Supplement
How Nooee Killed Ee-Ee-Toy (Thin Leather)

Ee-ee-toy [I'itoi, 'Elder-Brother'] lived in the Salt River Mountain, which is called by the Awawtam [Pima-Papago] Moehahdheck,^[d] or the Brown Mountain, and whenever the girls had ceremonial dances because of their arrival at womanhood, he would come and sing the appropriate songs. And it often happened that he would tempt these young girls away to his mountain, to be his wives, but after keeping them a while he would grow tired of them and send them back.

The people disliked Ee-ee-toy because of this. And when they had crops, too, Ee-ee-toy would often shoot hot arrows through the fields and wither up the growing things;^[7] and though the people did not see him do this, they knew he was guilty, and they wanted to kill him, but they did not know how to do it.

The people talked together about how they could kill Ee-ee-toy. And two young boys there were, who were always together, and as they lay at the door of their kee [house] they heard the people talking of sending bunches of people here and there to kill Ee-ee-toy, and one said, "He is only one, we could kill

[d] Muhadag, 'Greasy'.

him ourselves." And the other one said, "Let us go and kill him, then."

So the two boys went to Moehahdheck, and found Ee-ee-toy lying asleep, and beat him with their clubs, and killed him, and then came back and told the people what they had done. But none of the people went to see the truth of this, and in the morning Ee-ee-toy came again, just as he used to do, and walked around among the people, who said among themselves, "I thought the boys said they killed him."

That same night the people went to Moehahdheck, and found Ee-ee-toy asleep, and fell upon him and killed him. And there was a pile of wood outside, and they laid him on this and set fire to the wood and burned his flesh. And feeling sure that he was now dead, they went home, but in the morning there he was, walking around alive again.

And so the people assembled again, and that night once more they killed him, and they cut his flesh up into little bits and put it in a pot and boiled it, and when it was cooked they threw it all away in different directions. But in the morning he was alive again, and the people gave it up for that time.

But after a while they were planning again how to kill him, and one of them proposed that they all go and tie him with ropes and take him to a high cliff and push him off and let him fall. And so they went

and did this, but Ee-ee-toy was not hurt at all. He just walked off when he reached the bottom and looked up at the people above him.

The next scheme was to drown him. They caught him and led him to a whirlpool and tied his hands and feet and threw him in. But he came up in a few minutes, without any ropes on, and looked at the people, and then dived, and so kept on coming up and diving down. And then the people, seeing that they could not drown him, went home once more.

Then Nooee [Buzzard] called the people together and said, "It is of no use for you to try to kill Ee-ee-toy, for you cannot kill him. He is too powerful for me to kill. He has power over the winds, and all the animals, and he knows all that is going on inside the mountains, and in the sky. And I have power something like him." So Nooee told the people to come in, that evening, to his house. He said, "I will show you part of my power, and I want everyone to see it."

Nooee lived not far from where Ee-ee-toy did, south of the Moehahdheck mountain, at a place called Nooee Vahahkkee,^[e] and that was where he invited

[e] Ñu:wi Wa'aki, 'Buzzard Great-house'. On my theory, since Buzzard is solar power, this place should not be called a wa'aki. I stay with the opinion that an association with water is primary to the meaning of wa 'aki. I think that this place is called by that term because of its important role in Hohokam mythical history. And I will wager that no one calls Buzzard a siwañ, 'chief', that is, no Pima says "Ñu:wi Siwañ Wa'aki," Buzzard Chief Great-house.

the people to come. When the people assembled there, Nooee made earth in his habitation, and mountains on it, and all things on it, in little [miniature] as we say, so that the people could see his power; for Juhwerta Mahkai [Earth Doctor] had made him to have power, though he had not cared to use it. And he made a little world in his house for them to look at, with sun, moon, and stars working just as our sun and stars work; and everything was exactly like our world.

When night came, Nooee pushed the darkness back with his hands and spread it on the walls, so that the people could see the little world and how it worked. And he was there four days and four nights, showing this wonder to the people. After this Nooee flew up through the openings in the roof of his house, and sat there, and saw the sun rise.

As soon as the sun rose, Nooee flew toward it, and flew up and up, higher and higher, until he could see Ee-ee-toy's heart. And he wore a big nose ring, as all the brave people did, a nose ring of turquoise. But from his high view he saw that everything looked green, and he knew he could not kill Ee-ee-toy that day.

The next day he did the same thing, only he wore a new nose ring, made of sparkling shell. And when he got up high enough to see Ee-ee-toy's heart he saw that the ground looked dry, and he was much

pleased, for he knew that now he would, someday, kill Ee-ee-toy. And he went home.

The third morning Nooee again put on his nose ring of glittering shell and flew up to meet the Sun, and he flew up and up until he came to the Sun Himself. And Nooee said to the Sun, "You know, there is a person on earth, called Ee-ee-toy, who is very bad, and I want to kill him, and I want your help, and this is the reason I come to you." And Nooee said to the Sun, "Now you go back, and let me shine in your place, and I will give just as much light as you do, but let me have your vi-no-me-gaht,^[f] your gun, to shoot with when I get around to your home." And the Sun said, "Moe-vah Sop-hwah,^[g] that is all right. But I always go down over yonder mountain, and when you get to that mountain, just stop and look back and see how the world looks."

And Nooee took the Sun's place and went down that evening over the mountain, stopping as he was told to see how wonderful the world looked; and when he came to the Sun's home, the Sun gave him the weapon he shot with.

The next morning Nooee rose in place of the Sun, and after rising a bit he shot at the earth, and it became very hot. And before noon he shot again,

[f] Wainom Ga:t, 'Iron [or perhaps any metal except gold] Gun.' Ga:t means either "bow" or "gun" ( = lethal shooting device). Note that Smith-Allison have Buzzard use a bow, made of unspecified material.

[g] Am o wa s-ap 'e , 'It's good', 'It's OK'.

and it was still hotter. And Ee-ee-toy knew now that he was going to be killed, but he tried to use all his power to save himself. He ran around and came to a pond where there had always been ice, and he jumped in to cool himself, but it was all boiling water. When it was nearly noon Nooee shot again, and it became terribly hot, and Ee-ee-toy ran for a rock which had always been cold, but just before he got there the heat made the rock burst. And he ran to a tree whose cool shade he had often enjoyed, but as he came near it the tree burst into flame, and he had to turn back.

Now it was noon and Nooee shot again. Ee-ee-toy ran to a great post, all striped around with black and white, which had been made by his power, and which had a hollow that was always cool inside. He was about to put his arms around it when he fell down and died.

So Ee-ee-toy was dead, and Nooee went down to his setting and returned the weapon to the Sun and then went home to his vavahkkee. (Lloyd 1911: 125–130)