Cibola 108

Reader (18)

I took a rib from my body and made of it a fire stick.
I took it in my hands and set out over the whole earth . . .
In the shelter of the trees I traveled,
Seeking everywhere what I did not find.
I came to a great plain and I fell prone upon my face and slept there.
There my brother came to me, face to face.
I threw out my arms to embrace him,
But they closed empty on my own breast.
My face was streaked by my tears . . .
WILLIAM BLACKWATER
“Orphan Boy” recitative (traditional O’odham oratory), translated by Ruth Benedict with unknown Pima collaborators

Here the statements of the Pimas . . . are of special value. . . . [They claim] the [Hohokam] pueblos fell one after the other, until the Pimas, driven from their homes, and moreover, decimated by a fearful plague, became reduced to a small tribe.
ADOLF BANDELIER
Fifth Annual Report of the Archaeological Institute of America, 1883-1884

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