then the two came .close to where the other bear was living. That other bear knew that they were coming. When they were near, he ran out at them and went for the man. When he did this, the first bear told the man to get close to him and he would be safe. So when the second bear ran after the man, he got behind the first bear. When he was just about to be caught, he ran around on the other side of the first bear. The second bear stopped and started to laugh at the man.

Now they all sat there and talked with each other. “It is spring-time,” they said. Then the first bear told the man that they were going around to where other bears were living and about to make a dance. So the second bear told them to follow him, and they started off. The first bear told the man that there was another bear living behind the mountain and that they were going to visit him. This way they traveled together, sometimes trotting and sometimes walking. The bear who had the hat wore it so that the man would know him. He had told the man not to get scared when they came to the third bear, but to just get behind him. Now they were close to where that third bear lived. He knew that they were coming.

Then the third bear saw them and ran out at them. He was just about to catch the man, when he ran back of his friend and got away. The third bear sat down and started to laugh at the man. That bear had just run after the man for fun and would not have hurt him at all. Then they stopped and talked together. They said that they were going to where there were lots of bears living. Then they set out together. On their way, whenever they got hungry, they shook themselves and food fell out. This way they had lots to eat. After they had been traveling a while, the man gave out, so the first bear told him to get on his back. Then they were heading for another mountain. The bears told the man that there as another bear living behind this mountain, and for him not to get scared and run off when they came there. This fourth bear knew that they were coming, so he came out on a level place. When they got near to him, he ran out at the man. The bear chased the man and he ran behind the first bear. This fourth bear sat down and started to laugh at the man. Then the fourth bear said, “He thought that I was going to catch him and he got scared. That is why I am laughing at him.”

Then they stopped and talked together. That man had made up a song as they traveled along, and it went this way, “I go on your back, you run with me wherever I go,” and he sung this song when he rode on the bear’s back. He had made up another song when they had first started out. It went this way, “We are going some place wherever we go.” From that place they all started out again. The bears said that they were going to another mountain where another bear stayed. On there way the man gave out again, so he got on the back of the bear. Then he started to sing, “You go with me wherever I go.” This fifth bear knew that they were coming before they got there and so he came out of his home. Then they were all coming together when the fifth bear ran out at the man. The man knew the first bear by the hat that he wore, so he ran behind him. The fifth bear chased him around and pretty nearly caught him. Then he sat down and started to laugh at the man. He said, “He got a bad scare because he thought that I was going to catch him. That is why I am laughing at him.”

Then the bears told the man that they were going on to another mountain where lots of bears were living. So they all traveled on together. The bears to whom they were going knew that they were coming, and so they all met together at that place. Then all the bears were at that one place. They started to dance. The first bear talked to the man, and told him that he would always know him by the hat that he wore. This way the man was able to tell his friend. He kept close to him all the time. They danced all night, and the man stayed close to his friend. While the bears danced they made lots of songs. The man heard these song and learned them. The next night the bears held their dance again. The man was there and watched them. On the third night they had the dance again. When the fourth night came they held the dance also. The man was there all the time and he learned all the songs that they sung. The bears made lots of songs for that man.

After the dance was over, the bear who was the man’s friend said that they would go home now. They started off. When they had traveled some way the man gave out. He got up on the bear’s back and they went along thus. They came back to the den the man had fallen into from above. Then the bear said to the man; “This is the same day, just one year ago, that you came here to me. So I want you to go back to your people this day.” The bear started off with him and showed him where his old home was. There he left him. This man had been gone for one year. None of his people knew where he was. They had looked for him for one year. Then he came back to his family. When his people saw him coming they were glad, because he had been off for a long time. When he got back, his father and mother and his relatives cried over him, because they were glad to see him back again.

That man was living with his people once more. Then he told them what had happened to him. “I was out hunting and there was lots of snow. A bear hole was there, but I didn’t see it, I fell into it. I fell right into where a bear was living. Then I lived with that bear a long time.” The man told the story to all the people. He went on and told how the bear had shaken himself and four kinds of foods had fallen out; how they had lived on these fruits. “In the night I slept between his legs. That way I kept warm. Then one day the bear went outside. When he came back he said that he had smelt xa”itc’rgelba-ye and that it was spring time. When it got a little warmer I went with him to where there were other bears,” and he told about meeting the five bears. “All the bears had a dance that lasted four nights.” Now the man sang all the songs that he had learned from the bears. “After the fourth night of the dance, I came away with the bear. Then this day the bear told me that I was to go back to my home. This is how we came back here. When we got close the bear went back and left me. This is the way I got back here.” Then that man had told all about what had happened to him. He got used to being with his people once more.

My yucca fruits lie piled up.

