Page 210 - TheHopiIndians

202 MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND

member "Masi'' in his cheerful days, before warning
shadow fell across his sunny spirit In those days he
was a genuine Hopi, a little boisterous, perhaps, but
truly openhearted. No man in all the tribe could re
late more vividly the legendary history of the old
times, hence Masi stands to all who knew him as the
exponent of Hopi traditions. Often summer even
ings, returning from his fields he would tarry at the
camp of the white people at the Sun Spring for a
friendly smoke and chat. Here under the genial in
fluences, led on by skillful questioning, he would un
fold many a tale as interesting as those of an Eastern
storyteller, till the sunset faded and the bright stars
twinkled in the clear night sky.
One of his stories gives an idea of the happenings
in Hopiland some centuries ago. At that time the
people suffered from the attacks of the bands of
Apache, who came out of their hunting grounds to the
south in search of trouble. The trails to the mesa
were closed and the Hopi went up and down the pre
cipitous rock sides by means of a ladder which could
be drawn up in time of danger. Masi could not avoid
painting the prowess of the Hopi in strong colors
while he described the last attack the Apache made
when his grandfather was a boy. He gesticulated ex
citedly as though he were giving the death-blow to
each of the fallen enemy that had fled before the
valiant Hopi, and his hearer caught the contagion of
his enthusiasm and slew with him the hated foe.