Myths and Legends of the Lipan Apache Indians

By Morris Edward Opler

Lipan Apache are Southern Athabaskan (Apachean) Native Americans whose traditional territory included present-day Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Tamaulipas, prior to the 17th century.

Present-day Lipan live mostly throughout the U.S. Southwest, in Texas, New Mexico, and the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona, as well as with the Mescalero tribe on the Mescalero Reservation in New Mexico; some currently live in urban and rural areas throughout North America (Mexico, United States, and Canada).

“The myths and tales of this volume are of particular significance, perhaps, because they have reference to a tribe about which there is almost no published ethnographic material. The Lipan Apache were scattered and all but annihilated on the eve of the Southwestern reservation period. The survivors found refuge with other groups, and, except for a brief notice by Gatshet, they have been overlooked or neglected while investigations of numerically larger peoples have proceeded.

“It is gratifying, therefore, to be able to present a fairly full collection of Lipan folklore, and to be in a position to report that this collection does much to illuminate the relations of Southern Athabaskan-speaking tribes and the movements of aboriginal populations in the American Southwest.

“The myths and tales of this volume were recorded during the summer of 1935.”—Claremont Colleges

• Language: English
• Publisher: Borodino Books
• Release date: Dec 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781789128598

Morris Edward Opler

Morris Edward Opler (1907-1996) was an American anthropologist and advocate of Japanese American civil rights. His chief anthropological contribution was in the ethnography of Southern Athabaskan peoples, i.e. the Navajo and Apache, such as the Chiricahua, Mescalero, Lipan, and Jicarilla. Born on May 3, 1907 in Buffalo, New York, Opler earned his Bachelor’s Degree and a Master’s Degree from the University of Buffalo, and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1933. He simultaneously began a path of impactful anthropological fieldwork and research among the Apache people, and worked actively in his field for almost 50 years. His anthropological fieldwork began in 1931, when he began doing fieldwork in New Mexico among the Mescalero Apache tribe. He had a lifelong interest in the indigenous people of western America, specifically the Apache, and consistently focused his studies on their lifestyles and practices. In addition to his anthropological studies, Opler entered the world of academia, working as a professor for many years, beginning in 1937, when he was employed at Reed College. This was followed by positions at Claremont College, Harvard University, Cornell University, and finally, at the University of Oklahoma, after he had retired from Cornell University in 1969. Interspersed between these academic positions, Opler also worked for the Office of War Information (1943-1946) and at the Manzanar War Relocation Center during WWII. After retiring a second time, this time from the University of Oklahoma in 1977, he dedicated his time to writing and publishing articles relating to the conditions of Apache life. Opler died on May 13, 1996, aged 89.

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Text originally published in 1940 under the same title.

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MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE LIPAN APACHE INDIANS

