"We are the People of Seed," said these strangers, replying to our ancient fathers, "born your elder brothers, and led by the gods!"
"No," argued our fathers, "we are led by the gods and of us are the Seed people and the substance of seed whereof our wise elders carry the potencies." Whereupon they grew even more angry, so dark were they of understanding!
The people who called themselves "Of the Seed"—who were nolle others than the "Drinkers of the Dew of Grasses"—asked them to pause. "See!" they said, "we have powers greater than yours, yet without your aid we can not exert them; even as the mothers of men may not be fertile without the fathers. You are our younger brothers, just as your People of Seed, and more precious than they know are they and their sacred keepings that you boast of; even as we are more wise than you are and in ourselves givers of life, for you are, like virgins, unthinking, yet fertile. Now cease! Let us look peacefully upon one another. To you, therefore, try first your powers with the sacred things you carry as you have been instructed or may best devise; then will we according to our knowledge of these things and our own practices try our powers with them also, showing openly our customs to you."
At last, after much wrangling and council, the people agreed to this. And they set apart the time, eight days (as now days are numbered) wherein to make their preparations, which was well; for they received great gain from this and the winning of these stranger villagers, and by wise and peaceful acts rather than by war and the impetuosity of right hands. In the borders of the plain in the midst of cedars (fuel furnishers of the food-maturing fire!) and under the shade of hemlocks (Tree-goddesses of the food-growing water!) they encamped. And at the foot of the hemlocks, facing tbe sunlight, they built a great bower of cedar boughs for themselves: like to it, only lesser, are those from which we watch and foster the ripening of our corn; for from their bower thus fashioned, our fathers and mothers, the priests and priest-matrons of old, watched and labored for the first birth of corn, and in this wondrous way, as young parents watch for the birth of their children, though not knowing of what kind or favor they will be nevertheless eager of heart; and as we now watch the fulfillment of our harvests.
So, the seed-priests and master-keepers of the possessions, and their fathers (those of the house of houses) fasted and intently contemplated their sacred substances to divine the means to make it happen. And it seemed good to them to cut wands of the spaces, painting them significantly and pluming them in various ways with the feathers of the cloud and summer sun-loving birds, thinking to waft the breath of their prayers and incantations (taught by the Surpassing Ones in the new time of the world) and to show forth their meanings even so far as to the ancient sitting spaces of those who first taught them.
When all else was prepared, they made a shrine around their múetone (or medicine seed of hail and soil) their k'yáetone (or medicine seed of the water and rain) and their chúetone (or medicine seed of grains). And around these, and reaching out toward the Sun before them, they set their plumed wands of message. For the plain was dry and barren, and they wanted fresh soil by the hail torrents, moisture by the rain, and growth of seed-substance, that they might then better exhibit their powers to these strangers; if by some chance in response to their labors and beseechings, these things would be given to them. Therefore, that the meaning of their beseechings might be the more plain and sure of favor, certain ones of the sage priests sought out and placed the largest and most beautifully colored grass seeds they could find among the stores of their way-farings in the gourd with the chúetone , and then cut from branches of the easy growing cottonwood and willow, gleaned from the ways of water, handsome wands which they plumed and painted, similar in color to each kind of seed they had selected; yellow, green, red, white, black, speckled, and mottled; one for each side of the sacred gourd, one to be laid upon it, one to be laid under it, and one to be placed within it; and as soon as finished, thus they disposed the wands.
Now when night came, these master-priests took the chúetone —secretly while tbe others were drowsy—and carried it, with the plumed wands they had made, out into the plain in front of the bower. There they breathed into these things the prayers and over them softly intoned the incantations which had been taught to them in the new time of the.world. Then they placed the chúetone on the ground of the plain and on each side of it, and by the light of the seven great stars which were at that time rising bright above them, they planted one of the plumed wands with the seeds of its color; first, the brightest,yellow with the yellow grass seeds,on the north; then the blue with the green grass seeds, on the west; then the red with the red seeds, to the south, and the white with the white seeds to the east; but the other three plumed wands they could not plant, one above, the other below, and the last within the gourd, so looking at the stars they saw how that they were set, four of them as though around a gonrd like their own, and three others as though along its handle! "Há! Chukwé!" they said, "It is a sign of the Sky~father!" whereupon they set each of the others in a line, the black one with its seeds of black nearest to the sacred gourd below the handle; the speckled one with its spotted seeds next, on the other side of the handle, and the mottled one with its dappled seeds far out at the end of the handle, that it might (being of the colors of all the others) point out each of them, as it were, and lead them all!
And when, the next morning, the watchers saw the plumes standing there all beautiful in the plain, and asked who planted them, and for what, the priests replied, "They were planted in the night, while you heedlessly drowsed, by the seven stars." The people, mistaking their meaning, exclaimed, "Behold! the seed wands of the stars themselves!" and they rejoiced in the omen that their prayers had been heard so far. And during the eight days and nights there arose thick mists, hail and rain descended until torrents poured down from the mountains bringing new soil and spreading it evenly over the plain. And when on the morning of the ninth day the clouds rolled away, "Eluu!" shouted our fathers of the Seed who were kin to the stranger people, "We bring water and new soil where before there was barren hardness; even grasses, tall and plumed as were our wands, and spiked with seed, for the grass seed had sprouted and the new wands taken root and grown, and now had long feathery blades and tall, tasseled stems, waving in the wind.
