The Stolen Wife

Once upon a time in the village of Cu-oh-chi-tae lived an untidy old man and an untidy old lady. Also living with them were their grandson Tiny Flower, his wife White Corn, and the young couple's baby girl.

The cold weather was coming on. To prepare for the winter Tiny Flower went to the mountains every day and hunted deer. One morning soon after he had left the house, White Corn picked up her water jar and took it to Green Willow Lake. There she filled the jar. And as she leaned over the water, she spotted a magic stick under the surface and pulled it out.

This stick belonged to the governor of the Yellow Kachina people. He was a personage with great powers, whose duty it was to make rain, thunder, and clouds every day in the four directions. Although the governor lived far from the lake, his power was such that he had been able to watch White Corn from his home. Seeing how beautiful she was, he had used his magic stick to fly to her.

Now he jumped out from behind a bush and cried, "You can't take that stick! It belongs to me."

Laughing, White Corn darted away, and the governor chased her around and around the lake. She enjoyed being run after by the handsome stranger, while the governor was wishing that he could have the beautiful woman for his wife. Out of breath, White Corn finally came to a stop and handed him his stick.

"Lady White Corn, may I have some of your water?"

White Corn offered him her filled jar, and he drank some and gave it back. "If a person drinks from the jar and doesn't finish it all," said White Corn, "The custom is to pour water on him."

Now it was the governor who darted away and White Corn who chased him. But he didn't run very fast, and he enjoyed having her splash him with water.

"Lady White Corn, wouldn't you like to go to my place?"

"Where do you live?"

"Not far. I live at the top of Flint-Covered Mountain."

"Yes! I'll go with you." White Corn emptied her water jar and placed it upside down at the edge of the lake.

Both the governor and White Corn sat on the magic stick, and in moments they reached the top of Flint-Covered Mountain. On the roof-top of the governor's house was a ladder made of cedarwood. The two climbed down the ladder into the house.

At once the governor said, "Lady White Corn, this is my home, and now it's yours too!" White Corn had been tricked. Like it or not, she had to stay with the governor.

When Tiny Flower returned home and found that his wife had gone, he dropped everything he was carrying and hurried to his grandparents. "My son," said his grandfather, "We found her jar turned upside down at the lake. We have looked and asked all over, but no one has seen her."

Tiny Flower searched again for his wife and visited almost every home in the village, but he learned nothing. The baby cried and cried. The grandparents had been taking her to be fed by nursing mothers in the village, but still she cried day and night. The best that the old couple and Tiny Flower could do was carry her back and forth, back and forth, trying to soothe her.

Days passed, and Tiny Flower grew sadder and sadder. He lay on the rooftop and grieved. Even his arrow bag made of mountain-lion skin lay empty on the floor where he had dropped it the first night he returned.

"You must go to Grandmother Spider," his grandfather said at last. "She will know where White Corn is, because she can spin her web into all parts of the earth."

Carrying gifts, including a little bag of blue cornmeal, Tiny Flower set out to visit Grandmother Spider. He reached her house after many days of walking. "Grandmother, this is a home of reverence, a home of respect, and I have entered it humbly," he said after she had invited him in. "My heart is heavy, sad thoughts disturb my mind, and with your permission I would like to tell you of my troubles." And he spoke of his missing wife and crying baby.

"My son," said Grandmother Spider, "your wife is at the top of Flint-Covered Mountain, where the governor of the Yellow Kachina people took her."

"I must get her," he said.

"First go home, cleanse yourself with holy water, and fill your bag with arrows," she said. "Then return to me and I will give you instructions and some of my medicine."

Tiny Flower travelled quickly and reached home in four days. He cleansed himself carefully and rose the next morning before the sun was up. After offering blue cornmeal to the Great Spirit, he started out again. In three days he arrived at Grandmother Spider's.

"My son, take this pipe, this bag of tobacco, and this medicine stick," she said. "Just before you reach the governor's house, bite a piece off the medicine stick, mix it with your saliva, and rub it on your body. Use the pipe and tobacco when the governor challenges you to match his powers. If you win, you can take your wife away, but if you lose, he will keep White Corn."

Tiny Flower thanked Grandmother Spider, who blessed him and told him not to be afraid. Then, putting the pipe, the bag of tobacco and the medicine stick in his quiver, he went on his way.

His journey took several days, for he had to pass Shoo-fan-ne and Dee-Oaa Cwe-ye Mountains. Then he followed the Trail of the Bears, which led to the top of Flint-Covered Mountain.

Tiny Flower quickly found the governor's house and saw that smoke was coming out of it. So he climbed to the roof and stamped on it violently.

Out came White Corn. "Oh, my husband!" she said. "Why are you here? The governor of the Yellow Kachina people is so cruel and so powerful that something awful will happen to you!"

"Don't be afraid," Tiny Flower said. "I've come to take you home."