BY

MORRIS EDWARD OPLER

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

PREFACE 4

I. THE ORIGIN MYTH 13

A. THE ORIGIN OF THE LIPAN APACHE AND THE EXPLOITS OF THE CULTURE HEROES 13

B. THE ORIGIN OF OLD AGE AND DEATH 34

C. THE RAIDING PARTY MEETS THE PEOPLE OF THE EMERGENCE 37

II. TALES OF ENCOUNTERS WITH SUPERNATURAL BEINGS 44

A. THE HACTCI 44

В. PEYOTE 49

III. TALES OF ENCOUNTERS WITH MONSTERS 52

A. BIG OWL 52

B. GIANT SPIDER 54

C. THE WATER MONSTER 55

IV. TALES OF SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTERS WITH ANIMALS 58

A. DOVE 58

В. BEAR 61

C. PRAIRIE-DOG 63

D. HORSE 66

V. MYTHS RELATING TO AGRICULTURE AND RAIN 70

A. AGRICULTURE 70

В. RAIN 75

VI. THE ORIGIN OF GAMES 76

A. THE MOCCASIN GAME 76

VII. TALES CONNECTED WITH DEATH 85

A. VISITS TO THE DEAD 85

VIII. THE COYOTE CYCLE AND OTHER ANIMAL, BIRD, AND INSECT TALES 92

A. THE COYOTE CYCLE 92

17. Skunk Shoots over Four Ridges at Coyote 117

В. ANIMAL, BIRD, AND INSECT TALES 171

IX. STORIES OF FOOLISH PEOPLE, UNFAITHFULNESS, AND PERVERSION 181

A. THE FOOLISH PEOPLE (SPOTTED WOOD PEOPLE) 181

B. UNFAITHFULNESS 188

C. PERVERSION 194

X. TALES OF WAR-PATH AND RAID 196

A. LIPAN AND KICKAPOO 196

B. LIPAN AND COMANCHE 208

C. LIPAN AND MEXICANS 229

D. LIPAN AND CHIRICAHUA 241

XI. MISCELLANEOUS 242

A. THE FEARLESS MAN 242

B. WHITE MEN 249

C. ABNORMAL INDIVIDUALS 251

D. RUNNING 253

BIBLIOGRAPHY 254

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 256

PREFACE

The myths and tales of this volume are of particular significance, perhaps, because they have reference to a tribe about which there is almost no published ethnographic material. The Lipan Apache were scattered and all but annihilated on the eve of the Southwestern reservation period. The survivors found refuge with other groups, and, except for a brief notice by Gatshet,{1} they have been overlooked or neglected while investigations of numerically larger peoples have proceeded. It is gratifying, therefore, to be able at this late date to present a fairly full collection of Lipan folklore, and to be in a position to report that this collection does much to illuminate the relations of Southern Athabaskan-speaking tribes and the movements of aboriginal populations in the American Southwest.

Before the beginning of the 18th century the Lipan were already in the northern part of the present state of Texas,{2} and were being forced southward by hostile Comanche. By the middle of the 18th century we find them in south central Texas, where the Spaniards sought to protect them from their persistent enemies by the erection of the Mission of San Sabá.{3} Following the destruction of this mission, two others were established to the south and west to administer to these Apache. They met a like fate in 1767. In 1796 the Lipan are reported to have reached the Gulf Coast in the vicinity of the lower Rio Grande.{4} For the next half century they lived on or in the vicinity of the coast and made a partial adjustment to that environment. The hostilities between the Texans and Mexicans during the last part of this period involved the Lipan as allies of the latter. Then part of the Kickapoo, who had ceded their lands in Illinois, invaded Texas and were added to the list of Lipan enemies. A serious epidemic of smallpox decimated the tribe further. The Lipan, wasted by warfare and disease, were forced northward and westward. Part of them found a retreat in the southern spurs of the Guadalupe Mountains, where they made contact with the southernmost settlements of the Mescalero Apache. These people, whom I have called the Northern Lipan in the tales, have become known as the No Water People. Another section of the tribe crossed the Rio Grande and settled in the neighborhood of Zaragoza, Coahuila. I place the date of the permanent removal of these Lipan to Old Mexico (raiding expeditions had penetrated into Old Mexico on previous occasions, of course) at about 1860 or shortly thereafter. This section of the tribe, the Southern Lipan of the tales, has become known as the Big Water People. The Big Water People, because their fate has been less involved with that of the Mescalero Apache until quite recently, are prone to consider themselves the true representatives of Lipan culture.{5}

From 1860 on the Northern Lipan became increasingly amalgamated with the Mescalero. When attempts were made to concentrate the Mescalero at Ft. Stanton in 1870, many Lipan were gathered into the net. At this same time the Southern Lipan were having difficulty with the Mexican military and a group of them were happy to find protection to the north. Thus it was that in 1903, when a handful of Lipan who had survived a war of extermination which had been waged against them in Coahuila, were brought to Chihuahua, it became known that they had relatives on the Mescalero Reservation. Efforts were made to unite them with their kin living in the United States. In that year a small band of nineteen individuals was brought to Mescalero. This event has given rise to the impression that the Lipan were never anything more than an offshoot of the Mescalero tribe whose members somehow became separated from the main group and who were finally restored to their relatives.

