People of the Weeping Eye(146)

“In the temple of the Yuchi, as we are called. The name is wrong, of course. We are the Tsoyaha. In Trader Tongue we are the Children of the Sun.”

“What do they call you?”

He chuckled. “I am called Kala Hi’ki. It began as a joke. It comes from one of our most prized stories. It seems that once, long ago, a stranger with great Power came down from the rainbow. This mysterious being lived among the Tsoyaha and taught us many of our rituals: the arts of Healing; the proper ways for the Yuchi to behave; and how to find the path eastward to the Sky World, a place where our Ancestors live that we call Yubahe.

“After the mysterious stranger lived among us for some time, Mother Sun began to act strangely. She would arise from her home in the east, then race up into the sky before hanging there, as if afraid to move.

“This miraculous sky being was called Kala Hi’ki. He told the bravest warrior, ‘Something is wrong with Mother Sun. Are you brave enough to go to the end of the earth and see what is frightening her? I warn you now it must be a terrible sorcerer, one who has Power enough to frighten your Mother. Do you have the courage to slay this sorcerer and bring his head back?’

“Being the greatest of the Tsoyaha, the warrior agreed that he did. Kala Hi’ki gave the warrior a special war club made from a turkey tail. And he said, ‘With this you must strike the sorcerer. The club will only work if you aim your blow at the back of his neck, for that is the only place such a terrible sorcerer is vulnerable. Should you hit him anywhere else, he will turn and kill you in a most dreadful way.’

“For days the warrior traveled, forever to the east, until one day he reached the edge of the world. There he spied two caves. Hiding in some bushes, he settled down to watch.

“Sure enough, night came, and he was frightened, for monsters exist at the edge of the world. But he was the bravest of our people. That next morning, as he had been told, Mother Sun emerged from her cave. Her light was brilliant, and warmed him after the cold and terrifying night.

“That was when the sorcerer popped out of the second cave. He prepared himself, then sprang out at Mother Sun, waving his arms and screaming in a most hideous manner. Because of his Power, Mother Sun fled up the sky until she was out of his reach.

“The warrior saw his chance, for the evil sorcerer was so preoccupied and gleeful at his Power, he did not watch what was behind him. With one mighty blow, the warrior struck the sorcerer in the back of the neck. As Kala Hi’ki had promised, the sorcerer’s head tumbled from his body. The warrior stared, afraid to believe his luck.

“Now he had to bring the head back. But when he went to pick it up, the head blinked, the mouth moving like a fish’s does when swallowing air. The warrior’s courage fled. Three times he tried to pick up the head, and three times he couldn’t summon the resolve to touch it. Finally, on the fourth attempt, he steeled his heart, reached down, and knotted his fingers in its hair.

“Then the most terrible part of the journey began. You see, every night the severed head would talk to the warrior. It would tell him, ‘You must leave me and run home, for your wife is lying with another man.’ The next day it would say, ‘You must leave me. Your mother is sick and dying, and only you can save her.’ Day after day, the head told him terrible things. Once it was that Kala Hi’ki himself was an evil Spirit that was poisoning his people. But the warrior kept to his task.

“Finally, he returned to the Tsoyaha in triumph, and discovered that his wife had lain with no other man. That his mother had never been sick, and so on. That first night they buried the head, thinking it would die in the ground. But imagine the people’s surprise when they awakened the next day to find the head lying atop the grave, still spouting lies.

“‘Throw it in a fire and burn it up!’ the people cried. So they went and found wood. They kindled a great bonfire and threw the head in. There it burned for the entire day. So imagine their consternation when they awakened the second morning, and found the head atop the ashes, still spouting lies.

“‘Tie the head to the tallest tree!’ they shouted. Once again they tried, climbing the tallest oak in the forest. They went to bed that night knowing that the terrible head was finished. So, imagine their surprise when they awakened the following morning to find the head on the ground beside the dead oak. That is why even today, acorns fall from the oak. If you look, acorns still have heads of hair like the sorcerer’s.

“In despair, they went to Kala Hi’ki and said, ‘What do we do to kill this sorcerer’s head?’

“Kala Hi’ki thought, and said, ‘You are tying it to the wrong tree.’ He gathered them together and led them to the cedar tree. ‘There, tie the sorcerer’s head on the highest branch.’ This the people did, and that night they went to bed hoping that Kala Hi’ki was right. Now, the next morning they awakened, and one by one, filed out into the forest. There, the cedar stood still vibrant and alive, and on its highest branch, the sorcerer’s head was dead. Then they looked at the tree and saw that it was streaked with the sorcerer’s blood. That is why to this day the cedar is sacred, and its wood still red, stained forever by the sorcerer’s blood.”