Told by Bane Tithla.
This is the origin myth of the Bear ceremony.
Taken from Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache by Grenville Goodwin, 1934

Long ago they say. Long ago there were some people living up at,tl uk a-gai (white canes) and also some people living right here where Bylas is now. Among the people here was a girl, and up at tl uk’a-gai was living a boy. This boy and girl got to know each other. After a while they were well acquainted and liked each other then after a long time they got married. The boy’s people went out hunting deer and bear and other game. They killed lots This was all brought to the girl’s family, and they had a big feast on the meat. Then the girl’s family gathered a lot of mescal and all kinds of seeds and fruits and berries, prepared them and carried them up to tl’uk’a-gai for the boy’s people.

After quite a while the boy and the girl came down here to live Then the girl’s people talked about the food that the boy’s family had given them from tl’uk’a-gai. Then they gathered together all the kinds of seeds and fruits and mescal that grew down here and sent the boy and his wife back to tl’uk’a-gai with these. In those days tsisizm (rock standing) was down here and belonged in this country. Up at tl’uk’a-gai they had none of the kind of wild foods that grow down here. tsisizin had all these kinds of foods growing on it that belong here. So the girl’s people picked the whole of tsisizm up and moved it to tl’uk’a-gai where it is today. Then the people up there had all those kinds of foods which grow down here and ate them.

In those days the Triplets was up at tl’uk’a-gai. On it were living lots of deer and mountain sheep. So the people at tl’uk’a-gai got together and talked about this mountain. They decided to move it down on the Gila River for the people living here. So they did and the Triplets is still here. Then the people down here went on it and hunted lots of deer and mountain sheep and got lots of meat. But the people from those days were all scattered by the water coming (the mythical deluge)

My yucca fruits lie piled up.

(Talking about the Fort Apache region, Saw Tooth, a sharp peak a little southwest of Fort Apache and Three peaks just east of New San Carlos. This tale is the explanation for the existence of vegetation and animal life on those two mountains that does not belong in the area in which the mountains are, but instead in the country from which they were mythically taken. There is a difference of about 2000 feet in elevation between the two areas, hence the variation in animal and plant life.)

Told By Bane Tithla
Taken from Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache by Grenville Goodwin, 1939

Gray Fox used to go where the White people were living and steal wheat. He always came at night when it was moonlight. The White people found out what he was doing and they didn’t like it. One White man made a man out of pitch and put a hat on him. He looked like a real man. Then he set him up in the field at the place Gray Fox always passed. When Gray Fox came along, he saw standing there, this man of pitch. Gray Fox used to talk like a Chiricahua and he said, “Hey, Gray Eyes, stand to one side and let me by. I want to get some of that stuff growing in there for myself.” The pitch man didn’t move. “Hey, do you hear me? Do you understand ? Move over and let me by.” But the pitch man didn’t move. “What’s the matter ? Do you think I’m not a man ?” Then Gray Fox went close to him. “I tell you I want to get that wheat. Get out of my way. If you don’t, I’ll hit you with my fist and knock you down.” Then he hit him and his hand stuck in the pitch. ‘What’s the matter ? Why do you hold my hand tight ? My left hand here, I can kill a man with it. Before I hit you, I want you to turn me loose.” But nothing happened. Gray Fox hit with his left fist and got caught. “Hey, what’s the matter ? Why do you catch both my hands like this ?” Now Gray Fox was standing on his hind legs. “My leg is the worst one; worse than my hands. When I kick a man, part of him goes one way and part the other.

You better hurry up and turn me loose.” “All right then,” and Gray Fox kicked the pitch man and his foot stuck. “What’s the matter ? You grab my foot. Turn it loose.” Now he was standing on one leg. “My left leg is worse yet. When I kick with it, you will fly into pieces. You better turn me loose right away. All right then,” and Gray Fox kicked with his left foot and got it stuck in the pitch.

“What’s the matter. Turn me loose, you. You grab both legs and both hands. My tail is the worst yet. When I hit a man with it, part goes one way and part the other. You better turn me loose before I hit you with it. All right then, I’ll do it,” and he hit with his tail and got it stuck in the pitch. “Hey, what are you trying to do. You hold both my hands, my legs, and tail. My teeth here are the worst of all. When I bite a man with these, I bite him in two. You better turn me loose. All right then, I’ll do it,” and Gray Fox bit, getting his teeth stuck in the pitch. Now he couldn’t talk. He was held there.