Evidence is accumulating which suggests a different historical origin and other ethnic relationships for the Lipan, however. In an analysis of Southern Athabaskan kinship systems{6} I have tried to show that the Lipan system resembles the Jicarilla and not the Chiricahua-Mescalero type, and that Lipan kinship stands closer to Jicarilla in respect to form, terms, and behavior patterns than to kinship usages of any other Southern Athabaskan-speaking tribe. Dr. Harry Hoijer’s scholarly analysis of the relationship of Southern Athabaskan languages demonstrates that Jicarilla and Lipan together constitute a sub-group of the eastern linguistic group, quite apart from Mescalero, which is classified in the other or western group.{7} The conclusion seems inescapable that the affiliation of the Lipan and Mescalero is a recent and secondary one and that more ancient and fundamental connections must be sought to the north.

It is of interest and importance to consider whether the myths and tales yield materials which offer further insight concerning the place of the Lipan in Southwestern cultures. The results of such an inquiry have proved so gratifying that it is doubtful whether the value of mythology for purposes of ethnological analysis has ever been better vindicated.

A glance at the table of contents of this volume is enough to reveal one of the major differences in myth and conception which divides the Lipan from the Mescalero; the Lipan have a myth of emergence. This gives a definite cast to Lipan mythology which Mescalero mythology does not share, for a number of other Lipan stories take their inspiration from events which transpired in the underworld before the emergence (Section I, C). The myths of all Southern Athabaskan tribes (with the possible exception of the Kiowa Apache) include a story of a culture hero who slew the foes of the race. The Navaho, Western Apache, and Jicarilla name the chief protagonist Killer-of-Enemies and have him attended by a subordinate (a younger brother, relative, or friend) who is ordinarily known as Child-of-the-Water. By a curious twist the Mescalero and Chiricahua have just reversed the positions of these two; for them Child-of-the-Water becomes the intrepid hero and monster slayer and Killer-of-Enemies his weaker companion. The Lipan lean towards the northern and western usage. Killer-of-Enemies is their culture hero. They use the term Child-of-the-Water seldom, and then only as a synonym for Killer-of-Enemies. In the Lipan tales a younger brother of the culture hero called Wise One appears, and to him are attributed the characteristics usually associated with the less important of the divine pair.

One of the monsters with whom the culture hero has difficulty is known as Big Owl by the Jicarilla and Western Apache. The Mescalero and Chiricahua think of him as a giant. He appears as Big Owl in Lipan mythology, again indicating the orientation we have remarked.

The Lipan names for important concepts or supernaturals of the myths show marked departures from Mescalero usage. The Mescalero call masked dancers and the supernaturals they impersonate gahe. The Lipan know them as hactci and therefore agree in this respect with the Jicarilla who refer to comparable supernaturals as hactcin, and with the Navaho who use the cognate term hactce.

There are a number of myths of diagnostic value which the Lipan relate but which could not be found for the Mescalero. One such is the tale of the man who traveled down the river in a hollow log (Section V, A, 1). This story has been recorded for the Jicarilla, Western Apache, and Navaho also. Another tale of significance for our purpose is that of the race around the world (Section VIII, B, 1). This story, unknown to the Mescalero but common to the Lipan and Jicarilla, has been expanded to ceremonial importance by the latter.{8}

As has been implied in the materials surveyed, the sharp differentiation of Lipan from Mescalero mythology contrasts vividly with the many parallels between Lipan and Jicarilla mythology. In addition to the myths and themes which have been identified as belonging to the joint stock in trade of the Lipan and Jicarilla but which are not shared by the Mescalero (such as the emergence myth), there are a number of others which deserve mention, for their weight lends a decided Jicarilla cast to Lipan folklore. One such is the hint of Lipan traditions concerning a people who live to the north in a land of darkness (p. 15). Another is that of the boy who aids in the capture of his twin (p. 23).Still another has to do with the attempts of a malign being to chop up and cook the culture hero and his companion (pp. 23-24). The vitalization of a person or animal by the entrance of wind into the body (p. 29) is one of a number of themes of like character. We are fully justified in saying that between the legends of the Lipan and Jicarilla the correspondences are impressive in respect to themes, names, and terms as well as story outlines. Most of these resemblances will be noted in the text.

