Sacred Texts Native American Southwest Index Previous Next
Their mother died, and left three children, a grown girl, a little girl, and a little boy. The elder sister did not like her younger brother and sister. She was not good to them. She was always off having a good time at Santo Domingo, and she did not feed them. People told her to take better care of her sister and brother, but she kept right on. She went with the men and stole other women's husbands.
The little sister took care of her little brother at night. She took him down the ladder into their house and slept in a little hole there. The people around the village fed them, but their sister never paid any attention to what they did. One night they came home to their house. There was nobody there, and the baby was crying. All night the baby cried. He was sick. A neighbor heard the baby crying and crying. She came in and said, "Where is your sister? She doesn't care anything about you. She is always away from home. Don't mind that she is not good to you." In the middle of the night the elder sister came in. She said, "You stupid children! Why didn't you stay somewhere and sleep?" "Where should we sleep? This is home. Brother is sick and he cries all night."
In the morning she didn't even feed the children. The neighbor woman came in again. "Did your sister give you something to eat?" "No." "That mean person! She doesn't even feed you. She has gone off again and the baby is sick." That night they thought the elder sister would come home, but she didn't come at all. The baby slept in the little girl's arms. The neighbor came in and went up to the little children. The baby was lying still in the little sister's arms. She went out again. In the morning the neighbor went in to take food for them. She said, "I guess the baby is better. He is not crying. Poor granddaughter, are you sleeping?" "Yes; he went to sleep and I slept too." The neighbor went up to
the baby brother and moved him. He was already stiff. He had died. The little sister cried and cried. She said, "My poor little brother, you have left me all alone." The neighbor said to her, "Poor little girl! You have had trouble with your little brother. I guess your sister is a devil; she doesn't think anything about you." The sister never came home from Santo Domingo.
116:17 Informant 1. Notes, p. 235.