In the morning, about sunrise, the White man came and found Gray Fox. He tied a rope around him and led him off to his house. “He he+” (The common expression when an individual catches someone in a misdeed, or has an enemy in his power.) he said. When he got home, he tied Gray Fox up to the comer of the house. Then he put a kettle of water to heat on the fire, so he could scald his hair off. While the water was heating, Coyote came trotting along on the other side of the river. Gray .Fox saw Coyote and whistled to him. Then he picked up some chips of wood and pretended to be eating them. “This is bread,” he hollered to Coyote. Coyote came. across to the place Gray Fox was tied. Gray Fox said, “You’re too late. I just ate up all the bread. But go over and look in that pot. There are potatoes in it cooking for me.” Then Gray Fox said, “I want you to take this rope I am tied with and put it about your neck. Then you can have those potatoes for yourself.” “All right, but hurry up,” said Coyote. The rope was tied around Coyote’s neck and Gray Fox went off. He never came back. In a little while the White man’s boy came to the place Coyote was tied. He hollered to his father, “The one that was tied here was smaller. Now this one is large.” Coyote said, “That’s the way I always do, change my size.” Then the White man came and grabbed Coyote, tied up his legs, picked him up, and threw him in the pot of water. All Coyote’s hair came off and he lay there as if dead. But later that night, he woke up again and started away. He had no hair and he was cold. His skin was all red from the water.

“You can’t get away from me, Gray Fox, I’ll catch you wherever you are,” he said to himself. On the way Coyote passed by a den in the rocks where Bear was living. Bear saw his red body; “Hey, my cross-cousin, give me some red cloth,” he said. “I have no red cloth. A white man threw me in a kettle of boiling water and all my hair came off. Gray Fox was the one who got me into this trouble.

Where can I go to find him ?” he asked. “Right below, where the two rocks come out to meet each other. Gray Fox always goes there for water about midnight,” Bear said. Coyote went there and looked for the best place to hide. He hid right by the trail. He waited, lying down till Gray Fox should come along. Near midnight, Coyote heard Gray Fox coming. He was singing about how he had fooled Coyote. Then he saw Coyote. “Hey, what’s that lying so still ? It must be the red rock I saw on top of the mountain and it has rolled down by itself.” Gray Fox came close and Coyote jumped at him. “I’m going to catch you and eat you up. You did wrong to me. Because of it, I got thrown in the kettle, lost all my hair and almost was killed. Now I will fix you.” Gray Fox said, “Hey, my cross-cousin, don’t talk like that about eating me up. Come on, let’s go over here. There is some ‘ashes bread’ and we will eat it soon. Come on, and I will show it to you.” Gray Fox took Coyote to the water hole and showed him the reflection of the moon. “I always drink all the water and then I get to the ‘ashes bread’ on the bottom of it.” So they both started in to drink.

Gray Fox drank a little and then he merely held his mouth to the water and pretended he was drinking. Coyote kept on drinking and drinking till his stomach was bulging and water was running out through his nose. His body was shaking. “My cross-cousin, you are getting cold.” “Yes, I am cold all right,” said Coyote. “Well, I know where an old woman has set fire to some dry wood. I will go there and bring fire for you,” and Gray Fox started off. Coyote waited for him, but he never came back. Then Coyote started to trot after Gray Fox. He had so much water in him that he kept breaking wind, “bad, bad, bad, bad,” he went as he trotted. Coyote thought to himself. “That must be some White people traveling along,” and he kept turning around to look. Then he found out where the noise came from. “Yes, this noise, is in my anus,” he said and he started on his way again. “I’ll catch you, Gray Fox,” he said.

Finally he came to Gray Fox. As soon as Gray Fox saw Coyote, he started to point downwards at a rock and say, ‘”e1, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘e’,” Coyote said, “I’ll eat you up now all right,” and he made for him. “My cross-cousin, you always talk about eating me up. Don’t talk this way. I heard the sky is falling down and that’s why I am pointing at this rock. Point at the rock as I do,” Gray Fox said. So Coyote started to point down at the rock and say, “‘e’, ‘e’, ‘e’, ‘e’,” like Gray Fox. Some buzzards sat close by in a tree: Gray Fox said to Coyote, “Put your hand to this rock and keep on saying as I said. I am going over and kill some of the buzzards to get feathers for you.” Gray Fox started. Coyote waited for him, but he never came back. “All right, I’ll get you anyhow, Gray Fox. You’ve fooled me long enough,” and Coyote started out again.

After a while he came to Gray Fox. He was making a big basket out of tc’idnk’u-je branches (a species of sumac). Coyote said, “I’ll eat you now all right. You have fooled with me and lied to me lots of times, but I’ll get you now.” Gray Fox said, “What’s the matter, my cross-cousin. You always talk with me this way. We heard that a great wind is going to come. All the other people are working here, making baskets in order to crawl inside them. That’s why I am doing it. You better get busy and make one for yourself. The one I am making is as tall as I am when I stand up.” Coyote said, “I don’t know how to make these things.” “Then when I finish this one, I will make one for you,” Gray Fox said. After a while he said again, “Here, you say you don’t know how to make these, so this one will be for you. I will make another for myself.” “All right,” and Coyote crawled inside. Gray Fox closed him in and tied the basket up tight. He turned the basket over and with a big rock, he pounded on it. “The wind has come,” he said to Coyote.

