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The Traditions of the Hopi, by H.R. Voth, [1905], at sacred-texts.com


21.--HOW THE PÖ'OKONGS DESTROYED CÓOYOKO AND HIS WIFE.

Many people living in Oraíbi. Some who go for wood do not return. Man, while gathering wood, bears Cóoyoko singing. Cóoyoko says he will feast on man, but man crawls under wood and Cóoyoko cannot find him. Cóoyoko then finds woman and says he will feast on her. Woman climbs tree and micturates. Cóoyoko sees moisture and says there must be clouds somewhere. Cóoyoko leaves place. Man and woman go to village and say it is Cóoyoko who kills people. Village chief goes to shrine where Pö'okongs live with grandmother, Spider Woman. They are playing, but woman makes them stop. Chief tells them that he wants them to take revenge on Cóoyoko for killing people. They promise to help him if he will make them some balls. Brothers take bow and lightning arrows. They strike ball before them forward and backward, until they arrive at Cóoyoko's house. He and wife have gone, but they follow wife's tracks and find her sitting. They kill her with arrows. They go again to house and wait return of Cóoyoko. He comes singing, and throws something down. He enters kiva and hunts for something

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to eat. Pö'okongs have hidden themselves behind mealing bin, and kill him with lightning arrows. They scalp him and return home with many beads and other things. Village chief makes two balls out of buckskin and two ball sticks, which he takes to Pö'okongs. After that Hopi always return when they go after wood.


Next: 22.--How Pö'okong Killed the Bear.