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animals guarding the trail to this treasure. Seeing the young man's courage, Spider Woman decided to help him, so she gave him some magic liquid which he threw out over the waters. Immediately it made a rainbow trail across to the other house. Spider Woman jumped upon the young man's ear and together they started across the rainbow path. Hardly had they started when they met a huge mountain lion that growled fiercely as they approached. The young man threw a green bahos to the lion and sprinkled some of the Spider Woman's magic liquid on the creature. Immediately it became quiet and they were allowed to pass. Farther on they came upon a bear, then a wild cat, then a wolf and finally a rattlesnake, all of which they pacified in the same manner. When they arrived at the house they found it to be a large rectangular building with a ladder down through the roof, the sort of building Hopis call a kiva-a ceremonial chamber. The young man, with Spider Woman still riding on his ear, descended the ladder into the kiva and there they found a large number of men wearing blue kilts and sitting around the sides of the room. Around their necks they wore many beads and their faces were painted.
The young man sat down by the fireplace. No one spoke for a long time. The men all looked at him. Finally the Chief arose and filled a pipe with tobacco and lit it. He smoked four times, then handed the pipe to the young man, telling him to smoke a certain way. The latter did so, and the chiefs and the other men were surprised to find that he knew the magic way to smoke. They welcomed him to their kiva, saying: "Your heart is strong and good. You are one of us. Welcome!" The young man presented them with green bahos with red points and some sacred eagle feathers prepared by the old chiefs of his own tribe. On the walls of the kiva were hanging many costumes all made of the skins of great snakes. The Chief said to the others: "Let us dress up now," They turned the young man around so that be could not watch them as they put on their magic costumes. When they turned him back again, he found that all the men had turned into snakes. They were huge rattlesnakes and little snakes of various colors and they were moving about on the floor - hissing, rattling and making a mighty noise! Spider Woman whispered to him: "Be brave! They are going to test you. Be not afraid of the snakes. They will not harm you. Do as I tell you." The snakes had by their magic turned a very beautiful young maid into a yellow rattlesnake. They told the young man that he must select her out of all the snakes in the kiva. And if he were wise enough to do this they would teach him their magic and give him many beads and coral. The young man gazed on all the snakes, but he could not in any way determine which might be the maiden, He was about to give up when Spider Woman whispered: "There she is, That yellow rattlesnake!" The instant he named the yellow rattlesnake it changed into the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. At once he knew she was to be his wife. That night the chiefs taught the young man all about their snake religion, their dances, their songs and told him how they made their altar and their costumes. The next day they made a rainbow path back to the house of the old woman of the western sea who is the guardian of all hard things. The young man gave her a bahos and in return she presented him a turquoise bead from a room in the north side of her house, a white shell bead from an eastern |
room, a reddish bead
from a southern room and another turquoise bead from a western room. Then she
put into a small sack all kinds of beads for him to take home, but she made him
promise not to open the sack until he got there. After leaving the room of the old woman of the western sea, the young man returned to the Snake people. When he climbed down the ladder into the kiva, the Chief said: "You have won our friendship and the love of my daughter. Take her with you as your wife and return to your people." Then he gave the young man fine clothes and much food for his journey back. The two were very happy on their long trip overland back to the home of the young man, but every morning they were astounded to find that their bag of beads increased in weight. Finally, it was so heavy that they could hardly carry it. The young man wanted to look inside for he was very curious. His wife cautioned him against doing so, but he felt strong and defied her and opened the sack. There were hundreds of beads. The young man was delighted. He put strings of them around his neck. He played with them through his fingers. But in the morning they found that all the beads had disappeared except the original ones given him by the old woman of the western sea. That is why the Hopis now have so few beads. At last the young man and his wife reached home safely. They were happy and had many children to whom they taught the ceremony of the Snake people, thus starting the Snake clan which exists among the Hopi Indians to this day and whose people every summer offer the Snake Dance as a prayer for rain.
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