A long time ago the people were living below. There were a great many
of them, but they were often quarreling with one another. So the chiefs,
who were worried and angry over this, had a council and concluded that
they would try to find another place to live. So they first sent out a
bird named Mótsni, to find a place of exit from this world. He flew up
high but was too weak and returned without having been successful. They
then sent the Mocking-bird (Yáhpa). He was strong and flew up very high
and found a place of exit. Returning, he reported this to the chiefs.

In the meanwhile the chiefs had caused a great flood. Many
Bálölölkongwuus came out of the ground with the water, and a great portion of the
people were destroyed. When the Mocking-bird had made his report to the
chiefs the latter said: "All right, that is good. We are going away
from here.'' They then announced through the crier that in four days they
would leave, and that the women should prepare some food, and after
they had eaten on the fourth day they would all assemble at the place
right under the opening which the Mocking-bird had found. This was done.

The chiefs then planted a pine-tree (calávi), sang around it, and by
their singing made it to grow very fast. It grew up to the opening which
the Yáhpa had found, and when the chiefs tried and shook it, they found
that it was fairly strong, but not strong enough for many people to
climb up on, especially its branches, which were very thin. So they
planted another kind of pine (lö'oqö), sang around it, and made it also to
grow up fast. This tree and its branches was much stronger than the
other, but while the first one had grown through the opening, this one did
not reach it entirely, its uppermost branches and twigs spreading out
sideways before they reached the opening. Hereupon they planted in the
same manner a reed (bákavi), which proved to be strong, and also grew
through the opening like the calávi. Finally they planted a sunflower
(áhkawau), and as it was moist where they planted it, it also grew up very
fast and to a great size, its leaves also being very large; but the
sunflower did not reach the opening. Its very large disk protruded
downward before it reached the opening. The sunflower was covered with little
thorns all over. Now they were done with this.

Hereupon Spider Woman, Pöokónghoya, his brother Balö'ongawhoya, and the
Mocking-bird that had found the opening, climbed up on the calávi in
the order mentioned. After they had emerged through the opening,
Pöokónghoya embraced the calávi, his brother the reed, both holding them firmly
that they should not shake when the people were climbing up. The
Mocking-bird sat close by and sang a great many songs, the songs that are
still chanted at the Wúwûchim ceremony. Spider Woman was also sitting
close by watching the proceedings. Now the people began to climb up, some
on the calávi, others on the lö'oqö, still others on the ahkavu and on
the bákavi. As soon as they emerged, the Mocking-bird assigned them
their places and gave them their languages. To one he would say: "You shall
be a Hopi, and that language you shall speak." To another: "You shall
be a Navaho, and you shall speak that language." And to a third: "You
shall be an Apache, a Mohave, a Mexican,", etc., including the White Man.
The language spoken in the underworld had been that of the following
Pueblo Indians: Kawáhykaka, Ákokavi, Kátihcha, Kótiyti; these four
branches of the Pueblo Indians speaking essentially the same language.

In the under-world the people had been very bad, there being many
sorcerers and dangerous people, just like there are in the villages to-day
who are putting diseases into the people. Of these Pópwaktu, one also
found his way out with the others. The people kept coming out, and before
they were all out the songs of the Mocking-bird were exhausted. "Hapí!
pai shúlahti! Now! (my songs) are gone," and at once the people who
were still on the ladders commenced returning to the under-world, but a
very great many had already come out, an equally large number having
remained in the under-world, but the Kík-mongwi from below was with the
others that came out of the kiva. The people who had emerged remained
around the sípapu, as the opening was, and has ever since been called.

