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Show "Corn Is Brought to the Earth"* In early days people were very hungry and very poor, and they were small in stature because of their scanty food. One day an old woman called to her son and told him to go up beyond the sky and see if he could find some better food than what they then had. But the boy hesitated, saying, "What shall I ride?" When the boy continued to refuse, the old woman held him up in her hand and blew him away. He rose right into the Heavens. Passing beyond the skies, he came into the country inhabited by Shinau-av (Coyote). When he saw the boy coming, Shinau-av said, "What do you seek in this land? Are you a thief?" The boy said, "No, I seek for better food for my people." And Shinau-av said, "Perhaps you are a spy and at night will cut our throats." But the boy denied this accusation and plainly explained to him why he was there. Shinau-av placed before him some food and the boy ate. Then Shinau-av gave him a drink of the wine of the skies, u-wu-pa (juice of the cactus apple). When the boy was finished, Shinau-av sent him to lie down a little way outside his camp. Shinau-av said to himself, "If he becomes drunk from this wine, he is an enemy, but if he drinks to his fill and still retains his understanding, he means well." The boy slept and seemed not to be affected by the wine which had been given him. When morning came, Shinau-av called the boy to him and set food before him and again gave him a drink of the wine of the sky. The boy again drank his fill and still kept his understanding. Shinau-av said, "This is a good boy, and I will trust him." So he gave him some seeds of haweave (Indian corn) and told him to return. He also gave him a jug filled with wine to drink on his journey. * Powell, John Wesley, "Ute and Paiute Legends," Microfilm, Archives of the Bureau of American Ethnology, Smithsonian Institution. 3 |