THE GODS OF THE SUN AND THE MOON
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Mole was lonely. Coyote was away on one of his long trips. Mole would not have felt so lonesome if all her children had been with her. But there were only two left with her at home. The others had grown up and gone separate ways, as families do. The two that were left were boys. They were little.
Every sun Mole became more lonely. One day she saw a rock of odd shape. She liked it. She pretended it was Coyote; she made love to it. After it she named the older of her two small boys. She named him Stee-qu'-lot--Heated-Rock-Child. The rock was warmed by the sun. On another day, while digging roots she found a root that was white. It pleased her. As her smallest son's skin was light in color, she named him after the root. She named him Swee'-elt--White Root.
The moons passed and Coyote did not return. The boys grew. Swee'-elt told his mother that he could hear whispers coming up from the ground, and he asked her the reason.
"You are named after the roots," Mole explained. "The roots are your relatives. They call to you."
Stee-qu'-lot said that he could hear the rocks whispering to him, whispering sounds of friendship, and his mother told him that the rocks were his relatives.
Coyote finally came home. He found his sons grown to fine big boys, and he was glad. He was sorry that he had stayed away so long. He took the boys to himself to train. Every morning he got them up and made them swim in the cold river; he taught them to pray for strong medicine-powers. He was preparing them to meet hardships, to become good warriors. They became strong in body and spirit, and Mole was proud of them. Swee'-elt was handsome and white of skin, while Stee-qu'-lot was red of skin and strong and long of limb. He was a good hunter.
Coyote heard there was to be a big council in another country to decide on who should be the gods of Kya'-len-whu--the Sun--and Skuk'-ach Kya'-len-whu, the Night Sun--Moon. Coyote told his sons about the council. They wanted to go. They killed game, enough to last their parents while they were at the council. As they were leaving, Coyote suddenly decided to go with them. That left poor Mole all alone.
When Coyote and his sons reached the council they found the people worried. The people said they had not found anyone suited to take charge of either Sun or Moon. Many of the people had sought those honors, traveling in the Sun-lodge or the Moon-lodge across the sky, but all had failed. They either were too hot or too cold or too bright or too dim.
"I will be the Sun-god," declared Coyote, and the people allowed him to try. He took the Sun-lodge across the sky. But he watched everything that the people did. Seeing people in secret love, he yelled down to them, much to their embarrassment. He told on those who were hiding. The people were glad when that day was over. They lost no time in taking Coyote from the Sun-lodge. Then they asked Coyote's sons to try, but the sons refused. They wanted to remain on the earth.
Now, among those at the council was Swa-lah'-kin--Frog-woman. She was old and ugly, but she was in love with Swee'-elt, the white-skinned. Her special medicine was the rain. She caused a big rain to fall, and everything got sopping wet; the people were soaked to the skin and could not get dry, as all their fires were put out. All the fires but Frog-woman's were killed. Everybody shivered with cold--everybody but Frog-woman.
Swee'-elt did not know that Frog-woman's heart was soft toward him. He suggested to his brother that they go to her lodge and get dry by her bright fire. Stee-qu'-lot did not want to go. Knowing that Frog-woman loved his brother, he warned Swee'-elt; he told him to keep away--told him she was bad and powerful. But Swee'-elt became so cold that he went to her lodge by himself. Frog-woman was dressing a deer skin by the fire. Her lodge was warm and dry. Swee'-elt was glad he had come.
Looking up at him, Frog-woman said: "My husband! Take your place on the honored robe of your lodge."
Startled, Swee'-elt did not cross to the robe. Instead, he sat down near the entrance. He knew he should leave, but he did want to get warm. Frog-woman coaxed him to move to the husband-robe, but he shook his head and stayed by the doorway. Seeing that her coaxing was of no use, Frog-woman became angry. Suddenly, she changed herself into a real frog and jumped--smack!--at the young man's smooth white face. She struck his cheek and clung there. "Now," said Frog-woman, "you cannot leave me. Not if you go to the edge of the world will you ever get another wife!"
Swee'-elt tried to take Frog-woman off his cheek. He tugged and scraped in vain. All the people came and tried to take her off. Nothing could budge Frog-woman. The people even tried to cut her off and to burn her loose from his cheek, but she did not move. At last Swee'-elt gave up hope. Ashamed of his appearance, he decided what to do. He said to the people: "I will take charge of the Moon-lodge. I will go with it across the sky."
Stee-qu'-lot wished to be near his unhappy brother, so he said: "I will take charge of the Sun-lodge. I will take it across the sky."
In his Moon-lodge, Swee'-elt travels by night. That is because he is ashamed of his ugly wife. He hates her. She still clings to his cheek. Sometimes you can see her when the nights are clear. And if a frog is killed and laid on its back or held belly toward the sky, you will see a cloud-blanket spread over the Sun or the Moon. The brother-gods always hide their faces from frogs placed in that way. Perhaps they think that the frogs are trying to make love to them.
Because he is of the heated-rock, Stee-qu'-lot is well suited to sit in the Sun-lodge. Swee'-elt, being related to the white roots in the cool ground, is suited to stay in the Moon-lodge. His white face gives the Moon its light. That dark spot on his face is the hated Frog-woman. Moonlight is cool, because Swee'-elt was of the root-growing earth. His descendants are the white-skinned people. The descendants of Stee-qu'-lot are the red-skinned people.
When Swee'-elt left the council-camp to sit in the Moon-lodge he said: "In the future handsome warriors will marry homely women, and pretty women sometimes will marry homely men.
What Swee'-elt said is true to this day. He made it so from the Beginning.
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