Zuni Folktales

Zuni Folktales

By Frank Hamilton Cushing.

Table of Contents

1. Titlepage
2. Imprint
3. Introduction
4. Zuni Folktales
   1. The Trial of Lovers
      1. (Told the First Night)
      2. (Told the Second Night)
   2. The Youth and His Eagle
   3. The Poor Turkey Girl
   4. How the Summer Birds Came
   5. The Serpent of the Sea
      1. Note
      2. The Tale
   6. The Maiden of the Yellow Rocks
   7. The Foster-Child of the Deer
   8. The Boy Hunter Who Never Sacrificed to the Deer He Had Slain
   9. How Áhaiyúta and Mátsailéma Stole the Thunder-Stone and the Lightning-Shaft
   10. The Warrior Suitor of Moki
   11. How the Corn-Pests Were Ensnared
   12. The Coyote Who Killed the Demon Síuiuki
   13. How the Coyotes Tried to Steal the Children of the Sacred Dance
   14. The Coyote and the Beetle
   15. How the Coyote Danced with the Blackbirds
   16. How the Turtle Out Hunting Duped the Coyote
   17. The Coyote and the Locust
   18. The Coyote and the Ravens Who Raced Their Eyes
   19. The Prairie-Dogs and Their Priest, the Burrowing-Owl
   20. How the Gopher Raced with the Runners of Kʻiákime
   21. How the Rattlesnakes Came to Be What They Are
   22. How the Corn-Pests Were Ensnared
   23. Jackrabbit and Cottontail
   24. The Rabbit Huntress and Her Adventures
   25. The Ugly Wild Boy Who Drove the Bear Away from Southeastern Mesa
   26. The Revenge of the Two Brothers on the Háwikuhkwe, or the Two Little Ones and Their Turkeys
   27. The Young Swift-Runner Who Was Stripped of His Clothing by the Aged Tarantula
   28. Átahsaia, the Cannibal Demon
   29. The Hermit Mítsina
   30. How the Twins of War and Chance, Áhaiyúta and Mátsailéma, Fared with the Unborn-Made Men of the Underworld
       1. Translator’s Introduction
       2. Zuni Introduction
       3. The Tale
   31. The Cock and the Mouse
       1. Note
       2. Italian Version
       3. Zuni Version
   32. The Giant Cloud-Swallower
       1. Translator’s Introduction
       2. The Tale
   33. The Maiden the Sun Made Love To, and Her Boys
5. Endnotes
6. Colophon
7. Uncopyright

Imprint

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Introduction

It is instructive to compare superstition with science. Mythology is the term used to designate the superstitions of the ancients. Folklore is the term used to designate the superstitions of the ignorant of today. Ancient mythology has been carefully studied by modern thinkers for purposes of trope and simile in the embellishment of literature, and especially of poetry; then it has been investigated for the purpose of discovering its meaning in the hope that some occult significance might be found, on the theory that the wisdom of the ancients was far superior to that of modern men. Now, science has entered this field of study to compare one mythology with another, and preeminently to compare mythology with science itself, for the purpose of discovering stages of human opinion.

When the mythology of tribal men came to be studied, it was found that their philosophy was also a mythology in which the mysteries of the universe were explained in a collection of tales told by wise men, prophets, and priests. This lore of the wise among savage men is of the same origin and has the same significance as the lore of Hesiod and Homer. It is thus a mythology in the early sense of that term. But the mythology of tribal men is devoid of that glamour and witchery born of poetry; hence it seems rude and savage in comparison, for example, with the mythology of the Odyssey, and to rank no higher as philosophic thought than the tales of the ignorant and superstitious which are called folklore; and gradually such mythology has come to be called folklore. Folklore is a discredited mythology⁠—a mythology once held as a philosophy. Nowadays the tales of savage men, not being credited by civilized and enlightened men with that wisdom which is held to belong to philosophy, are called folklore, or sometimes folktales.

The folktales collected by Mr. Cushing constitute a charming exhibit of the wisdom of the Zunis as they believe, though it may be but a charming exhibit of the follies of the Zunis as we believe.

The wisdom of one age is the folly of the next, and the opinions of tribal men seem childish to civilized men. Then why should we seek to discover their thoughts? Science, in seeking to know the truth about the universe, does not expect to find it in mythology or folklore, does not even consider it as a paramount end that it should be used as an embellishment of literature, though it serves this purpose well. Modern science now considers it of profound importance to know the course of the evolution of the humanities; that is, the evolution of pleasures, the evolution of industries, the evolution of institutions, the evolution of languages, and, finally, the evolution of opinions. How opinions grow seems to be one of the most instructive chapters in the science of psychology. Psychologists do not go to the past to find valid opinions, but to find stages of development in opinions;