How the Squash Plant was Obtained – White Mountain Apache Squash seeds come from frog. A man was running, trying to escape from his wife, who was chasing him. She was djuc'isdza-hn (Vulva Woman, the one who killed men by getting them to cohabit with her.) Frog Old Woman was sitting beside a little stream. The man came to her there. A lot of squash plants were growing at that place. Frog Old Woman said to the man, "What did you come over here for ?. Don't go in that squash patch, newly married man. If you go in there the plants might all dry up. Nor may a woman who is pregnant or menstruating go in a squash patch, for if she does the plants will all dry up. (A newly married person is not supposted to enter a squash patch lest the plants wilt and die.) "But there is a woman running after me. I want you to put me among the squash leaves and hide me there, grandmother (maternal grandparent)," the man said. So Frog Old Woman hid him among the leaves. A little later the woman got there and asked Frog Old Woman, "Where did that man go?" "I have not seen anyone about here. I don't want any woman to get in my squash plants. Get out of here," Frog Old Woman said and she pushed her out, "If you go in there my squash plants might dry up." "I can see the tracks going right into the squash patch there," the woman said and she circled about the patch looking for more tracks. But Frog Old Woman said, "You cant find any person about here. I am going to stay here till dark and watch these squash plants." But still that woman hung about, looking for the man's tracks. Finally she went off, following the edge of the creek to the north, looking for signs of the man. "Well, that woman has gone quite a way along the creek from here, so you can come out. On the point below here is where Rock Squirrel Old Man lives. You see that hole in the rock there, well that is where he lives. You better go there," said Frog Old Woman. So the man ran over to the hole. But before he left Frog Old Woman, she gave him squash seeds to plant. She also showed him how he should plant them. "Don't dig a hole to plant them near a gopher hole. (Gopher would eat them) Plant the seeds about so deep (from wrist joint to outstretched finger tips). When they are green don't let any pregnant or menstruating women go among them." When the man got to the hole in which Rock Squirrel Old Man lived, he entered it. He spoke to Rook Squirrel Old Man as his maternal grandparent. Rock Squirrel Old Man plastered up the outside of the hole so no one could see where he had gone in. Then Rock Squirrel Old Man spoke to him, saying, "My grandson, I am going to take you home tomorrow. You live to the east, where crops and ripe fruits are continual." "All right, I wish you would take me right now," the man said. It was a long way to this man's home, but Rock Squirrel Old Man said that he was able to have them arrive there immediately. Next morning they started and arrived at the man's home in the early part of the morning. There were some girls gathering walnuts. They had piled them up and were busy pounding off the hulls. One of the girls there was the man's relative. She said, "Oh, my maternal uncle, you have been gone a long time." "How do you know that I am your uncle," asked the man. "My mother told me about you." Rock Squirrel Old Man looked different from these people. The girls looked at him and laughed. "Where did you get that funny man. His eyes stick out," they said. "Don't make fun of him! He saved my life. He is like a chief,"1 the man told them. Then Rock Squirrel Old Man left and went to his home. The man's relative showed him where his family was living, "There where the three big ramadas are standing, right at the end," she said. "Well, I will go there, approaching from the other side," the man said. Lots of corn was planted there and he pulled down and broke off one of the stalks. He chewed it as you do sugar cane. Then he came to the place where his mother and sister were. "My younger brother, I have not seen you for a long time," his sister said, and his mother told him, "My child, I have not seen you for a long time." They both wept and cried over him. The mother told his sister, "Cook some corn pudding for him." When it was done he ate till he said, "Take it away, I have had enough. I cannot eat because I have gone so long without food I have no appetite." This man's mother had told him to marry Vulva Woman, the one who had pursued him. "You should not have done that, mother. I had lots of nice girls, but by marrying her I had a hard time. Rock Squirrel Old Man was the one who saved my life. One girl working below here called me her maternal uncle. Is that the one who used to be just a little girl when I left here ?" "Yes, she has moved down that way. It must be she," the mother answered. Then the man told his mother, "My mother, the sweetheart that I used to have here, I could talk well with her. Go and bring her here. I want to marry her. But I will not stay here. I am going to move away." "Wait, my son, not today. In two or three days I will go for her," his mother told him. But never-the-less the next day she went after the girl who was staying with her mother. When she got there, she said, "I came after this girl. I want her for my boy." "Throw my moccasins to me," the girl said to her mother. The girl put on her moccasins saying, "All right, lets go!" for she had loved that man before. The mother brought the girl home with her, and she stayed there all day and that night. The next day the girl returned to her mother and told her what the man had talked of, "This man has a maternal uncle living far off and he wants to move over there with me, his mother and his sister. Their farm down here, with squash planted on it, is to be given to you." The going they sent two horses up to the girl's mother by an old woman. The old woman told the girl's mother, "Whenever you want to see your daughter, come up there to where she will be living. There is a farm down here with corn and squash on it. You can have all that." "This is a long way we have to go, but we will make it in one day," said the father of the man who had just been married. "Carry some water on the journey, we might need it. My daughter-in-law, put some water on the horse. We might need it to drink with our food. We might stop to eat at some place on the way." The man's uncle, with whom they were going to stay, was a chief. He was a chief in the tseyi-'dn (in the rocks people). clan. (This is not a White Mountain clan, but two clans in the group are said to have originated from it.) They arrived at his place the same day that they started. After they had been there for some time, persons who were not relatives or of the same clan, started to gossip. (This tale contains an excellent example of the customary procedure accompanying marriage of well-to-do people. Poorer people could not afford such displays, both from lack of kin to help them.) "What is the matter with that chief. He ought to go and kill some deer for his nephew who has just been married and has brought his wife here to live. He ought to kill some deer and take the meat down to the girl's mother." (Petty gossip such as this is very common camp talk, especially among women. It serves to delineate cultural opinion, though it is not condoned.) But the tseyi-'dn chief had already sent word about among members of his clan. The people not related to him did not know