Note 34 — III. NYOHAIVA

Havīkwek, of note 22.—Finding and playing with bones of kinsfolk who have been killed by people that are plotting to kill the hero also, is a stock episode in Mohave mythology, and a standard motive for fighting. Cf. the Cane myth. A game and bet are also a usual preliminary to war. There is a seeming contradiction in the fact that Nyohaiva, who grows from the ground while the earth is still new, should have parents killed long before. Most Mohave myths, however, begin with the growth or birth of the hero; and if fighting later occurs, it is motivated in the way just explained. Both incidents conform to the conventional pattern according to which myths are constructed, so the logical inconsistency does not jar.