People of the Moon(18)
“Yes, Uncle. What we see here is the top of the tallest mountain in the Third World, which is beneath us. It’s so tall that it pokes up through our world.”
“Is that important for our people?”
He had swallowed hard, nodding. “Yes, Uncle. In the beginning time, the People lived in the First World. Down in darkness at the bottom of the earth. One by one, they climbed through the three Below Worlds and finally emerged into this one.”
“Is that different from what the First People teach?”
“They say that there are four underworlds, and that this is the Fifth World. They think they were the first humans to enter this world and that they are special, Blessed. They think their gods are the only gods because they came first. They think the Yamuhakto, the Warriors of East and West, were first led into this world by a blue Wolf.”
“But you don’t believe that?”
“No, Uncle.”
“According to our beliefs, who were the first men to emerge?”
“The Hero Twins.”
“And who led the Hero Twins?”
“It was Spider. When she led the Hero Twins out into this world, she cast her web into the sky and climbed up. Then, as the People died, she would pull the souls of the worthy up with strands from her web. They became the Star People.”
“And how did Sister Moon come into this world?” Uncle had asked, his eyes boring into Bad Cast’s.
“Spider Woman climbed down and told the Hero Twins that it was too dark in the night sky. The Star People needed some form of light, since Father Sun went to sleep every evening. She told the Hero Twins to go down into the Third World and to bring Sister Moon back to light the night sky.”
Uncle had nodded his approval and gestured for Bad Cast to continue.
“The Hero Twins climbed back down into the Third World, which was illuminated by Sister Moon. They told her how the Star People spent their nights in blackness. But Sister Moon didn’t care. She told the Hero Twins that her light was needed in the Third World.”
“And how did the Hero Twins manage to get her into this world?”
Bad Cast had taken a deep breath, frowned, and looked around the kiva roof, where his relatives watched patiently. He said, “They tricked her with corn cakes that Spider Woman had packed for them. They took them out of their packs and started to eat them. Sister Moon was hungry. She’d never eaten blue corn cakes, and the smell of them made her mouth water. Using the corn cakes, the Hero Twins drew her toward First Moon Mountain, where it thrust up through the sky of the Third World and into this, the Fourth World. The corn cakes were particularly sweet, spiced with beeweed and yucca blossoms. Sister Moon kept following the crumbs they trickled behind them. She would lick up the crumbs, and call out for a blue corn cake.
“‘Come a little higher,’ the Hero Twins called back, trickling more crumbs. To each other they said, ‘These corn cakes are the most delicious, sweetest corn cakes we have ever eaten.’
“And Sister Moon, hearing this, kept following, ever higher. The Hero Twins stayed just out of her reach, climbing and climbing until they climbed out between the twin pillars of First Moon Mountain.”
Uncle had nodded sagaciously. “And then what happened?”
“Sister Moon climbed out behind them. When she did, the Hero Twins crumbled the corn cakes between their hands and threw them into the sky. Sister Moon leaped up after them, chasing the crumbs into the sky where they became the hazy star path that we can still see.”
“And then what happened?”
Carried away by the solemnity of the occasion, Bad Cast’s voice had risen. “Sister Moon spent nine sun cycles seeking the corn cakes. Then, realizing she’d been tricked, she started back across the sky looking for the entrance to the Third World.”
“And the Hero Twins?” Uncle had asked.
“They saw her coming, and knew she would go back to the Third World and leave the Star People in darkness. To trick her they hid the entrance, piling up stone and dirt to make the entrance look like the ridgetop we see today.”
“So that was it? Sister Moon is forever trapped in our night sky?”
“No, Uncle.” Bad Cast had shaken his head. “Sister Moon is always looking to go back to the Third World. That’s why she forever searches across the sky, looking first for corn cakes as she heads south, and then for the entrance to the Third World as she comes back north.
“The Hero Twins, knowing that she is forever searching, made stone images of themselves, one on each side of the hidden opening to the Third World. There, they stand guard to this day. We can see them anytime when we look up at First Moon Mountain.”