Zuñi Fetiches | Page 7

any backsliding member.
MÍ-TSI.
Mí-tsi was long a faithful member of the Little Fire order
(Ma-ke-tsá-na-kwe), but he grew careless, neglected his sacrifices, and
resigned his rank as "Keeper of the Medicines," from mere laziness. In
vain his fathers warned him. He only grew hot with anger. One day
Mí-tsi went up on the mesas to cut corral posts. He sat down to eat his
dinner. A great black bear walked out of the thicket near at hand and
leisurely approached him. Mí-tsi dropped his dinner and climbed a
neighboring little dead pine tree. The bear followed him and climbed it,
too. Mí-tsi began to have sad thoughts of the words of his fathers.
"Alas," he cried, "pity me, my father from the West-land!" In vain he

promised to be a good Ma-ke-tsá-na-kwe. Had not Pó-shai-a[n,]-ki'a
commanded?
So the black bear seized him by the foot and pulled until Mí-tsi
screamed from pain; but, cling as he would to the tree, the bear pulled
him to the ground. Then he lay down on Mí-tsi and pressed the wind
out of him so that he forgot. The black bear started to go; but eyed
Mí-tsi. Mí-tsi kicked. Black bear came and pressed his wind out again.
It hurt Mí-tsi, and he said to himself, "Oh dear me! what shall I do? The
father thinks I am not punished enough." So he kept very still. Black
bear started again, then stopped and looked at Mí-tsi, started and
stopped again, growled and moved off, for Mí-tsi kept very still. Then
the black bear went slowly away, looking at Mí-tsi all the while, until
he passed a little knoll. Mí-tsi crawled away and hid under a log. Then,
when he thought himself man enough, he started for Zuñi. He was long
sick, for the black bear had eaten his foot. He "still lives and limps," but
he is a good Ma-ke-tsá-na-kwe. Who shall say that Pó-shai-a[n,]-k'ia
did not command?
THEIR WORSHIP.
The prey gods, through their relationship to Pó-shai-a[n,]-k'ia, as
"Makers of the Paths of Life," are given high rank among the gods.
With this belief, their fetiches are held "as in captivity" by the priests of
the various medicine orders, and greatly venerated by them as
mediators between themselves and the animals they represent. In this
character they are exhorted with elaborate prayers, rituals, and
ceremonials. Grand sacrifices of plumed and painted prayer-sticks
(Téthl-na-we) are made annually by the "Prey Brother Priesthood"
(Wé-ma á-pa-pa á-shi-wa-ni) of these medicine societies, and at the full
moon of each month lesser sacrifices of the same kind by the male
members of the "Prey gentes" (Wé-ma á-no-ti-we) of the tribe.

PREY GODS OF THE HUNT.
THEIR RELATION TO THE OTHERS.

The fetich worship of the Zuñis naturally reaches its highest and most
interesting development in its relationship to the chase, for the
We-ma-á-hâ-i are considered par excellence the gods of the hunt. Of
this class of fetiches, the special priests are the members of the "Great
Coyote People" (Sá-ni-a-k'ia-kwe, or the Hunting Order), their keepers,
the chosen members of the Eagle and Coyote gentes and of the Prey
Brother priesthood.
The fetiches in question (Plate III) represent, with two exceptions, the
same species of prey animals as those supposed to guard the six regions.
These exceptions are, the Coyote (Sús-ki, Plate III, Fig. 2), which
replaces the Black Bear of the West, and the Wild Cat (Té-pi, Plate III,
Fig. 3), which takes the place of the Badger of the South.
In the prayer-songs of the Sá-ni-a-kía-kwe, the names of all of these
prey gods are, with two exceptions, given in the language of the Rio
Grande Indians. This is probably one of the many devices for securing
greater secrecy, and rendering the ceremonials of the Hunter Society
mysterious to other than members. The exceptions are, the Coyote, or
Hunter god of the West, known by the archaic name of Thlä[']-k'iä-tchu,
instead of by its ordinary name of Sús-ki, and the Prey Mole or god of
the Lower regions (Plate III, Fig. 5), which is named Maí-tu-pu, also
archaic, instead of K'iä[']-lu-tsi. Yet in most of the prayer and ritualistic
recitals of this order all of these gods are spoken of by the names which
distinguish them in the other orders of the tribe.
[Illustration: PREY GOD FETICHES OF THE HUNT.]
THEIR ORIGIN.
While all the prey gods of the hunt are supposed to have functions
differing both from those of the six regions and those of the Priesthood
of the Bow, spoken of further on, they are yet referred, like those of the
first class, to special divisions of the world. In explanation of this,
however, quite another myth is given. This myth, like the first, is
derived from the epic before referred to, and occurs in