Show indian lodge tales by ford C prick friek III mill N THE NAVAJO LEGEND OF CREATION HE indian tribes ot of the great mountain region left no written history of 0 their goings and comings but their life was rich in legend and tradition stories handed banded down from generation to generation until they came to be a part of that great mass mas s of material which tor for lack of better name we must call aboriginal liberat literature ure those these ancient warriors knew nothing ot of reading and writing but they were philosophers in their way ev even en as they were students of nature and keen observers of everything about them like children they were curious 1 and lacking fact they wove their own theories concern concerning iiii the life they lived and the environment which they knew today the indian rapidly Is disappearing 1 swept away from his nat ral haunts by the white man he remains a mere remnant of tile the great race which once knew no superior in nil all the great region but the legends still live monuments to the phlek of the tribesmen who gave them birth ot of all the indian legends now existent none Is more interesting than the navajo legend ot of creation here it is as told the writer by navajo bill who in turn had it from the navajo chieftains whom nhom he knew fifty years ago when first he be visited the reservation which has since been his home in the dim and distant ages when time was waa young the navajos cavajos lived in a world of darkness deep underground then there was no sunlight to bring warmth and joy no bright rays of sunshine to make the corn com grow or the fruit ripen there was no night and no day for all was darkness and even the beasts and the birds were unable to see me their way about but could only wander in darkness knowing not whither they went or how they came in those days the cavajos navajos were unhappy but they knew not how or where to turn to become happy but bul one day a warrior more bold than the others set out on a journey to find a new home for himself and his people long he be urged the other chieftains to j accompany him but they were afraid so finally he went out alone and ana unaccompanied compa com panted nied for many days he wandered in the darkness stumbling over hill and dale through water and over high places until he was nearly exhausted but still he kept on and finally he looked up and there tar far above him was a hole and through the hole a faint light was shining and a single star looked down upon him in all its radiance and the warrior was much pleased pie asea i so with the light of the single star to guide him lie he gathered together many trees and he killed a deer and with NY ith the skin ot of the deer he bound the trees together until he had bad made for himself a great ladder and then ellit ting the ladder he finally reached the c lulng of darkness and through the hole lie he looked into a new world when he be had rested he climbed through the hole and into a new world a world of silver light and shadow where all allawas was not darkness but where he be was able to see objects about him in this world there was a moon and stars to light the way and there was no darkness but a silver light from the stars and the moon that mide mad a world of twilight and evening but the warrior was much pleased for he had never known a greater light than this so lie he rested and feasted and slept for many days until lie he became lonely and bethought himself ot of his tribesmen who had remained behind so lie he gathered together a great bundle bundie of moonbeams moon beams and with these on on his back to light the way he descended again into the world of darkness and with a light heart went in search of ills his tribesmen when he had bad returned again his tribesmen gave caw him a great welcome for they thought him lost and they made him chief of the tribe and when he had told them his story appointed him a guide to lead them to the new world where there was moon and stars and light and happiness when by and by the tribe had reached the ladder they climbed into the new world one by one until they were all there warriors and squaws squads and children and till all the beasts and the birds too they lifted up with them into the new world and they were very happy the name of the new world they called kalaine Ka leine and to tile the warrior who had led ed them there they gave the tha name of chis calill E go so it was that the navajos cavajos Nava jos who were our forefathers came out of the world of darkness into the world of twilight |