"First you must wait for the governor," replied White Corn. "I belong to him now, and he would be so angry if he found me missing that he would hunt us down and kill us for sure. He has gone to the south to make thunder and rain, but he comes home for dinner at noon."

White Corn gave Tiny Flower some cornbread while they waited, and at noon the governor arrived. "I smell ashes, I smell ashes!" he said in a loud voice. "White Corn, you've fed someone here!"

"No, no, there's no one here! Who would dare come?"

"I know you have someone. Where is he?"

"Well, someone is here," White Corn Maiden confessed. "It's my husband; he came to take me home."

Angrily the governor asked, "Where is he?"

"In the next room," she said in a husky voice.

"Why doesn't he come out? Call him."

Out came Tiny Flower at that moment. "Aha! Look who's here -- Tiny Flower the deer hunter. We shall see which of us is the better man, and the one of us who has more power will keep White Corn."

"Poor me; I don't have any magical powers or know any tricks," Tiny Flower replied, "but I must do what you say."

The governor pointed to the center of the room. "Sit on top of this flagstone," he said, and Tiny Flower did as he was told. "White Corn, stand beside me." And White Corn moved to the governor's side. The governor prepared a pipe, lit it, and gave it to Tiny Flower. "Here; smoke this."

Puff, puff, puff, puff, went the smoke as Tiny Flower pulled on the pipe. Soon he began to feel dizzy. He swayed back and forth and to the sides; swayed to the right, then to the left. But he did not fall over. "You must know something! You must know something!" cried the governor.

"I know nothing. I don't live by the night; poor me, the things I do are done in the daytime. So how can I know the things of the spirits?"

Seeing that the tobacco had not worked, the governor began to sing. White Corn joined in, and together they sang:

Aaa, aaa, ya ma; a-ya-ma, a-ya-ma,
Aaa, aaa, ya ma; a-ya-ma.

Tiny Flower man, if you are a man,
Your beloved wife you can take
With you, with you.

If you are not a man, here, this
Lightning you can take with you.

And the governor of the Yellow Kachina struck at Tiny Flower with a bolt of lightning. However, it just missed him. Four times the governor and White Corn sang, and four times the bolt of lightning missed Tiny Flower. The governor had failed.

Now it was up to Tiny Flower to test the powers that Grandmother Spider had given him. Tiny Flower said, "It's your turn to sit on the stone." As the governor seated himself, Tiny Flower told White Corn to tighten her belt and the laces of her moccasins. Then he prepared the tiny pipe that he had from Grandmother Spider and told the governor to smoke it.

"Ho, ho, ho! What can this little thing do to me? It's so small I might swallow the whole thing." He took one puff and became dizzy. He took three more: puff, puff, puff, and over on the floor rolled the governor. Tiny Flower and White Corn sang:

Aaa, aaa, ya ma; a-ya-ma, a-ya-ma,
Aaa, aaa, ya ma; a-ya-ma.

Yellow Kachina governor man,
If you are a man, my beloved wife
You can have, you can have.

If you are not a man, here, this
Lightning you can take with you.

And Tiny Flower struck at the governor with a bolt of lightning, which did not miss but split him in two. Four times Tiny Flower and White Corn sang, and four times the governor was hit by lightning. Tiny Flower tore the governor's body into four pieces, then took White Corn by the hand and left the house.

"Be brave and strong, my wife. I am taking you home."

Hand in hand, White Corn and Tiny Flower ran along the top of Flint-Covered Mountain. Soon they came to the Trail of the Bears, which led them down into the valley and back to Grandmother Spider's house. There they stopped just long enough to thank her and return her medicine. And she told them to hurry, because she knew that the governor was coming back to life.

Sure enough, in the distance Tiny Flower and White Corn saw a small white cloud. The governor was just beginning to breathe again. It was not long before the sky darkened and thunder and lightening began to play all around White Corn and tiny Flower as they ran.

When they passed the river with red water, rain had caught up with them. By the time they reached Yunque, it was falling faster and faster. Tiny Flower urged White Corn to keep running, for they were just a mile away from home.

The Rio Grande was the next river they crossed, and hail began to fall. All kinds of birds were circling above them, but they kept running. They only had a few hundred yards to go when the hail became so heavy that they could not move.

Tiny Flower and White Corn lay on the ground, and all the birds that had been following -- crows, eagles, hawks, owls, sparrows, and more   -- swooped down and protected the man and woman with their spread wings. The birds that were on top of this great canopy were struck by hail and became spotted, while the ones underneath, like the crows, kept their solid colors. When the rain and hail stopped, Tiny Flower promised the birds that in the next four days he would bring them four deer to eat.

Then the couple reached home at last. The grandparents and the baby girl rejoiced, and White Corn was so happy that she cried. As the legend goes, it is because of her return that white corn still grows in the village of San Juan.

* Told at San Juan Pueblo, New Mexico, in the early 1960s and translated from the Tewa by Alfonso Ortiz