95. THE RED EAGLE AND THE OWL. 2

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

Over yonder at Owl Gulch (Móngwupcövö) lived a large Owl with her children, and north of there at a bluff lived a Red Eagle (Palikwyaho), who also had children. The two were great friends. The Eagle always hunted during the day. He often told his friend to go with him on a hunt, but as his friend, the Owl, could not go during the day, they never hunted together. One time the Eagle visited his friend and found the latter sound asleep during the day. He sat down and waited. Finally he scratched the Owl a little with his

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talons, but the Owl did not notice it. He then took hold of his eyebrows and lifted his eyelids, but the Owl did not notice anything, He then took hold of the whiskers of the Owl and pulled out a few hairs, whereupon the Owl got awake, saying, "Ishana! Why do you do that way to me?" "We wanted to go hunting," the Eagle replied, "and now you are sleeping. You get up and we shall go hunting."

The Owl was willing and so the two went out. The Eagle took hold of the Owl so that the latter should not go to sleep again. They went into the valley east of Oraíbi to hunt. Here they found a party of Oraíbi who were also hunting, and who were following a. rabbit. The Eagle, seeing the rabbit, swooped down on it and carried it to the top of the bluff close by. The Oraíbi, seeing it, very were angry. The Eagle then returned and hunted for his friend, the Owl, and after searching for him for some time found him sitting at the edge of a steep bank of the wash, sleeping. He said to the Owl, "Why are you sleeping here again; they will certainly kill you." But the Owl did not hear anything.

Then two Oraíbi boys from the hunting party came near and one said to the other, "Listen! somebody is talking to some one here;" whereupon they saw an Eagle flying up and an Owl sitting at the rim of the bank, sleeping. The boys had bows and arrows and one of them put an arrow on his bow, aimed, and shot the Owl through the head, so that the bird tumbled down into the wash. The Eagle, who was flying around above them, was angry and said, "There he was sleeping, and now this happened to him." The two boys carried the Owl home, the other hunters also going home, and the Eagle then lived in his house all alone.

Footnotes

234:1 Told by Pûhûnömtiwa (Oraíbi).

234:2 Told by Kwáyeshva (Oraíbi).