But the myths also contain ethnographic items which attest to the cultural gulf between the Mescalero and Lipan and to the unmistakable relation of Lipan to Jicarilla culture. It may be useful to call attention to one or two examples of such materials here. In Section VII (Tales Connected with Death) mention is made of the ghost or vakoc; vakoc is a term descriptive of the material remains of the dead as distinguished from the breath or spirit. The term and distinction are applied by the Lipan and Jicarilla and, as far as I have been able to discover, by no other of these Apache tribes. In the same section of the volume the Lipan conception of the underworld or land of the dead is described. The underworld is said to be divided into north and south compartments, inhabited by the spirits of the sorcerers and of the good respectively. Fire and fog harass the wicked, and snakes and lizards are their only food. The Jicarilla have an identical picture of the afterworld, and, as far as I have been able to determine, they are the only other Apache group to entertain such a set of beliefs. In one of the warpath stories of this volume a Lipan who had been made captive by the enemy and escaped, refrains from entering the encampments before a purifying ceremony has been held over him. There is no trace of such a ceremony for the Mescalero and Chiricahua, but this duplicates exactly the Jicarilla procedure. A systematic review of the contents of this volume would reveal scores of elements which might be similarly compared and interpreted. A more comprehensive comparison will not be attempted now, however, for it can be more profitably pursued after the publication of the volumes of Chiricahua and Mescalero mythology which are now being prepared.

Enough evidence of various kinds has been submitted, nevertheless, to establish with high probability that the Lipan are an offshoot of a Lipan-Jicarilla group, that their line of migration took them east to the plains and south to the gulf, and that they were lately forced westward and northward, to be finally located with the Mescalero.

When did their separation from the Jicarilla take place? The myths, again, give some clue to this problem. If one compares the myths of the Lipan with those of the Jicarilla Apache he will end with the unmistakable impression that Lipan culture is an undifferentiated, unembellished prototype of Jicarilla culture. Lipan mythology looks like a simplified edition of Jicarilla mythology from which late ceremonial flourishes have been eliminated. In general pattern Jicarilla and Lipan myths have much in common. The emergence legend is common to both, for example, but it has become much more elaborate and detailed for the Jicarilla. Both peoples tell of the killing of the monsters and of further exploits of the culture hero before his departure. As the Lipan tell it, the culture hero takes care of their few simple and essential wants before leaving—he creates the deer and the horse, he teaches them warfare and raiding practices. But the Jicarilla account contains much more. The culture hero teaches ceremonies which are obviously inspired by Pueblo and Navaho sources, dance groups are introduced which are certainly related to Pueblo Katcinas, and the culture hero participates in a ceremonial race which closely resembles ceremonial races of Eastern Pueblos. In other words, the most noticeable difference between the myths of these two tribes is that the Lipan lack the stories of developed ritualism and complex ceremonials. And they lack the corresponding rites as well, of course.

We may suspect, then, that the Lipan and Jicarilla separated before the ancient parental group had been much influenced by Pueblo agriculture and ritual, and that the development of the Jicarilla long life ceremonies and corn complex did not take place until after the division. My estimate would be that the ancestors of the Lipan and Jicarilla lived together until the beginning of the 17th century.

