Taos tales / by Elsie Clews Parsons.

I 8 Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society He always had a string of rabbits hanging in a bunch. Then the giant came after him, calling him by his name, "Saiofaa, grandchild, grandchild!" -"Who is that? Somebody who must know me is about here." He was sitting on his little shack of pine brush. Then the giant got to his shack. He saw a kind of human that he had not seen before or known. Then he asked him to give him his rabbits. He was afraid. He told the giant he would give him the rabbits. The giant took the rabbits, one by one, and swallowed them. When the giant ate all the rabbits, he said, "Saiofaa, my grandchild, you look fat, too." Then Saiofaa ran out underneath his little shack. The giant chased Saiofaa. At hiohkualdahl (stone fence) lived Kawiyonah. Saiofaa ran into the house. The giant arrived there. Saiofaa said to the Kawiyonah, "My grandchildren, hide me! A giant is after me." Saiofaa was spotted as Kawiyonah were spotted. They were all spotted jut the same. The giant said, "My grandchildren, is Saiofaa here?" They told the giant he was there. Then they all began to dance. The giant did not listen, he went into the house. All the Kawiyonah said, "Is it I? Is it I?" and so on. They were all spotted just the same, all of them. Saiofaa was there, but the giant did not know him. Then they killed the giant. They danced, kicking him, trampling on him all they could, as in the war dance, singing: Kawiyoyo Kawiyoyo Saiofaa was safe. The Kawiyonah took the skin of the giant and measured themselves dresses and leggings, moccasins, gloves (!) and all. Then they hid the giant under water. 4. Magpie and the Corn Mothers2 Magpie lived at Cottonwood, also his wife, Yellow Corn woman and her sister, Blue Corn woman. One day Yellow Corn woman went to invite her sister to come to her house and help to grind corn. So they were both grinding corn. Yellow Corn woman stopped grinding corn and went down to the river for water. Magpie was painting his face with red to go for wood. While his wife was gone for water, Blue Corn was grinding, and he caught her with his red painted hand, that Blue Corn woman. Then Blue Corn woman got hold of Magpie with her hands covered with corn flour. She bedaubed Magpie with hiwkw'ialto, stone-fence-at (T). Shrine? See p. 99. 2 Compare Picuris, De Huff, I86-190; San Juan, Espinosa, 96-97; Santa Clara, Parsons 4: 8-I 19; Cochiti, Benedict I: 88-90, see also 9S; Laguna, Boas 2: 177-180, 22o0; Siama, De Huff, I94-197.

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Title
Taos tales / by Elsie Clews Parsons.
Author
Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews, 1874-1941.
Canvas
Page 18
Publication
New York :: The American folk-lore society, J. J. Augustin,
1940.
Subject terms
Indians of North America
Taos Indians

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