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Show XII. TADIDHN K'EH ATIINGOO: ALONG THE POLLEN PATH The story of the People has been told only to this point. But this is not the end. Much more of the story remains to be told; it will take years to both live and tell it. We have come far from the time of the Emergence, yet the power of that time is still with the People. When the People came into this Earth-Surface World, they found it muddy and shapeless. Monsters stalked the land and threatened the People and their sacred ways. But the Holy People protected the ancestors of the Navajos. They gave the People the power to deal with all Monsters who would threaten their way. By using this power, Monster Slayer and Born For Water brought order, peace, balance, and harmony to the People in ancient times. Even today they help the People. Coyote is still around, too. The Holy People sent Changing Woman to form a People, a nation. From the time she created the first of the clans until today, the People have had to overcome many obstacles and defeat many monsters. In many ways, these new monsters were as fearsome as Yeitsoh. The armored and mounted Spaniards were only the first of a long parade of aliens who came to the People's land. Some came to make peace, most to make war. The People do not forget. The Long Walk still burns in their memory. So do reservation boundary disputes, stock reductions, and the intrusions of miners and farmers. Through all of this the Navajos have endured. And they have done more. They have continued to adapt and grow in harmony with the power they received from Changing Woman. Sheep graze near oil and gas wells, horses stand next to pickup trucks, summer shade houses are built near new frame homes, and new schools replace old ones. But the Navajos themselves have remained independent through all changes, clinging to the trail of beauty. The People strive to walk in the pollen path and pray with the singer: 175 |