If this reconstruction of Lipan history is essentially correct the Lipan have been successively a mountain, plains, and gulf people, and some trace of the influence of these three environments may be sought in these pages. Actually, each is represented. In the stories of raid and travel there are a number of instances of the tendency of the Lipan to hug the mountains whenever possible, despite the apparent material adjustment to Plains life. Then, too, there is mention of the occasional use of the brush dome-shaped dwelling or wickiup, the house type of the mountain dwelling Apache. There are numerous references to Plains life—mention of the tipi, travois, shields, the buffalo hunt, Plains warfare, sign language, scalping, etc. occur constantly. The life to the south and on the coast have not failed to leave their mark. The alligator, tidal waves, the sea, the coast, coast neighbors, and the peccary find mention in the myths.

It is to be hoped that this collection will be useful, not only in tracing the past history of the Lipan but in conveying a picture of the culture as it functioned before reservation days. An attempt has been made to call attention to the most important ethnographic leads by means of footnotes and cross-references, but the bombardment of relevant material is so constant that occasional notes cannot do justice to it. Nothing less than a close and appreciative scanning of the stories will bring to light the large body of explicit and implicit ethnographic materials in the pages that follow. When a girl is called chief’s daughter in an attempt at flattery, something is implied in regard to the status of the chief and his family. When a chief refuses to allow one of his men to fall into the hands of the pursuing enemy with the remark, In my fighting against the enemy I have never given my men away, something further is added to the same subject.

The amount of trustworthy information about the more general aspects of the culture packed into these stories is impressive. A partial list of suggestions concerning the character of social organization alone would include: brother—sister restraint, marriage and marriage gifts, parent—child and grandparent—grandchild relations, matrilocal residence, affinity obligations, and husband—wife duties. Under war-path and raiding one could list the weapons used, the incentives to war, the ceremony for the wounded, scalping, the entrance into camp following a victory, the victory and scalp dance, and the treatment of captives. A guide to Lipan religious practices, mourning customs, or to some other aspect of the culture might be compiled in the same way.

But the tales may perform a more subtle service than that of calling attention to the most discernible elements of Lipan culture. By a comparison of Lipan myths and culture with those of other Apache tribes the very differences may illuminate some of the more complex aspects of the culture and the more intimate understandings which mark it. Of the four Athabaskan cultures which I have studied, the Lipan is the only one in which mother-in-law avoidance is not required. Interestingly enough, Lipan Mythology does not include in the coyote cycle an episode in which the trickster violates his mother-in-law. Correlations of this type lead us to believe that comparative treatment of Southern Athabaskan mythologies, when they are published, will not be without interest to general psychology.

Not only does Lipan mythology yield clews relating to the environment and history of the tribe before white contact, but it also mirrors more recent events as well. Thus we have Killer-of-Enemies building the first church (p. 33) and notice taken of the cropped hair of the padre (p. 190). Rifles are mentioned in a traditional story (p. 47) and even white bed sheets are described in one tale. All this gives some indication of the degree to which Lipan folklore is responsive to the changing historical scene.

It is difficult and well nigh impossible to capture and to retain, in English, the felicity and peculiar aptness of native expression, but for the benefit of those who are interested in such literary qualities a few instances where it has been possible to remain faithful to the Lipan idiom may be pointed out. The expletive, Mouth of the enemy!, the use of Which way are you stepping? for Where are you going?, of dragging one’s moccasin strings for walking along, and of Our chief’s face is getting well again for He is happy once more" are samples of the quality which makes the oral art of the Lipan raconteur so compelling and memorable.

From a consideration of what we may learn through the myths of the history, contacts, and manner of expression, we may profitably turn to the question of the Lipan’s use of his traditional materials. In his mind the stories have a definite order of seriousness and importance. First comes the story of the emergence and Killer-of-Enemies, then the coyote stories, and then the stories of the people, of what has been done lately, an informant told me.

Moreover, the telling of the myths was not an activity casually conceived and executed. In the informant’s own words again, The Lipan way was to give tobacco to a man if you wanted him to tell you stories or old traditions. After he used the tobacco there were no hard feelings between you, just good feelings and friendship. You would give him the tobacco and tell what you were giving it for, that you wanted to hear such and such a story. Everyone thought highly of tobacco. You could give it as a cigarette or in the form of loose tobacco.

