Cliff Dwellers

Previously:

The Traveler has taken part in a horrific Indian Massacre.

Chapter 15

The Hopi Indians lived in New Mexico, where they stayed in caves high up in cliffs. They must have been afraid of something. Why else would they live up there? They said the caves were built by ancient people that once ruled the earth, but they were all killed when they offended The Great Spirit.

They had rope ladders they used to climb to get up to their homes. Every evening, they would pull the ladders up behind them so no one could climb up and get into their cave at night. Every home had a pile of rocks by the entrance that the Indians could drop down on anyone trying to climb the cliff. I didn't see the need for this. No one could climb straight up those walls.

 I guess the Hopi had to climb them the first time, but Indians were pretty good at shape-shifting. They could have turned themselves into spiders and scampered up to their cave, turned themselves back into Indians, and then let ropes down for the others. It seemed like a lot of trouble. I thought it would be easier to just live on the ground. If they needed shade, they could just move around a big rock to stay out of the sun. 

In the evening, I made a fire. I never understood how it could be so hot during the day, and then turn cold at night. Someday I plan to ask God about it. I laid out my bedroll and lay down. I always enjoyed sleeping outside. I never saw the point of living in a cave or a house for that matter. Why sleep in the dark, when God has given us a perfectly good sky, full of wondrous sights.

There's nothing better than watching a shooting star blaze across the sky or a comet with its long fiery tail. I wondered what they would look like close up but then decided they probably looked better from a distance. I imagine they're hundreds of miles away, farther than I would want to go.

I was taking in all God's beauty when it started to rain. Big drops of water coming down hard. I pulled my hat down. It's all good, I said to myself. It's all good. In the morning, everything was fresh and new. The cloud of dust that usually hovered over everything was gone. It would be back in a couple of hours, but for now, there was a brief respite. It didn't rain very often in New Mexico, so it was a welcome change.

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The Indians had chants that they repeated all the time. They called them sings. I never could make sense of them. They just said the same words over and over. They didn't make any sense to me, but they seemed to understand them. Straw Man told me the chants were spells that would bring blessings or protection from evil men, but unless you were an Indian, the spells wouldn't work for you, so I never bothered to learn any.

Straw Man was the tribe historian. They called him Straw Man on account of his yellow complexion. The Indians thought because of his strange appearance he would make a fine medicine man, but he wasn't very good at it. What he was good at was remembering things. So, they filled him up with stories of the Hopis’ past. He could sit for hours and recite tales of the Indians' exploits. He was proud of the Hopi and was always eager to tell his stories to someone new, and since I was new, he always sought me out for a history lesson.

Straw Man said, “Corn was the Mother of the Hopi. Without corn, there was no food.”

I guess that was true. They didn't get much rain in New Mexico. The Indians would perform the Social Dance to make it rain more. Sometimes it worked, but mostly not.

Most of Straw Man's stories were interesting. Like his story about creation. Hopi accounts of creation center around Tawa, the Sun Spirit. Tawa was the creator, and it was he who formed the "First World" out of Tokpella, or endless space, as well as its original inhabitants.

It was traditional for Hopi mothers to seek a blessing from the sun for their newborn children. Other accounts have it that Taiowa, first created Sotuknang, whom he called his nephew. Taiowa then sent Sotuknang to create the nine universes according to his plan, and it was Sotuknang who created Spider Woman. Spider Woman served as a messenger for the creator and was an intercessor between the deity and the people. It was she who created all life.

Masauwu, Skeleton Man, was the Spirit of Death, Earth God, doorkeeper to the Fifth World, and the Keeper of Fire. He was also the Master of the Upper World, or the Fourth World, and was there when the good people escaped the wickedness of the Third World for the promise of the Fourth.

At this point, I started to lose count of all the worlds, but Straw Man knew them all. I dozed off while he was still counting worlds. The stories were interesting, but after awhile a man can get his fill even of steak.

I began avoiding Straw Man. Whenever I saw him coming, I went the other way. Sometimes, he would run after me, and then I was in for another story.

One day, Straw Man was in the middle of one of his stories when he just keeled over dead. That was the first time I ever saw it happen that way. I suppose The Great Spirit heard the story one too many times.

This was the west for Straw Man, an Indian historian.

To be continued . . .