“It’s a very heavy wind,” and every time he said this, Gray Fox would pound on the basket with a rock. Then he stood on top of the basket and danced on it. Gray Fox said to Coyote, “You are always getting after me and going to kill me. Now I’m going to kill you,” and he picked up rocks and threw them on the basket. When Coyote stopped moving, Gray Fox went off and left him.

After a while Coyote came to and crawled out of the basket. He started after Gray Fox. “I’ll get you Gray Fox,” he said. He asked the bird people to give him some hair and they did. In about four days he had hair all over his body. Then he asked the bird people where they had seen Gray Fox. They said that he had gone to gather wild cactus fruits. (A favorite food of coyotes and foxes.) “You better not let him get away from you again, or he will kill you,” they said to Coyote. Coyote started off and looked for the place where the prickly pear fruits were getting ripe. He went where the best fruits were and there he waited for Gray Fox. Pretty soon Gray Fox came along. He was singing about how he had gotten Coyote into the basket and then killed him. He was looking for prickly pear fruit. The best ones were by Coyote and he came over and started eating them. Then Coyote jumped out and grabbed him. Gray Fox tried to talk nicely with Coyote and promised many things, but Coyote paid no attention and killed him right there.

Told by Francis Drake
Taken from Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache by Grenville Goodwin, 1939.

Long, long ago, when all the people were living far to the north, at tajbako-wa’ (camps by dance ground), there were Mexicans living with the ba-tci2 at a place on fusila-’edilvuj (Cutter Wash, at its junction with the San Carlos Valley). There used to be lots of them living there and you can still see the stone walls of their old houses (prehistoric pueblo ruins). Later on they all moved over to Tucson where they still are. Our people used to come down from talbako-wa’ to this place, t’usila, on hunting trips. One time a war party started down and came to this place. Here they got in a fight with the ba-tci and Grasshopper had his leg shot off. The war party started back to talbako-wa’. When they got there, they said that Grasshopper was shot and killed by the Mexicans in the fight. “He is not killed, he got back this morning before you. There he is running around over there,” the people in camp said.

Then Turtle and Gila Monster started off from talbako-wa’ to hunt. They traveled on down by t’usila and there some Mexicans and ba-tci surrounded them. Turtle said to Gila Monster, “Come over here and stand by my shell, it is hard and you won’t get hurt.” Gila Monster went over to him and from that place he shot and killed a Mexican woman. Gila Monster went over to the dead woman and crawled under her skirt, between her legs. “What’s this here, like meat coming together in two parts,” he called to Turtle. Turtle said, “Because of this, your name will be le-nenlai (two parts meeting) from now on.” When he left talbako-wa’ he had another name, but when he went back he was known by this new name and he still is known by it.

Told by Francis Drake
Taken from Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache by Grenville Goodwin, 1934

Long ago people, all kinds of birds and animals were people then were living up to the north of here somewhere. Hawk people were humans then. They did not know that ga-n people were living down m the earth, below. Then Raven Old Man was there with the Raven people. He had children and one of these was a beautiful daughter. The ga-n people below knew about her. The old man and his family were in their wickiup. Soon they heard something drop outside. Raven Old Man heard it. “What is that, cibi’lsis (a buck-skin pouch hung over one shoulder and resting on the hip on opposite side) maybe ?” the old man said. The girl went out and found two pack rats. She brought them in and they ate them. Four days after this the old man heard something drop outside. “Go and see if cibi-Isis is there,” he said, though all the time he knew his own was in the wickiup. So the daughter went outside and found two rabbits. She brought them in and they ate them up. Four days after that they heard something drop again. “Go out and see if cibi’lsis is there,” the old man told his daughter. She went out and found two jack rabbits. “Here are two jack rabbits,” she said. “Well, bring them in and we will eat them,” the old man told her. Then four days later something dropped outside. The old man sent his daughter out to see if it was his pouch. When she got outside she found a black-tailed deer fawn. “Here is a black tail deer fawn” she said. “Well, bring it in,” the old man told her. So they did and ate it up. Four days after that something dropped once more outside. The old man sent his daughter out to see if it was his pouch. She went out and this time it was a black-tailed deer with two points on his horns. They butchered and ate him. Then four days later something dropped outside again. “What’s that, cibi-lsis ?” the old man said. He sent out his daughter and she found a big black-tailed deer. They butchered and ate him. Raven Old Man was very thankful for that. Four days after that the old

man heard something drop outside. He sent his daughter out. “See if this is cibi-lsis that has dropped there,” he told her. So the girl went out and found an enormous black-tailed deer, the kind that is all fat and in good shape, like you get in the fall. They butchered and ate it Raven Old Man was thankful for this.

