Story 18—
Siuuhu's Revenge:
Jackrabbit Eaters
They moved on and made camp at four places. At the last one they asked the medicine men to look over this way. He sat down and saw some Jackrabbit Eaters (do a quoi duk ).[m] He saw one of their sharp-shooters go out and kill a deer, and he sang:
Who was this man that
Killed the deer
It was the man wind
Who is coming
In a black shadow.
Who was this man
Reached the deer
[l] Possibly baiyoka , 'bead', 'pendant', 'necklace'. In any case, this does not look like any word that I know for feather, plume, peacock, or parrot. Recall, however, that Thin Leather's story of the Witch has both turquoise and a parrot in its preliminary portion; and turquoise would be the prime material for beads, pendants, and necklaces.
[m] Probably Tua Kuadag, 'White Eaters', because one kind of jackrabbit is commonly called "white jackrabbit" (tua cu:wi ). These people, commonly called Cu:wi Kuadam, 'Jackrabbit Eaters', are a kind or subgroup of Hohokam, that is, a subgroup of the prehistoric inhabitants of Pima-Papago country. Another possibility for this expression is To:bi Kuadag, 'Cotton-tail [rabbit] Eaters', but Allison's translation negates this.
It was the cloud man
And there he shines.
Among the Jackrabbit Eaters was a medicine woman as powerful as the medicine man [of the emergents] who saw them. She knew that trouble was getting closer, so she worked to make wind to make trouble for them. She sang:
I am calling the wind
And that wind
Is going to twist them.
I am calling the clouds
And that cloud
Is going to dampen their arrows.[16]
It is true that wind and rain came, and everything was soaking wet. Then the woman gathered all her relatives and went toward the south. One of the Wooshkam medicine men saw this and told his boys to go for four days; inside of four days they might be able to meet them. He sang:
Right now you are going
Where the sun is right
Above our heads.
You are going to meet
The enemies.
Right now you are going to run
And find out.
And before the setting of the sun
You will find the enemies.
So they tried to catch the enemies, but they disappeared and were saved. Some others [searchers
When they had destroyed all the [contacted Jackrabbit