Page:The Pima Indians.pdf/225

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220
THE PIMA INDIANS
[ETH. ANN. 26

When Eagle was away Earth Doctor climbed the cliffs to his house, singing as he ascended:

Up the cliff, steep and smooth,
Up the cliff, steep and smooth,
Up the cliff, steep and smooth,
Climbs Elder Brother.
With his shining power,
Up the cliff, steep and smooth,
Up the cliff, steep and smooth,
He climbs, step by step.

He then carried on the following conversation with Eagle's wife:

"Can this baby talk?"

"No; he doesn't say very much and doesn't seem to know anything; he's too small."

"Does Eagle ever sleep in the daytime?"

"No, not very often; but sometimes, if I sit down with him and scratch his head, he will go to sleep."

"Do that next time I come."

At that moment Eagle was again heard approaching with a roar that shook the mountain like a tree in the wind. He brought four living men, whom he threw from a distance upon the rock, where they lay groaning for a time before breathing their last. Eagle asked his wife if anybody had been there and she said no one was about. He declared that he smelled some one, but finally concluded that he had been mistaken. After he had eaten he lay down, and as she sang the following song and rubbed his head he quickly went to sleep:

Haya yakshai yahai mo! Haya yakahai mo!
I am sleepy, I am sleepy.
Haya yakahai yahai mo! I am sleepy.

When Eagle returned, the baby tried to tell him what had happened, and his father inquired, "What made him say that? He never talked that way before; besides, I smell somebody. Some one must have been here."

"No, nobody; we have been here alone."

Then in the form of a fly Earth Doctor concealed himself among the dead bodies that were corded up like wood and sang:

Himovali! Die fly! Himovali! Die fly!
I shall sleep! I shall sleep!
Himovali! Let die! I am drowsy.
I will sleep! Buzz-z!

When he had gone to sleep she began to whistle. He awoke and said:

"What made you whistle like that?"

"Oh, nothing; I was just playing with the baby; that's all."