Then Raven Old Man said to this daughter. “Well, daughter, this is what I have raised you for. We have eaten a lot of meat from someone. Build a new wickiup over to one side here and we will find out who it is who is doing this,” he told the girl. The new wickiup was built and standing not far off. No one was in it. The old man stayed with his family in their dwelling. Soon they saw  someone in the new wickiup. The girl went over there. She stayed there with that man. He was her man now.

After they had stayed together for quite a while, the man and woman went out for a walk together. Then the man told his wife, “I belong to the ga-n people.” Soon they came to a sulphur wheat bush. He started to kick it from the east side, then from the south side, then from the west and last from the north. The plant came up by its roots. In the hole that it left, the top of a spruce tree stuck up through. The man told his wife, “Step on this. Don’t be afraid.” But the woman shut her eyes and stepped on it. Then they found themselves way down below, where the ga-n people lived. After they reached the bottom, they started to walk to the place the man’s people were living. The woman had never seen people like this before. There were many of those people there. There were houses also, good ones. All kinds of farm crops were growing. There were corn drying racks.1 The crops were in all stages of growth; some were up just a little, some were half way up, some high and some harvested already. The woman’s husband had many sisters and so she had a lot of sisters-in-law. The man’s mother was there. She tested her daughter-in-law. She gave her a metate and mano and some corn to grind. “Let’s see you grind some corn,” she told her. But this woman could not grind corn well. She ground it but could not break the kernels up. For this reason the man’s family did not like her. She was not strong enough and could not grind corn.

One day after they had arrived there, a ga-n came to them. He caught hold of the woman’s hair and held her head back. “I want to see my relative-in-law’s face. If she is pleasing I will go hunting for her,” he said. Several of the ga-n did the same way. The last one was Gray ga-n (the clown) and he said, “Well, she is all right. I will go hunting for her like the others.” The men who went hunting just brought in sinew. There was no meat, only a big pile of sinew there. Then one of the man’s sisters was sent with the woman to bring in a horse, so they could ride back to Raven Old Man’s place. In a short distance they came to some bears. The woman saw them and was frightened. She started to run away, but her sister-in-law called to her, “Come back here. They won’t harm you. They are good ‘horses’. They are gentle.” But the woman would not listen and ran back to the camp. Her sister-in-law got the ‘horse’ and led it back. They saddled it up for the man and his wife. The woman’s mother-in-law told her, “Don’t look back on your way out. Don’t look back till you get on top. Don’t think why this is. I don’t want you to look back. Don’t do it!”

The woman got on the bear, but her husband did not go along with her. She rode to the top almost. Then she thought to herself, “I wonder why she didn’t want me to look back. I will try it.” So she looked back; just a glance. As soon as she did that the bear started to roll down the hill. Clear to the bottom they tumbled. The old woman saw it and ran to her. “I told you not to do that. Now why did you do it ?” she said. When she was going up she had had just a load of sinew, but now after the fall, it had all turned to meat and meat was scattered along the trail where they had fallen. The old woman carried the meat up to the top for her daughter-in-law. They packed the bear up again so that she could take it to her father. She went on alone from there, without her husband.

When the woman came close to her home, her mother, an old woman, saw her riding the bear. Raven Old Man and all his children became frightened and ran off from camp. “Don’t ride down this way,” they said. She unpacked the bear all alone, put the meat up and turned the bear back. But her husband got mad because he heard that his horse had been struck by someone up there. (Though mounts were sometimes beaten, this was infrequent and people spoke harshly of those who did it.) On this account he did not return for two days and nights. Then in two days someone was seen walking to the wickiup where this man had lived with his wife. Raven Old Man sent his daughter. “You better go over and build a fire,” he told her. She went over to her wickiup. The man, she found lying on the bed. He was very thin and bony, not like her husband. His legs and arms had white stripes about them, like those on a bob-cat’s tail. The woman went back to her father and told him, “That man is not my husband. He is too thin for that and besides he has white stripes about his legs and arms.” But her parents told her, “Maybe it is the same man and he has grown thin.” “Why should he have white stripes about his arms and legs ? I know it’s not he,” the woman said. Raven Old Man said, “Well, I believe he must have gone stalking antelope and has painted his legs and arms to look like an antelope.” “No, I know my husband better than you two. It is not he,” the woman said. She did not like this man, but her father sent her over to him and so she went, staying there all that night.

