Twins Journey to their Father
After White Shell Woman married and conceived with the Sun it is said she carried the twin boys for 9 days, each day representing a month. When the boys were let into the world, it took them four days to grow into adolescent children. They would run and play around the mountain where they lived, Dzi[ N1’oodi[ii, Huerfano Mesa. They were given bows and arrows to learn to shoot, and were encouraged to run to strengthen their legs. It is said that their Grandfathers, Talking God and Black God came over to them one day and challenged them to a foot race. The grandfathers beat the young boys and informed the twins that they would return for a rematch. Through mysterious magical ways, the wind told the boys that they needed to practice running as much as they could to beat the Holy People. The boys practiced and practiced, and were faster and stronger but still got beaten by the Holy ones, and this carried on for four races. The fourth race was when the boys found their stride, and were able to keep their quick and powerful pace. The boys beat the Holy people, and the Holy people were quite pleased at the endurance, speed, strength and determination of the children.
The threat of the monsters was still very much present, and White Shell Woman always had to remind the boys of the monsters and asked that they stay close by. One day White Shell Woman noticed Walking Giant coming their way, and quickly gathered her boys and hid them inside their home. Walking Giant goes up to her home, and peeks through her doorway and asks what she’s cooking for dinner. She tells him that she’s making corn cake and that she’s not inviting him to eat. Walking Giant told her that he didn’t care for corn cake but was very interested in eating little boys. White Shell Woman told the giant that there were no boys around, and no children had been around since he had already eaten most everyone anyway. Walking Giant asked why there were children’s footprints around and White Shell Woman had told them that she made them because she was lonely. Walking Giant bought her story and left the area. The boys came out from hiding and were frightened to hear and think about what could have happened. They knew that something needed to be done, and prior to this event, the boys had been asking around at who their father was. They had heard in passing that their father was a powerful man who possessed many weapons, and when they asked their mother about him, she would not tell them who he was. The boys knew they had to make a journey to find their father, and ask him for weapons to kill the monsters.
The boys left their home without much knowledge as to where to go. The boys traveled on the Holy road which is a rainbow road that through mysterious magical events, appeared at their doorway, and led them in the right direction. Although it was planned by the Holy beings for these two boys to be the warriors of the people, by no means did the Holy people make it easy for them, or give them the Holy road to travel straight to their destination, what lessons are to be learned in that?
The boys continued on their journey and came upon a hole in the ground where smoke was coming up. Curious, the brothers went to the hole and peered down and saw a little old lady sitting inside. She looked up at them and told them to come down and visit with her. The brothers used the ladder that was sticking out the of hole and into the dwelling. They shook hands and exchanged kinship. It was Spider Woman who they had met, and she welcomed her guests, her grandsons with food and revelations of who their father is. Spider Woman told the boys of their father, how to get to his dwelling, the obstacles in the way, and how to get passed the obstacles. She taught them songs and chants that would allow safe passage, and gave the boys magic feathers that would lift them up and away from danger. She made the boys practice the chants until they knew them by heart, and warned them of tricks and paths that look safe but are meant to deceive then kill. The boys were very happy to receive such great mentorship and thanked their grandmother and made their way out. The boys began their journey to visit the sun.
The first obstacle that they came to was the Rocks that Close Together. When a traveler begins walking in the canyon, the canyon walls suddenly shut closed, immediately killing whatever was caught in between. During this time, humans, all things in nature could communicate on a different level of understanding each other, and with this in mind, the boys approached the canyon and the canyon asked them questions about their intended destinations. The boys didn’t divulge much information, and stepped into the canyon, but immediately hopped back out. The canyon walls slammed shut, but missed the boys and just after the boys took out their magic feathers, recited the chant Spider Woman taught them and were allowed to pass unharmed (Zolbrod, 200). In O’Byan’s and Yazzie’s version, when the boys come upon the canyon, they are taken across by the measuring worm, and sometimes tobacco worm who uses mysterious magical abilities and in doing so also gives the boys some advice about their father and presents to them two balls of his spit. The boys are instructed to put the spit balls into their mouths when it is time to smoke tobacco so they won’t be killed by the poisons.
The path that the boys were on led them to a patch of reeds, and the reeds that were present were razor sharp. When a traveler approaches, the reeds would be inviting, tricking the traveler into thinking the path is clear, but once you step in, the reeds would flap about, slicing and killing the traveler. The boys knew about the dark ways of the reeds, and took a step in and quickly jumped out. The boys watched as the reeds began thrashing about, and again the reeds tried to gather as much information about their travel plans like the canyon before, but the boys wouldn’t divulge and continued with their chant, and their feather for safe passage.