It was because of their function and importance in the culture that a knowledge of the myths was sought so solemnly and respectfully. The myths acted as a reservoir of information indispensable to the expert or the leader. Anyone who claimed proficiency or status was expected to have a thorough grounding in all tales relating to his specialty. A chief, for example, was not only a man of wealth, bravery, and ability, but one who made serious inquiry into all mythological material dealing with the concept of leadership. An informant expressed it thus, My father said that before a man can be a chief, he has to know all about the chief’s ways in the time when the birds and animals spoke. He has to know how they acted, he has to know all these stories of the chiefs among the animals and birds. Before he talks a great deal or gives orders he should know all about these stories and study them well. These are the ‘chief stories.’ The tale of the poor boy who became chief instead of Water Monster is such a story.

The place of the myth in matters of status is considered in another excerpt. A man gains his chieftainship by all these (war) deeds. But there is another way to become a chief. If a man knows the traditions about Killer-of-Enemies and about the eagle, if he knows these two things, he becomes a chief without even being in a fight. Killer-of-Enemies is a hero who did all the brave deeds for the Indians. The eagle is the chief of the birds and lives high up in the tree. Therefore the Lipan respect the eagle highly. A man learns the traditions about Killer-of-Enemies by listening to an old shaman. From the same man he learns about the eagle. He has to learn the story of the eagle, how it was created and how it got here. Miguel, an old Lipan, told me this. He said, ‘It is a dangerous thing to be a chief. You can become one from doing great deeds in a fight or you may get it by knowing about Killer-of-Enemies and the eagle.’ Chieftainship was in part, at least, a ceremonial perquisite and had to be validated by an acquaintance with the proper mythic materials, we may assume from this passage.

Shamanistic qualifications were likewise linked with a thorough understanding of related mythological elements. A person might become a shaman if the owner of a ceremony were willing to teach it to him. The first step in this instruction would involve the mastery of the traditions surrounding the rite. Very often these were rationalized in the myths. Such a serious pursuit of legendary lore has been described as follows: If a man wants to learn about the traditions, he makes a cigarette and takes it to the one who knows such stories. This one asks, ‘Why do you give me this?’ and the man would reply, ‘For a story about the horse.’ Or he might say, ‘For a story about Killer-of-Enemies.’ Then the man who knows the traditions, if he thinks it is all right and that this person is anxious to learn, accepts it and smokes the cigarette and tells the stories. From these quotations it can be readily seen that the narrating of myths was a vital and serious undertaking invading the boundaries of social organization and ceremonial life, and, indeed, indivisible in a final sense from all other aspects of the culture.

Throughout the body of the volume there are so many asides of informants and interpreter dealing with the explanatory and didactic function of the myths and tales that it is hardly necessary to do more than direct attention to these utilizations now. Characteristics and attributes of man are ever rationalized in terms of the myths. The lightning was jealous of Turtle and tried to harm him when he was doing good for his friends, I was told. That is why, when it lightens, we say it is jealous. When the lightning hits a house, we say, ‘Of the house it is jealous.’ Turtle was faithful. That’s the way some people are today.

To facilitate comparison, as far as it has been possible and practicable the arrangement of stories made in Myths and Tales of the Jicarilla Apache Indians{9} has been followed. The stories have been grouped in eleven sections, the first seven of which have primarily to do with cosmology, super naturals, belief and ceremony, and the last four with the profane or secular tales and the less formal aspects of Lipan life. As in the companion Jicarilla volume, the attempt is made to offer a logical, developmental guide to the traditions, to introduce origins and cosmology first, and then, having armed the reader with a knowledge of the Lipan world-view, to bring super naturals and ceremonies to his attention.

