Note 263 — LEGENDS. (continued 5)

In the myth recorded in “The Mountain Chant: a Navaho Ceremony,”314 p. 413, there is an account of a journey given by a courier who went to summon some distant bands to join in a ceremony. From this account the following passage is taken: “I … went to the north. On my way I met another messenger, who was travelling from a distant camp to this one to call you all to a dance in a circle of branches of a different kind from ours. When he learned my errand he tried to prevail on me to return hither and put off our dance until another day, so that we might attend their ceremony, and that they might in turn attend ours; but I refused, saying our people were in haste to complete their dance. Then we exchanged bows and quivers, as a sign to our people that we had met, and that what we would tell on our return was the truth. You observe the bow and quiver I have now are not those with which I left this morning. We parted, and I kept on my way toward the north.” In par. 597 of “The Great Shell of Kĭntyél” reference is made to the same identical meeting of couriers. It is interesting to observe how one legend is made to corroborate the other,—each belonging to a different rite.