Page 244 - TheHopiIndians

236 MESA FOLK OF HOPILAND

tion of king's jester. Wupa has his moods, though.
Sometimes an air of preternatural gravity and un
speakable wisdom enwraps him ; very close behind this
mask, for such it is, lurks a mirth-provoking skit and
boisterous laugh. Like other humorists Wupa has the
fatality of being most amusing when serious. Still,
in the iridescent interworld between smiles and tears
Wupa has a romantic and sad history.
The dramatis personae woven into this history are
white men, Mexicans, Zuni Indians, and his fellow
Hopi. The first misfortune that befell Wupa was to
be born at the time when famine harried the Peaceful
People in their seven villages to the north of the Little
Colorado. Famine is an old story with the Hopi.
For two years no rain had fallen, and neither the
Snake nor the Flute dance availed to bring the good
will of their gods. The sacredly reserved corn laid up
to tide over a bad year had been eaten, and the Hopi
were in distress. They gathered the wild plants that
seem to be independent of drought, and tried to keep
soul and body together till the rain-clouds should
again sweep across the Painted Desert ; but many were
those who never saw the time of ripe corn. Many
deserted the pueblos and cast their lot among the
Navaho shepherds, the Havasupai of Cataract Canyon,
and other more fortunate tribes of friendly people.
So it happened that Wupa's mother with her hungry
babe took the well-known trail to Zuni 100 miles away,
and nerved with the strength of desperation at last