"Indeed!" cried the People of the First-growing-grass kin (Aik'yaho-kwe), chief of the clans of Seed, "we are the People of the Seed!"
But the strangers, ignoring their boastings, replied, "Indeed, enough! It is well! Truly you have brought water and new soil, and grasses growing great from them, yet you have not brought forth new life from the flesh of men or the seed of seeds! Come now, let us labor together, in order that what you have begun may be perfected. New soil and the seed of its production, the seed of water, even the substance of seed itself we did not have, yet we are truly the people of the seed of seed, and our maidens are the mothers as you shall see."
Then they, too, set apart eight days, during which to prepare for their custom, and they further said, "That we may be perfect in the birth and generation of the seed of seeds, send to us a youth of the kin of Water and of those who hold possession of the precious k'yúetone , which you should also give to us, so that we may join it to the chúetone that you have placed in the middle of the growing plants, according to our understanding of its meaning and relation. And let the youth be good and perfect and whole of seed."
Therefore the fathers of the people chose, it is said, Yápotuluha, of the clans of Water, foster child of the great Sun-priest Yanáuluha, and named by him. And into his hand they gave the k'yúetone and certain of their wands of worship, and sent him to the strangers to look upon. Now there were in the village of the stranger Seed people seven maidens, sisters of one another, virgins of one house, and foster children of Paíyatuma (the God of Dew) himself. And they were incredibly beautiful, so much so that they were compared to the seven bright stars and are sung of in the songs of the Seed people and told of in their stories. They, too, were chosen and breathed upon by all the fathers and matrons of the Seed, and with the youth Yápotuluha, instructed in the precious rites and incantations of their custom. And during all the time of preparation rain fell as before, only gently and warm, and on the eighth day the matrons and fathers led the maidens and youth, all beautifully arrayed, down into the plain before the bower where the people watched and the grasses grew. And there they danced and were breathed of the sacred medicine seeds. All through the night backward and forward they danced to the song line of the elders, by the side of the growing plants, motioning them upward with their magic wands and plumes, as we, with implements of husbandry, encourage the upward growth of the corn plants today. As time went on, the matron of the dance led the youth and the first maiden apart, and they grasped one on either side, the first plants, dancing around them, gently drawing them upward as they went, even as the Two Beloved had caused to grow the canes of the under-world. So also did the youth and each maiden in turn grasp the other plants in their turn, until all had grown to the tallness of themselves and were jointed where they had grasped themand leaved as with waving plumes of the macaw himself. And now, in the night, the keepers of the great shells (of the Badger kin), brought forth fire with their hands from roots, and kindled it in front of the bower toward the east, that its heat might take the place of the Sun and its light shine brightly on the dancers, making their acts alive; and as the dawn approached, the youth and first maiden were led apart as before by the Mother-making matron, and together embraced the first of the full-grown plants, and so, in turn, the youth and each of the other maidens embraced the other plants.
And as they embraced the first plant, the fire flamed brightly, with the first catching and flush of the wood, and yellow was its light; and as they embraced the second plant, the flames were burning smokily with the fuller grasping of the wood, and blue was the light; and as they were embracing the third plant, the fire reached its fullness of mastery over the wood, and red was its light; and as they were embracing the fourth plant, the fire was fumeless and triumphant over the wood and white was its light; and as they were embracing the fifth plant, the fire gave up its breath in clouds of sparks, and streaked, and of many colors was its light; and as they were embracing the sixth plant, the fire swooned and slept, giving more heat than light, and somber was the light; yet as they were embracing the seventh plant, the fire wakened afresh in the wind of the morning, and glowed as does the late fire of the wanderer, with a light of all the colors.
Now, when the day dawned, see! where the mid-persons of the youth and the maidens had touched most closely and warmly the plants, new parts appeared to the beholders, showing, through their coverings, many colors, soft hair shrouding them, as if to make precious their beauty.
While the people gazed at these in wonder, out from the Eastland came Paíyatuma and Ténatsali of the All-colored flowers (God of the Seasons), followed by Kwélele with his flame-potent fire-wand. Paíyatuma touched the plants with the refreshing breath of his flute; Ténatsali with the flesh-renewing breath of his flowers; Kwélele, with the ripening breath of his torch, whereby the new parts were hardened, some to fruitfulness; others, being too closely touched, burned to the very heat of generative warmth, unfruitful in itself, but fruitfull making! Then, as Paíyatuma waved his flute, see! following Ténatsli, the maidens and the attendant Kwélele went forth and disappeared in the mist of the morning. As they vanished, Paíyatuma turned to where, full in the light of the rising sun, the seven plants stood. Lithe and tall he stood there beside them like a far journeyer, and said to the awed watchers:
See! you children of men andd the Mother,
You Brothers of Seed,
Elder, younger,
Look upon the seed plants of all seeds!
The grass-seeds you planted, in secret,
Were seed of the stars and the region,
Are shown in the forms of these tassels!
