English Translation
7. The Gambling Game for Night and Day
Lawrence Mithlo
Now, also, there was no day.
That -- these birds of the kind that fly [and] all the small [creatures] did not like [it that, it was always dark].
And those on the other side were only the predatory [creatures] that had four legs.
All of these liked it that there was only darkness.
Then:
"There is to be a gathering to discuss it."they said.
They talked about it.
Then:
"Very well, let's gamble for day."they said.
Then they began to play the moccasin game.1
And then they began to gamble.
And now it was happening [that] each side won and lost alternately.
Now then, that Wren wanted the day.
And the big fellows on the other side did not want the day.
And the little fellows did want the day.
Then the others, speaking thus again,
"There is no day!"they said.
And the others:
"Morning has dawned!"they said.
And now the former:
"There is no day!"they said.
Someone who was very big2 was there among them.
"Day has dawned. I, now, who cannot move about rapidly, I'll go on before you."he said.
And he went away.
Then, there at the borders of his back, there the day had come.3
And they began to fight with one another.
Then, now, that person who was big was [still] there among them.
That one, only that one, they attacked in order to kill him.
The heart of that person who was big lay under his foot.
They did not know it.
Then Gray Lizard spoke thus to them:
"That one's heart lies under his foot. I'll shoot him for you. Give me arrows."he said to them.
Then the Gray Lizard went in under his foot.
He shot him under his foot.
He killed him.
Now they had killed that one.
And now [for] the Snake also.
The Snake threw his eyes in a crevice of the rock where it was impossible to get them.
Then he got away from them.
For that reason there are snakes [now].
None of them got him.
Now they attacked the Bear also.
As they were killing him, he dragged them toward a large grove of trees.
He walked into the grove of trees.
He got away from them.
They did not kill him.
And that large grove of trees into which he went is called "A Grove of Trees Lies."
Today [there are] many bears there.
This place where they played the moccasin game is today just like it was then.
Why it is as it was then is for this reason: when they had finished fighting one another, then they returned together to that place where they had played the moccasin game.
Then they spoke thus:
"From now on, all of this [will] be just so. It will always be unchanged. No one will meddle with it. Though there come to be many White men and Indians, it will always remain unchanged."they said.
That [place] today is still just so; these things that they say happened occurred.
There [on the flats] below that which is called "The mountain [on] which mescal extends upward" in New Mexico.3
Ethnological Notes
Morris Opler
7.1
The moccasin game is played at night and in the winter only. Should the game continue into the day the contestants must blacken their faces with charcoal. Sides are chosen [both men and women play and the sides are not limited as to number] and a fire is kindled. On its side of the fire each group buries four moccasins in a row, leaving only the open tops visible. The object of the game is for one side to hide a bone in one of the four moccasins so sucessfully that the other side cannot guess in which moccasin the bone lies. When one side is prepared to hide the bone, a blanket is held between the two opposing groups. While the hiding of the bone is in progress, the side in possession of the bone sings songs which the participants in the first game reputedly sang at that time. Thus there is a song concerning every being who took part in the game for night or day. Where the bone has been hidden and the moccasin tops have been filled with grass, the blanket is lowered and someone of the other side steps forward, stick in hand, to strike the moccasin which he thinks contains the bone. If he is correct in his guess, the bone passes to his side and it is his side which will do the hiding. Should he miss the right moccasin, however, his side has to give their opponents a number of yucca counters, the number depending upon the position of the moccasin chosen in respect to the one which really contained the bone. If the representative of one side misses the bone, it remains in the possesion of the opposition and they proceed to hide the bone again until a correct guess takes it away from them. The game ends when all of the counters are in the possession of one side. This was one of the most common of Chiricahua Apache gambling games. Not only was the betting high between the groups on the final outcome of the game, but there were also many individual wagers laid at each stroke of the stick.
There are other ways of guessing where the bone lies besides striking the moccasin with a stick, and other tricks of hiding besides placing the bone in one of the moccasins. All these variations have their rules and count, but the details are too numerous and complex to discuss here.
7.2
Giant of Chiricahua text 1.2 is probably meant, for he plays the part in other versions that have been collected. Note the reference to his slow-footedness.
7.3
Many informants claim to have seen the place; to have seen the gap in the cliff through which light first streamed, to have seen the rock crevice, with the arrows of the birds still wedged in them, into which the snake escaped, etc. [in the 1938 edition, the second occurance of this note reference is given the number "4". However, there is no note 4 to correspond with it; and note 3 appears be the reference here as well -- MEC].