Story 19—
Siuuhu's Revenge:
Buzzard
The older [emergent] people held a meeting because some [Jackrabbit Eaters] had escaped. They worked and made a Kal da kum ,[18] a bird, something like a nighthawk, and sent him over here [present-day Pima-Papago country]. They did so because it was this bird's habit to land in the winter and lay there for the year [season
The Kal da kum bird
Is going
And he is going
To lay for my enemies.
The Kal da kum bird
Is running
And he is going
To lay for my enemies.
The bird came here among the [enemy] people, and they heard him singing this song at night. When winter came he lay down, and the same happened to these people. They all wanted to lie down because the bird held down their strength.
Another Wooshkam [emergent] made a bird called gi i sop ,[n] a small bird that makes a nest like a basket with a hole in the side. He sent him here, and he sang:
Blue oriole
You are going
With some understanding
To have found the enemies
And are putting them to sleep.
When this bird got here, he made a nest before sundown and went in the nest and went to sleep. So it was with the people, everyone went to sleep.
[n] Gi:supi, 'black-phoebe-bird'. See footnote j, part 3, on Thin Leather's Corn and Tobacco story. These birds are like orioles in that they build mud nests, but in my experience Pima-Papago have a different word for orioles, wajukuk. The latter are yellow and black, while the phoebes are gray and black. Smith's song, however, is about a blue "oriole/phoebe," which, I take it, is a mythical magical bird that we cannot see.
Meanwhile the Wooshkam planned to split into four companies. They would not go all together this time. They sang:
We are now going
We are going to split up
Into four companies
You see the lights
And you call it a whirlwind
Though you don't know.
The Wooshkam came down this way and asked another medicine man to look ahead and find out what was going on. He sang:
Now I am seeing you
I am now holding a soft feather
And I can clearly see
My enemies
And with this
I am lighting the earth.
I am seeing my enemies
I have strung out some beads
And with these beads
I am running
I am looking at my enemies.[19]
The medicine man looked over here. He saw the men go out, and he saw Buzzard go out and straight up in the air. The medicine man sent some people
with the power of eagle and hawk to catch Buzzard in the air, for he knew he was headed for a hole in the sky and liberty.
Meanwhile Sivain [not Buzzard] created fog to cover the earth, so the Wooshkam got another medicine man who had power with his cane. The cane man pointed this way [toward Siwain's settlement], but he couldn't see anything for the fog. He sang:
My bright cane
I am pointing
And it could not shine.
He rubbed the cane with his hand and pointed it again, but he still couldn't see. Then they asked another medicine man to try. This man made an owl which he sent this way to the [enemy] people, and he sang:
The grey owl
Who is a medicine man
He went
And found our enemies
And he don't feel like sleeping.
The grey owl is now running
And he found our enemies
And he spoilt your memory.[20]
So it was true, the owl came close to the Hohokam houses making a noise that they didn't know. They
were superstitious because the owl didn't belong there.
The Wooshkam traveled and made a camp at sunset. They asked for another medicine man. This one looked and saw some people and saw their chief [Sivain
After I got here
And from here I looked over
And I saw my enemies.
Hohokam kotam I see.
After I got here
From here I looked over
And I saw my enemies
Hohokam nom-tam [not "nom kam," as above
see.
They moved down and came to these people and destroyed them all and made their home there.
They decided to spare some of their [present] enemies' lives, but they would make them fight for them. So, Buzzard had been traveling up, but just before he reached the hole in the sky, his enemies
[o] The "soan kam" of the first phrase could include s-uam , 'yellow'; and the "nom kam" of the second could be namkam , 'meeter', 'one-who-meets-something', but these are just guesses.
[Wooshkam Eagle and Hawk soldiers] caught him alive.
They brought Buzzard to the Wooshkam camp, and tied his hands and feet together, and set him among the people. All the people made fun of him and called him a powerful medicine man to make fun. The women came and spit on him and burned him and called him names. (They burned a wooden splint and stuck it in his flesh.) They sang songs for him:
(First word not understood),
Why are you going to die
We are going to hang the skin on your head.
(Next song is hard to say. It means the same as
before, and mentions Sivain and curses Buzzard.)
Meanwhile the elder people held meetings to discuss the punishment of Buzzard. Some wanted to drown him, and others wanted to burn him alive. Buzzard prayed to the people who asked them not to punish him too hard. He said, "If you leave me alive, I might be of some use to you." The majority of the people agreed because they knew of his great understanding, but some still wanted to kill him.
They argued for four days, and those who didn't want his death won. So they set Buzzard in the middle [of the ground] and cut around his head. The skin slid down to his neck and that is why his head
is red today. They cut his head [hair or feathers] and hung it on a stick, that is, the top of his head was skinned and put on a stick. They gave Buzzard a rattle and told him to sing to the skin of his head. This was his punishment for killing Siuuhu.
Buzzard did not really mean to help the people, and he had a plot against them. He breathed on his hand and put it on the rattle, and the breath was the sign of his wicked scheme. Then he stood up and rattled the rattle and sang two songs (which are not understood or translatable).
Buzzard sang for four days and nights. This was a great joy for the Wooshkam. They did not give him food or drink for eight days, four days of arguing and four days of dancing. He sang and danced all that time without any rest. This was to suffer for what he had done.
The people dancing with Buzzard took turns to eat and rest. At that time it was the same month as now [when this story is told, April 1935], and the squawberries were plentiful for food. It happened that a young woman went to her home to eat berries. When she finished, she got up and returned to the dance. Her husband asked her if she was going to dance again, and she said that she was.
Her husband thought that maybe she didn't do right at the dance but might be going with another man. This thought came from the breath that Buzzard
had made on the rattle handle, which caused jealousy. So the husband said bad things about his wife. The language was so bad that it must not be repeated.
One of the chief medicine men found out that Buzzard did something, and he told Siuuhu. Siuuhu said he knew what Buzzard had done, and he remembered that Earth Doctor said he must give permission before something is done to Buzzard. He remembered because Earth Doctor had promised to help him. So Earth Doctor gave Siuuhu something with which to take away all of Buzzard's power. It made him into something useless that must eat rotten stuff for food and that is easy for anyone to kill.