this. The next day one of the chief's nephews (sister's son) went hunting and killed a deer. This was to be for the people who had come to live with them. "Go get some corn and squash and cook them up. Dont let that girl be hungry. Give her plenty to eat," the chief said. He sent word among his relatives and they all went out hunting, but the people who were not their relatives did not know this. Then the chief said to his sister, the mother of the man, "How did you get your son back ? I thought he had married another woman." "Well, I gave my son to the other girl, but she was not good, so he is back. He was saved by Frog Old Woman and Rock Squirrel Old Man, and by his own endurance. She (Vulva Woman) never caught him." The chief had told the men who did not go hunting, to gather together at his camp. When they got there he said, "I made you all come together because you are all relatives to me. I want you to help out and do something for this man who is our relative and who has come here to live with us. If any of you want to throw in a horse, just send it over. I have a horse, but it is the only one I own, so I cannot put him in. Bring your horses in if you want, at the end of two days, when the men out hunting will be back. In this way three horses were put up and in two days the meat that the hunters brought in was to be sent with these horses to the old woman at the farm the mother of the girl who had married the young man. it was the father of the young man who would send this all down to her. In two days time the hunters returned with a big load of deer meat. They unpacked all this at the camp of the man's father, then the chief said to this old man, "These horses are too tired to go on, so in the morning we will pack up the three horses that are going to be given away and take the meat down on them." "All right, thank you, my brother-in-law," the old man said. So they packed up the three horses and there was lots of meat on them. The two horses ridden by the persons taking the meat down were also packed with meat. This made five loads of meat. When the two men arrived at the girl's mother's camp, they unpacked the loads. The old woman sent word about among the camps for people to come and get some of the meat When all the people had come together at her camp, she spread a deer hide on the ground and put meat on it, giving this to a man But she gave only to the men who were good hunters. (Becaue she would rely on them to go hunting and get deer for her.) With each gift of meat to a man went one deer hide. The two men who had brought the horses down, stayed there all night and next morning returned home. In about three days the old woman, mother of the girl, started to call from her camp, "Come on, come on, come on. I am asking you to go for a walk (she meant hunting)," she said. All night, all right, all right," the men said, "Let's go!" "I have stayed here a long time among you and am your relative," the old woman told them. So the men went out hunting for her. In about four or five days they came back bringing a lot of meat. All this was given to the old woman. "There is meat, lots of meat for you, they said But there were no horses. She had given away the three horses sent to her and had not received any in return yet. One of her brothers was living close by. He came to her and asked, How many horses have you got ?" "I have no horses. I gave three away, but have received none back." So her brother told her, "Why didn't you tell me? I will go about and get horses." So he went about among the people and sot three horses. Packing the three horses with meat and riding two more also loaded with meat, the old woman s husband and one boy took all to where their daughter was now living. They spent the night there and next morning the people did exactly the same as the girl's mother had done. It was as if the men who had gone hunting in the beginning, received their meat back. The girl said to her father, "Father, I wish you would come over here. I am lonesome for my relatives." "Well, I don't know. I have to tend the corn over there. But I can give half of the corn to your brother and half to your uncle and then come back here," he told her. "AH right," the girl said. He went back to his home that day. The next day he spoke to the people there, "Well, people, I have been a long time with you. Now I'm going to move over to where my daughter is. This is why I have to go. There is a good patch of corn and squash here, so I'm going to give it to my daughter's distant maternal uncle and one of her distant brothers. The ditches and land are in good condition. I am going up there to live with my daughter." "All right. That is up to you. She is your daughter," they said. So the old man and his family moved to where his daughter was living. The day after they arrived there, their son-in-law's mother came to them and said, "There is a lot of corn and squash down below here. It has all been given to my daughter-in-law. So you can help yourselvesto it all you want." The tseyi-'dn chief had given it all to this woman's new daughter-in-law. (Notice how the functioning relatives in this marriage are stressed. The man's mother makes the request to the girl's mother for the girl. The man chooses to take his wife and parents to live with a maternal uncle who is a, chief, because of the kinship involved as well as the desire to ally himself with the local group of a rich and influential man. He depends to great extent on this chief, his maternal uncle, in Apache thought the closest (excepting his father) of all male blood relatives because of obligations involved. The chief's sister's son (again a maternal nephew) is sent out to hunt deer by his uncle, typical of existing practices where a man will send his sister's son. on a mission almost as quickly as his son, and where the obligations are strong. Important is the fact that though the greater part of the gifts are from the man's mother's close kin, when the gift is made to the girl's parents it is nominally from the man's father, though everyone knows others are involved. When the girl's mother lacks horses for the return gift to the man's family, her brother is the one who quite typically helps her out. When the girl becomes lonely away from her parents, she requests that they come to live near her. Though matrilocal residence was the more common, patrilocal residence and the presence of the wife's parents at the same time was not uncommon, especially when the daughter was an only child. When the girl's parents move to be near her, they give the farm they had to a parallel cousin and a distant maternal uncle of the girl, just such relatives as might receive it in real life. On reaching their daughter's new home, they are graciously approached by the man's mother, who puts at their disposal many farm products.) Then they gathered up the squash lying on the ground. They set them down a little way apart from each other. If you place squas too close to each other they will get rotten. For this reason they packed dry grass between them where they stored them away, putting the same over them to shelter them. That man who had been saved by Frog Old Woman, had shown the people how to plant the squash seeds he had brought home with him. From that time on our people had squash and that was how we first got them. Told by Anna Price. Taken from Myths and Tales of the White Mountain Apache by Grenville Goodwin, 1934