Page 195 - TheHopiIndians

MESA FOLK OP HOPILAND 187

the air and as the weapon passed under him he
caught it in his hand. Chaveyo then flung his light
ning at the hero, but one of the Twins caught this
as he had the weapon. The little war-god now flung
his weapon at Chaveyo, but it glanced off his flint
shirt. Then the Youth threw the lightning, but it
only staggered him. After this they threw more
lightning at Chaveyo, which knocked him down and
killed him outright.
Another story tells how the Twins visited the sun.
The Twins lived with Spider Woman, their mother,
on the west side of Mt. Taylor, and desired to see the
home of their father. Spider Woman gave them as a
charm a kind of meal, and directed that when they met
the guardians of the home of the Sun, to chew a little
and spurt it upon them.
The Twins journeyed far to the sunrise where the
Sun's home is entered through a canyon in the sky.
There Bear, Mountain Lion, Snake, and Canyon Clos
ing keep watch. The sky is solid in this place, and the
walls of the entrance are constantly opening and clos
ing, and would crush any unauthorized person who
attempted to pass through.
As the Twins approached the ever-fierce watchers,
the trail lay along a narrow way; they found it led
them to a place on one side of which was the face of a
vertical cliff, and on the other a precipice which sunk
sheer to the Below (Underworld). An old man sat
there, with his back against the wall and his knees