At this time no sun existed and it was dark everywhere. The half-grown
son of the Kík-mongwi took sick and died, so they buried him. His
father was very angry. "Why has some Powáka come out with us?" he said. "We
thought we were living alone and wanted to get away from those
dangerous men. That is the reason why we have come out, and now one has come
with us." Hereupon he called all the people together and said: "On whose
account have I lost my child? I am going to make a ball of this fine
com-meal and throw it upward, and on whose head that ball alights, him I
shall throw down again through the sípapu." Hereupon he threw the ball
upward to a great height, the people all standing and watching.When it
came down it fell upon the head of some one and was shattered. "Ishohí!
so you are the one," the chief said to him. But as it happened this was
the chief's nephew (his younger sister's son). "My nephew, so you are
núkpana (dangerous); why have you come out with us? We did not want any
bad ones here, and now you have come with us. I am going to throw you
back again." So he grabbed him in order to throw him back. "Wait," he
said, "wait! am going to tell you something." "I am going to throw you
back," the chief replied. ''Wait," his nephew said again, "until I tell
you some thing. You go there to the sípahpuni and you look down. There
he is walking." "No, he is not," the chief replied, "I am not going to
look down there, he is dead." But he went and looked down and there he
saw his boy running around with other children, still showing the signs
of the head washing which the Hopi practice upon the dead immediately
after death. "Yes, it is true, it is true," the chief said, "truly there
he is going about." "So do not throw me down there," his nephew said,
"that is the way it will be. If any one dies he will go down there. Let
me remain with you, I am going to tell you some more." Then the chief
consented and let his nephew remain.

It was still dark, and as there was no sunshine it was also cold, and
the people began to look for fire and for wood, but as it was so dark,
they could find very little wood. They thus lived there a while without
fire, but all at once they saw a light in the distance and the chief
said: "Some one go there and see about it." When they had still been in
the lower world they had occasionally heard footsteps of some one up
above. So some one went in search of the light, but before he had reached
it he became tired and returned. Another was sent and he got there. He
found a field in which corn, watermelons, beans, etc., were planted.
All around this field a fire was burning, which was kept up by wood, and
by which the ground was kept warm so that the plants could grow. The
messenger found a very handsome man there. He had four strands of
turquoise around his neck and very large turquoise ear pendants. In his face
he had two black lines running from the upper part of his nose to his
cheeks, and made with specular iron. By his side was standing his friend
(a mask) which looked very ugly, with large open eye-holes and a large
mouth. So it was Skeleton (Másauwuu) whom they had heard walking about
from the other world. "Who are you?" Skeleton asked the messenger.
''Where do you come from?" "Yes," he replied, "we have come from below, and
it is cold here. We are freezing and we have no fire.

"You go and tell your people and then you all come here to me." So he
returned and the people asked him: "Now, what have you found out? Have
you found anybody?" "Yes," he said, "I have found somebody and he has a
good crop there." Skeleton had fed the messenger with some of his good
things which he had there. The people had not brought much food with
them from below and so they had not very much left. The people were very
glad for this invitation and went to the place where Skeleton lived.
But when they saw the small field they thought: "Well, that will be gone
in a very short time," but Skeleton always planted and the food was
never gone. When they came there they gathered some wood and built a fire
and then they warmed themselves and were happy. Skeleton gave them
roasting ears, and watermelons, melons, squashes, etc., and they ate and
refreshed themselves. Some of the plants were very small yet, others
still larger, so that they always had food.

So the people remained there, made fields, and they always kept up a
fire near the fields, which warmed the ground so that they could raise a
crop. When the crop had matured they gathered it all in, and when they
now had provisions they planned to start off again, but there was still
no sun, and it was cold. So they talked about this, saying: "Now, it
ought not remain this way." So the chiefs all met in council with
Skeleton, and talked this matter over in order to see whether they could not
make a sun as they had had it in the underworld, but they did not just
know how to do it. So they finally took a piece of dressed buffalo hide
(hâkwávu), which they cut in a round shape, stretched it over a wooden
ring, and then painted it with white dû'ma (kaoline). They then
pulverized some black paint (tóho)[1] with which they drew a picture of the
moon around the edge of this disk, sprinkling the center of the disk with
the same black color. They then attached a stick to this disk. Hereupon
they stretched a large piece of white native cloth (möchápu) on the
floor and placed this disk on it. All these objects they had brought with
them from the under-world.