I am quite sensible of the fact that this collection of myths and tales is not altogether complete. At one time or another I obtained hints or portions of stories which could not be recorded in full. Evidently there were stories of a flood and of the end of the earth of which I secured but fragments. On one occasion my principal informant, Antonio Apache, told me, I heard that once, a long time ago, there was a flood. But that’s all I did hear. I never got the complete story. At a later date he said, They say that there is going to be a flood that will destroy the world. It will come from a big rain. First a little shower will start. It will keep on. It will become a very heavy rain and in four days it will reach to the sky. Then the world will start over again. A new race will be set up. That’s all they say about it.

That a story of the end of the earth by flood must have been general for the Lipan is indicated by another fragment narrated by the old Lipan woman, Stella La Paz or Yeyu. Her contribution ran as follows: The Lipan say that the world is going to end by flood, but when it will happen is not known. It may be many years from now. They were told that before they came up to this earth. It will happen when all but one Indian have disappeared, when there is only one Indian left.

There were some other stories which Lipan informants knew, but which they could not be sure were of Lipan origin, since they had learned them from individuals of mixed ancestry or from individuals who failed to state definitely that these were Lipan stories. Because of the mixture of peoples which has taken place on the Mescalero Reservation, I have been careful to eliminate from this collection stories whose tribal designation is in doubt. An example will suffice to show the uncertainties sometimes involved. A story of a woman who abused herself by means of cactus{10} was known to my interpreter. But he could not be sure it was Lipan, because he had learned it from a man of mixed Lipan—Mescalero ancestry. He explained, I have heard the story of the woman who sat on cactus from the Lipan boy, Franklin Torres’ brother. He didn’t say where he got it, from his father or his mother, so I can’t be sure it was Lipan. Consequently the tale does not appear in this collection.

It is quite possible, also, that some of the tales are less rich in detail than they should be. After all, Lipan culture as such has long ceased to function and it is too much to expect that the tales will not suffer with the demise of the culture and the numerical reduction of its carriers. Occasionally I received a hint of this. Thus, in general ethnological work I elicited the following comment from my informant, Killer-of-Enemies was the one who told them to take scalps. He was the one who taught the Apache. They knew the story. He is the one who had been killing the monsters. And he always brought back something to show his mother, to prove what he had done. Some of the monsters he killed, he scalped. Yet the detail referred to here, the taking of the trophy by the culture hero, is not mentioned in either of the Lipan versions of the killing of the monsters which I have recorded.

The informants whose versions appear in this volume are Antonio Apache, Stella La Paz and Percy Bigmouth. The first two are over seventy years of age and speak no English. The last is a middle-aged man who speaks good English and acted as interpreter during the work with the others. Many of the stories recorded from Percy Bigmouth are variants of coyote episodes. Since he is of Mescalero—Lipan ancestry, tales were recorded from him only if they had been told him by Lipan relatives or friends who took pains to emphasize the Lipan origin or character of the stories. From Percy Bigmouth were recorded the following tales: Section III, A, 1 and 2; Section IV, D, I; Section VII, A, I; Section VIII, A, 2(b), 8, 9, 18(b), 28, 30(b), 31 (b), 32(b), 34(b),41, 47(b), 64(b), 68(b), 70, 72, 73, 75, B, 6(a), 12, 13; Section X, B, 3(b), D, I; Section XI, B, I. From Stella La Paz the following were recorded; Section I, A, 3; B, I, 3; Section II, A, 2; Section III, C, I; Section IV, B, I; Section VI, A, 2; Section VIII, A, 4, 36, 74. The remainder, the largest number, were obtained from Antonio Apache. In a few cases, particularly in the coyote cycle, stories taken from different informants will overlap. This is true, for example, of episodes 32 and 33 of Coyote’s adventures. But, since each of these episodes contains elements not included in the other, they are permitted to stand as separate stories, at the risk of presenting the reader with some familiar material.

When the footnotes stand alone they represent the writer’s own comment. Explanations of the informant which appear as footnotes are followed by (Inf.). When an explanatory comment of the interpreter is introduced as a footnote, this, too, is indicated. Names followed by letters refer to authors and bibliography in the back of the book.