The next morning this man went hunting. When he came back he brought some dried meat. It had been roasted already. The following morning he went hunting again. Raven Old Man told his son, “Follow this man and see where he gets this dried meat. Don’t let him see you.” So the son did this. After the man had gone a way, his follower saw him stop and set fire to an old pitch-pine stump. On the side that the smoke blew, the man went. The snot started to run out of his nose and it was this he was taking and making into dried meat. The son came home and told his father about it. After that Raven Old Man would not eat any more of this dried meat. “That is why it was salty,” the old man said This man was from the Mosquito people. That is why he was so thin. All things were people in those days.

The man went to sleep with the woman that night. Her real husband from the ga-n, knew who it was that had his wife. On account of this he shot them with an arrow of red stone that night The arrow went right through both of them. The woman used to get up early, but she had not yet appeared at her father’s camp When the sun had risen high up, Raven Old Man sent one of his small daughters over to see what was the matter. She just looked inside the wickiup and thought that they were still asleep inside so she went back again. She told her father, “Well, they are still in bed. About noon, the little girl went over there again. She came back and told her father, “They are still in bed.” “Well go over there and uncover them,” he said. So the little girl went inside and took the covers off. When she did she saw that both of them had bled at the nose. When she came back and said that they were dead. Raven Old Man and his wife started to quarrel. “You know I told you he was not her husband.

You sent her over to him all the same. Now she is gone,” they accused each other.

Then the Raven people were no longer there where they had been living. But ga-n people were still living down below in the earth Many ga-n died down there. Though it is just as if they travel together with lightning, yet they died there. On account of this, ga-n people began to search for a place where they would not die; where there was life without end. From here on for a bit the story is dangerous to recount, but I have to tell it to you just the same. (It contains power and so is dangerous. Through the misuse of such power misfortune might befall those involved in the story telling.) They moved to a place halfway between the earth and the sky. There Mirage made an earth for them and they lived on this. But still they died there. They went through the sky to its other side but still they died there. From there they came down on earth to ntca’na-sk’id (a place somewhere about 35 miles east of Macnary Arizona)., Wherever they had lived above, they had always had their agricultural crops with them. These were their food- corn, beans, and squash.

Then there were a poor people living near that place (ntca’na-sk’id) the Hawk people. They were of the ‘iya”aiye clan. They were called Hawk people because the relatives of this clan are hawks. There were people of the na-dots’usn, bisza-ha, ndi’nde-zn and destcrdn clans there also. They were all a very poor people At dusk one day, they saw a light far off. They asked each other, Who is up there ? Who has made that fire ?” because everyone was at home and they could not think of who might be out there. They tried to mark the fire, so that they might go there in the morning and see what it was. This is dangerous, this story that I am telling you, but I tell it to you just as I heard it. It is very holy this part of the story, and if you or anyone should laugh at it, there ^danger of you or that person’s mouth and eyes going crooked. There is danger of this happening to me on account of telling this tale One time there were two men, one blind, the other lame. The blind one carried the lame one on his back. They came this way to a group of people. When the people saw them coming, they laughed at them. The blind man clapped his hands together and part of the people became blind. The lame man drew up his leg to his body and then part of them became lame. That is the way with this story. We must not laugh at it. It is the same way with the songs of the ga-n curing ceremony which have to do with this part of the story. (1)

The next morning these people sent one man over to where they thought they had seen the fire, but he could find nothing. Again that evening, after sunset, they could see the same fire. But the man who had been sent to investigate insisted that there was nothing over there. This time they cut a crotched stick and set it up in the ground. They layed an arrow in the crotch, pointing directly at the fire, so they would know just where it was in the morning. When morning came they looked to see where the arrow pointed. A man went over there to try and find something, but he could not find even a blade of grass that had been stepped on and bent, or a broken twig. It was two times that they had made trips to find this fire without results, but that evening they could see the fire again in the same place. They had left the arrow there from the night before, and it still pointed right to the fire. So in the morning they sent a man over to try and find something. He went and looked about for a long time, but found no ashes nor any blades of broken grass. Halfway to ntca’na-sk’id he went. “I have found nothing,” he told the people when he got home. The next morning they sent someone over to search for the fourth time. He went to the same place the others had been. Then after a short distance he stopped and sat down, for he saw many people there, and many crops of all kinds and in all stages of growth; some just up, some ready to harvest and so on.

