92. THE SPARROW-HAWK AND THE GRASSHOPPERS. 2

The Traditions of the Hopi, by H.R. Voth, [1905], at sacred-texts.com

Halíksai! A long time ago a Sparrow-Hawk lived at Kâlâ'tipka, somewhat northwest of Oraíbi. The Sparrow-Hawk had some children, so every day the Sparrow-Hawk mother would go to hunt Some food for her children. Close by were many grasshoppers.

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These the Sparrow-Hawk would capture and take them to her nest for her brood. At other times she would go and hunt some Prayer Beetles (hohóyahtu). The mothers of the Beetles and of the Grasshoppers were very unhappy. They saw that the young Sparrow-Hawks were growing fast but their children were disappearing.

One morning the Grasshopper mother sneaked out of her house and looked up and saw the Sparrow-Hawk mother sitting again near her nest. The Sparrow-Hawk mother saw the Grasshopper and swooped down upon it and caught it. The Grasshopper mother began to moan in the following manner:

Takakâlâtu Manakâlâtu
(The) man Sparrow-Hawks, maiden Sparrow-Hawks,
Itimui yukumanta
My children have gotten.
Oh! Oh!

The Sparrow-Hawk then released the Grasshopper mother and returned to her nest. Soon some Hopi children came along and began to capture the little Grasshoppers. The Grasshopper mother, seeing it, told them they should not take them, but they should go and catch the young Sparrow-Hawks and take them along. So they went to the house of the Sparrow-Hawk and took the young Sparrow-Hawks and took them along to the village.

Footnotes

231:2 Told by Wíkvaya (Oraíbi).