The myths and tales of this volume were recorded during the summer of 1935 and represent the partial results of fieldwork made possible by the generous financial aid of Columbia University, the National Research Council, the Social Science Research Committee of the University of Chicago, and the Southwest Society. I owe special thanks to Dr. Elsie Clews Parsons and Dr. Ruth F. Benedict, whose interest and encouragement have been important factors in the preparation of this volume, and to Dr. Harry Hoijer, who has put his knowledge of the Lipan language at my service and made available to me his own Lipan texts and notes. For assistance in the preparation of this manuscript I am indebted to my wife, Catherine Opler.

Claremont Colleges

I. THE ORIGIN MYTH

A. THE ORIGIN OF THE LIPAN APACHE AND THE EXPLOITS OF THE CULTURE HEROES

1. The Emergence; the Birth of Killer-of-Enemies; the Slaying of the Monsters{11}

In the beginning they were going to create human beings. The part about that is not very long. Then comes the part about Killer-of-Enemies, and that is longer. The white men have their way and the Indians have theirs. I am going to do my best to explain the way of the Indian.

Down in the lower world, at the beginning, there was no light; there was only darkness. Down there, at the bottom, were some people. They knew of no other places; they lived there.

They held a council down there. They discussed whether there was another world. They decided to send someone above to find out. They looked at each other and asked who should be sent out.

One said, How about Wind?

They asked him. Wind agreed to go.

Wind went upward. He was a whirlwind. He came up to this earth. Nothing but water covered the earth then, He rolled back the water like a curtain.

After the wind had rolled back the water, land appeared. The water was all at one side.

Then they sent Crow out to look over the dry land. Crow saw the dead fish that had been left on the dry land. He stayed there and picked the eyes out of the fish. He didn’t come back as he had promised to do.

At that time the land was very level. There were no mountains on earth. The ground was just like ashes or like the places where there is white alkali on the earth’s surface now.

The crow never came back. The people below wondered what had happened to him. They wanted news. So they sent Beaver out.

The water was getting low now. Instead of going back to his people Beaver busied himself building dams. He went around from stream to stream. The people below wondered what had happened to him.

Then, because the beaver didn’t come back, they sent Badger out. He was faithful to his fellows in the lower world. He came up and looked around. He saw that it was all dry up there. He went back and told the others. Then they were all happy, for he was the only one who did faithful work.

Then they sent four others after that, four men, to look over this world above. These first four who came up on earth to prepare it were called by the word that means Indians. I know of no other name for them. These four chose one from whom were to be made the things of the earth as we know it now. They selected Mirage. They put up Mirage in the form of a ball. They walked away from Mirage and looked. It looked very pretty. That ball of mirage became a part of this earth.

Now they fixed the world. They were going to make hills and mountains. They made a little lightning. They made little arroyos, and water came running to them. That is the way the earth and the mountains, the hills and the water were made. At first it was all level, but of Mirage they made all the things of the earth.

Now all was ready on the earth. Springs and channels were made. All was prepared for the people of the lower world. Then the people of the lower world prepared to ascend. They came up to the upper world. They are here now.

After they came up, they moved around the edge of the earth clockwise. All those people were animals, birds, trees, and bushes. The real humans were not here yet. Animals, birds, grass, and trees were people at that time and could talk as humans do. They had one language and all understood each other. These were the first people. Even the rocks and the plants that are on the earth now were among these people. All these were the first people, those who were first on this earth. The animal and tree people came out first. Then the real humans came out after them. The different kinds of animals and birds, the different grasses and trees,—each represents a different tribe.{12}

When they started from the place of emergence, the first to stop were the western people, the Chiricahua perhaps.{13} As they went along, clockwise, different peoples dropped off. As they stopped they became different tribes and had different languages. You shall be such and such a people and speak this language, they were told. That is how all these I different tribes and languages were made.

All the northern tribes use the dog for a horse.{14} They used the dog for a horse at this time as they moved north.{15}

At the very end of the journey the Tonkawa