They then selected some one (the story does not say whom) and directed
him to stand on this moon symbol. Hereupon the chiefs took the cloth by
it, corners, swung it back and forth, and then threw it upward, where
it continued swiftly flying eastward into the sky. So the people sat and
watched. All at once they noticed that it became light in the east.
Something was burning there as they thought. The light became brighter and
brighter, and something came up in the east. It rose higher and higher,
and where the people were it

became lighter and lighter. So now they could go about and they were
happy. That turned out to be the moon, and though it was light, the light
was only dim and the people , when working in the fields, would still
occasionally cut off their plants because they could not see very
distinctly, and it was still cold and the people were freezing, and they
still had to keep the ground warm with fires. So. the people were thinking
about it. The chiefs again met in council, and said: "Ishohí! It is
better already, it is light, but it is not quite good yet. it is still
cold. Can we not make something better?" They concluded that perhaps the
buffalo skin was not good, and that it was too cold, so they decided
that this time they would take a piece of möchápu. They again cut out a
round piece, stretched it over a ring, but this time painted it with
oxide of copper (cákwa). They painted eyes and a mouth on the disk, and
decorated the forehead of what this was to resemble in yellow, red, and
other colors. They put a ring of corn-husks around it, which were worked
in a zigzag fashion. Around this they tied a táwahona, that is, a
string of red horse-hair, finally thrusting a number of eagle-tail feathers
into a corn-husk ring, fastened to the back of the disk. In fact, they
prepared a sun symbol as it is still worn on the back of the flute
players in the Flute ceremony. To the forehead of the face painted on the
disk they tied an abalone shell. Finally the chief made nakwákwosis of
the feathers of a small yellowish bird, called iráhoya, which resembles
a fly-catcher, but has some red hair on top of the head.

Of these nakwákwosis the chief tied one to the point of each eagle-tail
feather on the sun symbol. They then placed this symbol on the white
cloth again, again asked some one to stand on it, and, as in the case of
the moon, they swung the cloth with its contents into the air, where it
kept twirling upward and upward towards the east. Soon they again saw a
light rise in the east. It became brighter and brighter and warmer.
That proved to be the sun, and it had not come up very high when the Hopi
already felt its warmth. After the sun had been created and was rising
day after day, the people were very happy, because it was now warm and
very light, so that they could attend to their work very well. The
children were running around and playing. They were now thinking of moving
on. They had a great many provisions by this time, and so the chiefs
again met in a council to talk the matter over. "Let us move away from
here," the chiefs said; "let us go eastward and see where the sun rises,
but let us not go all together. Let some take one route, others
another, and others still further south, and then we shall see who arrives at
the place where the sun rises first. So the people started. The White
People took a southern route, the Hopi a more northern, and between them
traveled what are now the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico. Often certain
parties would remain at certain places, sometimes for several years.
They would build houses and plant.

Soon they became estranged from each other, and would begin to attack
and kill one another. The Castilians were especially bad, and made wars
on other people. When starting, the chiefs had agreed that as soon as
one of the parties should reach the place where the sun rises, many
stars would fall from the sky, and when that would happen all the traveling
parties should remain and settle down where they would be at that time.
The White People having taken a southern route, were more gifted than
the other people. When they had become very tired carrying their
children and their burdens, one of the women bathed herself and took the
scales that she had rubbed off from her body and made horses of these
scales. These horses they used after that for traveling, so that they could
proceed very much faster. In consequence of this they arrived at the
place where the sun rises before any of the other parties arrived there.
And immediately many stars fell from the sky. "Aha!" the people said who
were still traveling; "Some one has already arrived." Hereupon they
settled down where they were. It had also been agreed upon before the
different parties started, that whenever those who did not reach the place
where the sun rises should be molested by enemies, they should notify
those who had arrived at the sunrise, and the latter, would then come
and help them.