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One day the boys came to their
mother, as she was weaving mats. "Who is. our father_" they asked. "We
have no one to run to when he returns from the hunt, or from war, to shout
to him."
The mother answered: "In the morning, look toward the sunrise and you will
see a white Cloud standing upright. He is your father."
"Can we visit our father_" they asked.
"Yes," said their mother. You may visit him, but you must make the journey
without stopping. First you will reach Wind, who is your father's eldest
brother. Behind him you will find your father."
The boys traveled four days and came to the house of Wind.
"Are you our father_" they asked.
"No, I am your Uncle," answered Wind." Your father lives in the next
house. Go on to him."
They traveled on to Cloud. But Cloud drove them away. He said, "Go to your
uncle Wind. He will tell you something." But Wind sent them back to Cloud
again. Thus the boys were driven away from each house four times.
Then Cloud said to them, "Prove to me you are my sons. If you are, you can
do what I do."
The younger boy sent chain lightning across the sky with sharp, crackling
thunder. The elder boy sent the heat lightning with its distant rumble of
thunder.
"You are my children," said Cloud. "You have power like mine."
But again he tested them. He took them to a house near by where a flood of
rain had drowned the people. "If I they are my sons," he said, "they will
not be harmed."
Then Cloud sent the rain and the storm. The water rose higher and higher,
but the two boys were not harmed. The water could not drown them. Then
Cloud took them to his home and there they stayed a long, long time.
But after a long time, the boys wished to see their mother again. Then
Cloud made them some bows and arrows differing from any they had ever
seen, and sent them to their mother. He told them he would watch over them
as they traveled but they must speak to no one they met on their way.
So the boys traveled to the setting sun. First they met Raven. They
remembered their father's command and turned aside so as not to meet him.
Then they met Roadrunner, and turned aside to avoid him. Next came Hawk
and Eagle.
Eagle said, "Let's scare those boys." So he swooped down over their heads
until they cried from fright.
"We were just teasing you," said Eagle. "We will not do you any harm."
Then Eagle flew on.
Next they met Coyote. They tried to avoid him, but Coyote ran around and
put himself in their way. Cloud was watching and he sent down thunder and
lightning. And the boys sent out their magic thunder and lightning also,
until Coyote was frightened and ran away.
Now this happened on the mountain top, and one boy was standing on each
side of the trail. After Coyote ran away, they were changed into mescal -
the very largest mescal ever known. The place was near Tucson. This is the
reason why mescal grows on the mountains, and why thunder and lightning go
from place to place - because the children did. That is why it rains when
we gather mescal.
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