The boys went through the same pattern through several more obstacles like a cactus field that would grow huge and charge at each other to pierce, beat down and eat the traveler. Next was a dune of boiling sands and travelers that would climb the dune would be devoured by its quick shifting, and sudden pulling. A story that is mentioned in neither of the books, but has been told to me by Johnson Dennison is that there was also a point where the boys came to a mountain with two paths around it. One path was in the shadow of the mountain, and seems short and wide, a pleasant travel in the hot sun. The other path was long, windy, and in the suns light. The boys were told to stay to the right, and journey in the lighted path otherwise they will face old age quickly. The boys forgot about this warning that they got at the beginning of their journey and when they came to the mountain they started on the shady trail. The further they got, the further along they aged, and suddenly they noticed the aging and quickly turned back. The boys had progressed to middle age. In some stories like Zolbrod and O’Bryan, the boys aren’t aged until they meet their father.
The twins pass all the obstacles and make it to the house of the Sun, they are transported from Earth to a dwelling in the sky by a rainbow road. The arrive at the doors, and are threatened by a bear and a mountain lion as guardians of the Sun’s home. A beautiful woman appears in the doorway and asks them what their business is at the house of the Sun, and the twins proceed to tell her that they are the sons of the Sun and they wish to ask him for his help. She looked at the twins and invited them in to her home. The twins saw that the house was decorated with many precious stones, furs, and animals. The twins waited with the other children of the Sun, and when it was almost time for the Sun return they heard the sound of hoofs coming toward the house. It was the Sun! The wife took the twins and hid them, she wrapped them up in clouds to the North of the home and put them on a shelf.
The Sun entered, and immediately looked around to search for whomever came into the home. He asked his wife who was there. He told her he saw two people come into his home around noon time. His wife then asked him where he goes during the day, she reminded him that he told her that he remained on his course and stayed true to his duty. After saying this, she told the Sun that his sons from Earth have come to see them, and she revealed to the Sun, the twins who were rolled up in the clouds.
The Sun was angered and to prove that the young men weren’t his sons, he picked up the twins and threw them against the wall in all four directions, and in all four directions there were spikes sticking out of the walls. The twins weren’t harmed by the spikes, and when the Sun saw this, he thought, they might be my children, but with the Sun being very skeptical, he put the young men to a series of tests. He told them that they should celebrate their coming together by smoking some tobacco. The Sun put his tobacco in his pipe and handed it to the twins, and fortunately for them, there was a small wind that spoke to them. A small voice in their ears that reminded them of the spit balls the worm had given them, and quickly, the twins put the worm spit in their mouths and smoked the tobacco. The twins smoked and smoked, and were unharmed from the Sun’s tobacco. The Sun had thought to himself, they might be my children, but they might not. The Sun then told the twins that they need to take a sweat bath, especially after such a long journey, and immediately he sent his sons from his wife at their dwelling to prepare the fire, and to gather the stones for the sweat bath. The same small wind approached their ears, and whispered to them that the Sun will make it so brutally hot that they will not survive, the wind told the twins that badger will dig a hole in the lodge for the twins to hide in, and cover themselves with stones to block the heat. While in there, the twins would need to reply to the Sun to keep the Sun thinking they’re sitting in direct heat of the stones. The twins did as they were told and fooled the Sun, in which the Sun was thoroughly impressed, and finally accepted that they are in fact his offspring.
The Sun then called upon his sons and daughters at his dwelling to dress the twins up in flint armor of all four colors to act as an armor, and to mold them in his image. The twins were given chiseled faces, abs, biceps, and their hair was lightly pulled to make it long and lustrous. The Sun then asked what else they needed, and offered them domestic animals, precious stones, food of all kind, but the twins had told him that although those gifts had benefit, it wasn’t what they needed at that moment. The young men had seen bows and arrows of different types of lightning hanging over the door and asked the Sun for them. When asked what it was for, the twins informed their father of the dangers on earth. The Sun informed them that if he were to give them the weapons they would need to kill One Walking Giant first, and then they may go after the rest. In Kristofic’s graphic novel type adaptation it is mentioned that the Giant needed to strike the first blow because the Giant is also the son of the Sun and a respectful killing was necessary. In O’Bryan, the Sun was to make the first strike, and then the twins were free to continue. With this information the twins took the gifted weapons, and were sent on a rainbow back down to earth to kill the One Walking Giant.
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