Story 27—
Siuuhu's Revenge:
Ocotillo Foundation House

The Wooshkam made camp here [Snaketown] and then saw that ahead of them lay a great body of water that no one could cross. The man who had made this water lived just north of here (perhaps the "tanks" north of Higley, Ariz.). The Wooshkam asked a medicine man to find out why the water was there. The medicine man was named Judum nam kum (a man that has the power of a bear).^[k] He worked and found that there was a house there [at the water

], and the house foundations were made of ocotillo (mul-luk ).^[l] He sang:

I saw ahead of me
A house which has
A foundation of muhluk.

I saw a house ahead of me
I have now learned
That this house is there
And the roof of this house
Is made of ocotillo.^[11]

The Wooshkam went down and found that there really was no water between them and the house. The man who lived at the house had fooled them to

[k] Judum Namkam, 'Bear Meeter'.

[l] Melhog , 'ocotillo' (a kind of cactus).

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make it look like there was water, which was really a mirage (co 'o at ju ki ).^[m] When they got to this house, they fought for four days and nights with no food but with water to drink. Finally they destroyed some of the people there and captured and made prisoners of the rest.