The ga-n people saw this man, where he had dropped down in the grass. They talked among themselves: “Someone has been sitting over there for a long time. Let one go over there and see him.” So one went over towards him. He came as close as from here to the wickiup over there (20 yards). He did not say anything; just stood and looked at him. The man from the poor people had two eagle tail feathers sticking up in his hair. His privates were covered with the shredded inner bark of juniper. The ga-n went back and told his people, “That man has some inner bark from juniper to cover his privates.” “You better take back two buckskins with you, one for him to cover his shoulders with and one to wear about his waist,” they told him. So he took two buckskins over to the man and told him to wear them, one about his waist and one about the shoulders. The inner bark he had covering his privates he threw away. “Lets go back to my, people,” the ga-n said. They went. They gave this man some food: corn and squash. He had eaten of ga-n food now. After he had eaten, they talked to him. “Where did you come from?” they asked. The man pointed to where he lived. It was a long way back there. “Well, you are poor people. It’s not right that you stay there. You better come here and live with us. We have lots of crops just going to waste,” they told him. They gave him some corn and he started home with it. When he arrived, he had the corn with him and the people there ate it. This man told his people what he had seen. “I saw lots of people there. They were good. I have my belly full now. I ate all I wanted there and the chief of these people told me; ‘You better come and live with us, because you people are poor.’ He told me to tell this to you.” The man could not sleep that night for thinking of all the ripe crops he had seen and the food he had eaten. The people were  very hungry where he lived. They got up in the morning and moved away from tse-gots’uk (a place) where they had been

living. When they arrived at the new place, the crops were all given to them. “Let them eat all they want,” the ga-n said. They did eat all they wanted and now they had big bellies.

Thus these two peoples had lived for a long time together. Their children had become acquainted. The men went hunting together. The children played. They let them eat all they could from the farms, for the crops on them grew the year around, in all four stages, from just sprouting to ripeness. These people were the ga-n and Hawk peoples. I know the place they lived. I passed through there when I was a soldier in the U. S. army, on the way to Ft. Wingate. The children played together and some ga-n children became sick from the hawk illness. Their eyes became swollen and closed, they scratched like hawks and their faces were white like that of hawks. Then the Hawk children became sick from the ga-n. They became unable to walk, as if paralyzed.(These are the symptoms of hawk and ga-n sickness.) The two kinds of children were able to cure each other by one touching the other where it hurt. When they did this they became well immediately. But the ga-n chief heard about it and did not like it. The ga-n had . found the place where there was life without end. That is why they had spread these sicknesses among the people, because they had found a good place. Then Talking ga-n was chief. He went up on top of ntca’na-sk’id every morning and talked to the people from there. “We have done nothing here for a long time. It is better that we go to tse-nodo-z surrounded by fire and tse-na-sbas surrounded by fire (places). Here it is as if we were herded together in a pasture. We would like to have some meat. We want to move to a place where people never die.” That night they all collected together to talk it over. They gathered this way every night from there on.

All the ga-n people were divided into different kinds, just as we are divided into various clans. There were Black ga-n, ga-no-wan (meaning unknown), He Carries Pitch, Yellow ga-n. Weak ga-n, Hairy On One Side Of His Face, Big ga-n. Red ga-n, Hump Backed ga-n, and Gray ga-n. All these had daughters. They wanted to know who would leave his daughter behind. They asked each one if he would let his daughter stay behind with the Hawk People, but all liked their daughters too well for this. So it came back to Black ga-n, who was like the chief of these people,2 “Well, I guess I will have to leave my daughter.” But he never told his daughter or anyone else that he was going to leave her. He made a doll of turquoise and one of white shell. He hid these before they were going to move.

The ga-n people spoke to the Hawk people. “We are going to leave you now. Look after our crops for us. We will be gone for sixty days. Then we will be back.” Now they left. When they had gone about half a mile, the mother of the daughter of Black ga-n said to the girl: “Did you put your doll in the burden basket ? Is it there?” “No, no doll here,” said the daughter. “Well, you better go back for it. We will go slow for you,” the mother said. So the little girl started to run to the camp. She found the doll right away and ran back to join her mother. There was a large lake ahead. She followed the trail of her people. In a little way the tracks came to the edge of the lake and all went into the water. A lot of grass had been trodden down by the people passing over it. The little girl went around to the other side, but could not find where they had come out of the lake. So she went back to the old camp. The Hawk people saw her and said, “What is that little girl doing over there ?” They went with her to the lake, but they could not find where tracks came out of the water. They took her home with them. Every day she went to try and find her mother.

The Hawk people raised this little girl among them. After quite a while all the crops were gone and the people lived as before. They fed the little girl on wild seeds. The ga-n had made the crops grow and ripen by their wish alone. The little girl stayed at a ndi’nde-zn camp (clan). They raised her. She was big now, old enough to marry. So the man who brought her up said, “I didn’t raise her for anyone else. It will be well for her to marry my son.” That is the way it happened. After they had been married about a year, she bore a baby boy. The day he was bom ga-n people came down from above and filled the wickiup. It was overcrowded, but ga-n said, “He never stops eating (even though full),” and this way more kept crowding in and shoving over to make room for others. The baby was the grandson of Black ga-n, who was lying outside, on his back. The ga-n picked the baby up and passed him from one to the other. Last of all they took him out to his grandfather. There he danced the baby up and down on his chest and sang; “cawa cawa ca.”