The plumes that you planted beside them
Were felt in the far away spaces,
Are shown in the forms of their leaf blades!
But the seed that you see growing from them,
Is the gift of my seven bright maidens,
The stars of the house of my children!
Look well, that you cherish their persons,
Nor ever change the gift of their being,
As fertile of flesh for all men
To the bearing of children for men,
Lest you lose them, to seek them in vain!
Be brothers to each other, and people;
Be happy, Priests of Corn!
See! the seed of all seed-plants is born!
As the people eagerly looked, the mists of the morning were seen to be clearing away, and gone within them, even as his voice, was Paíyatuma!
"Thanks this day," the fathers and their people said together as they looked upon the plants before them, then at the stranger people. "Indeed, you are our elder brothers, and as children and sisters, as our very mothers, will we cherish your maidens and the substance of their flesh!"
"Indeed," replied these other Seed people, "you shall become in very truth or younger brothers by eating from these plants! For even as te father said, these are the product of our hands joined with yours in labor, and of our hearts joined with yours in sacred thought." Then the ancient of the People of Dew stood in place of Paíyatuma, and spoke:
Look upon the furfilment of work you began!
Ears fully gifted with fruitage of kernels
By the warmth of our maidens
In embrace with your Rain youth;
The seed of their persons
All wrapped in sott garments
And draped with the hair
Of their full generation;
All proportioned and formed
By the touch of the Dew God;
Made complete and mature
By the touch of the Time God;
Ripened fully, as food,
By the touch of the Fire God!
First, yet last of them all
Is the plant of the Middle
With its seven-fold kernels
And hues of the embers
Is the corn of all regions,
The Í-to-pa-nah-na-kwe!
Yet the earliest quickened
By the eldest Corn maiden,
Is the corn of the North land;
Made yellow by flume-light,
The hue of the North sky
Seen in winter or gloaming,
Is the strong 'Hlúp-tsi-kwa-kwe!
Then the corn of the West land
By the next sister quickened,
Made blue by the smoke-light,
Is hued like the ocean
Or shadows of evening,
The rich 'Hlí-a-kwa-kwe!
Next, the oorn of the South land
By the third sister quickened,
Is red, like the flowers
And fruitage of summerÑ
Made so by the brand-lightÑ
Is the sweet Shí-k'ya-na-kwe!
Next the corn of the East land
The fourth sister quickened,
Is white like the milk
Which we drink in the morning
Of life; like the light
Of the dawning each morning,
Made so by full fire-light,
Is the pure K'ó-ha-kwa~kwe!
Next, the corn of the Zenith,
The fifth sister quickened
Is streaked like the sky
With the clouds and the rainbow,
Made so by the spark-light,
Is the hard K'ú-chu-a-kue!
And next is the corn of
The dark Lower regions
The sixth sister quickened;
Is black like the depth of
The earth it emerged from,
Made so by the heat-light,
Is the soft Kwí-ni-kwa-kwe!
Last, as first, is the Mid-most,
Quickened first by the seventh
Of all the Corn maidens;
Bearing grains of each color,
Made so by the embers,
And seed of thern all,
Hence, the Tém-'hla-nah-na-k'ya,
Í-to-pa-nah-na-kwe!
Thus, of the substance of all flesh is the seed of seeds, Corn! And suited to all peoples and places; yet we, brothers younger are with you, favored in the light, in that together we are its priests and keepers. Let us therefore love it and cherish it as we cherish and love our women; and it shall be the giver of milk to the youthful and of flesh to the aged, as our women folk are the givers of life to our youth and the sustainers of life in our age; for of the mother-mill of the Beloved Maidens it is filled, and of their flesh the substance. In eating the corn, your youth shall grow strong and handsome, your maidens beautiful and fruitful as the Beloved Maidens, our mothers and yours!"
"it is well!'" the fathers said. "Let us be your younger brothers and let us, therefore, clasp the warm hands of older and younger brothers, making the words oof the Father of Dawn true!"
Then the ancient of the People of the Dew replied:
It is well, younger brothers!
Dwell in peace by our firesides,
Guard the seed of our maidens
Each kind as you see it,
Apart from the others
And by lovingly toiling,
As by toiling and loving,
Men win the full favor
And heart of their maidens,
So, from year to year
You shall win by your watching
And power of beseeching,
And care for the corn-flesh
The favor and plenish
Of our seven Corn maidens.
They shall dance for the increase,
And strength of the corn-seed,
Of each grain, making many—
Each grain that you nourish
With new soil and water!
For long before you found us,
We sought for water,
Drinking dew from our father,
Like deer, on the mountains!
And for long before you found us
You wandered in hunger,
Seeking seed of the grasses,
Like birds on the mesas.
Thus,it is well, younger brothers,
That you dwell by our firesides!"
Thus were our fathers happily joined to the People of the Dew, and the many houses on the hills were now built together in the plain where first the corn plants grew abundantly; being prepared year after year by the beautiful custom of the always youthful maidens, and attended faithfully by the labors of the people and the vigils of their fathers.
©1996, Richard Hooker
For information contact: Richard Hines
Updated 6-6-1999