Then he said to his daughter, “Well, daughter, here is deer medicine. Put it inside the hood of the cradle, by the baby.” But the baby’s mother said, “No, I don’t want it. You threw this baby away long ago” (meaning herself). So she gave the deer medicine to her husband’s mother. Black ga-n had brought the deer medicine so that when the baby grew up he could kill many deer. But instead of this the deer medicine was given to the ndi’nde-zn (the clan of the woman’s mother-in-law). On account of this ndi’nde-zn clan always used to kill big deer, very big ones, whenever they went hunting. This still was true up till about 1880, but there are hardly any of this clan left now. (Deer is also the ‘relative’ of this clan) Black ga-n gave his grandson a name; naba-dzisnda-he (captive taken in war), because the ga-n had left his mother behind among these other people who had raised her.

They lived on there. Then in a year more another baby was born to the woman. The ga-n people came there again, just as they had before. Black ga-n came there to see his grandson. He gave this second boy a name also, but I have forgotten it. Then the boys started to grow up. They were so high and about ten years old, big enough to hunt birds. In the morning they went hunting. At sundown they returned home. After spending the night there, they went hunting again. Sometimes they would be gone for two days, sometimes for three or four. Then one man among the Hawk people became sick. They came to the mother of the boys about it. “My female relative-in-law, I wonder if you have anything to say that will cure this sick man. You might have something,” they said. “I don’t know anything. You people have known me since I was a little girl, left here and raised by you. If I knew something I could go ahead and say it over that sick man now, but I don’t,” she told them. Finally she said, “Well, ask those two boys. They are gone for a day or sometimes three or four days at a time. I believe they go to the ga-n, because they are relatives to them. You people better go after a deer. Run the deer down, don’t shoot him. Bring the hide home and make buckskin of it.

Then get some downy eagle feathers and turquoise. Tie these to the forehead of the buckskin and put it on the boy’s foot. See what they will say.” So they went hunting and got a big deer by running it down. When the deer was all in, they caught it without shooting, as there must be no arrow holes in the buckskin. They killed it, cut it down the belly and by the next day they had made it into a buckskin. Then they put turquoise and a downy eagle feather on its forehead and placed it on the foot of the eldest of the two brothers. But he threw it to his younger brother, “Here is the one,” he said. The younger brother threw it back to the other, saying, “You can do it.” They did this several times and finally one said, “All right.” When they had agreed to what the people asked of them, the boys told them, “Fix up a place; level it up so that there are no uneven places on the ground. We want a spruce tree put on each of the four sides and a pile of wood on each side also. Don’t be afraid of anything you see, or run away.” They knew that the people might fear the ga-n. “For the sick man, spread a buck-skin and let him sit on it. Tie him all over with strips of yucca leaves and let him sit there.”

Then it was sundown and now it was dark. All the people came to the dance ground. Lots of fires were all about it. Then the boy who had consented, started to sing.

“Holy power, here sounding (making a noise).”

As he sang they saw lightning appear over ntca’na-sk’id on the east side, then on the south side, then west and then on the north side. Then from the four directions the bull roarer sounded. It shook the earth and the earth rumbled back in response. The people saw the flashes of lightning and thought they were far off, but soon the ga-n came down, upside down they were, feet up and head down. They picked up the sick man who sat there, and tossed him from one to the other. (The idea of the sick man being ignominiously tossed about greatly amused the listeners) Before, no man was sick, but this man became sick and from then on there were sicknesses. That night the sick man was cured. The ga-n left at dawn. One of the two brothers went with them. I don’t known which of them it was.

Only one of the boys remained among the people.

When the ga-n arrived back at their home, they came together and talked about the youths and maidens. “We have many girls and boys here. Those people whom we left have many boys and girls also. It is not right for us to marry among ourselves. We better go there and get some of their boys and girls,” they said. Then Black ga-n’s grandson (the brother remaining among the people) was going to make another dance at ntca’na-sk’id. This time it was to be only a social dance. The ga-n people came to this dance. It was just for pleasure and was not dangerous as it had been before. Then as the dawn came, the dancers were raised up off the ground. Many youths and maidens from among the ga-n and Hawk peoples were dancing. The old people ran under them and said to their sons and daughters, “Come down, come back,” but they kept moving upwards. Soon they were so high they could not hear the singing any longer, only the sound of the drum. Then they could not hear the drum any more. The people below lay on their backs in order to look upwards. They could see the dancers there like specks in the sky. They saw them a little while, then saw them no more.

This is how the good people were taken up above, to the place where life has no end. Both the brothers were gone now. The woman who was their mother went off for something and never returned. This is the end of the story. This is the way that the ga-n curing ceremony started.

Told by Francis Drake
Taken from Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache by Grenville Goodwin, 1934