There's a word in the Navajo language
that signifies that a story has been remembered,
or a story has been told.
And the story oftentimes doesn't have
to be experienced by the storyteller,
but they may have heard the story from someone else.
And so the word that signifies this is jiní.
And so that's what this is called.
Jiní.
"Jiní, they say.
We accept jiní as part of our stories on simple faith.
It's not important who said it, but that it was said.
The stories become part of our collective memory.
Our stories begin and end with jiní.
At Ya'dziilzihii is the place named after the contest where
young men shot flocks of arrows toward the clouds to see who
could shoot the farthest.
jiní.
At Séí Delehí, lovers' trysts took place on the wide sandy
bed near the tamarisks.
Jiní.
'It's best to take time to listen to the stories and not
be in a hurry,' the Diné elder says.
He lives near White House Ruins, where you can buy a cappuccino
and tourist jewelry.
He knows the stories not echoed on paper.
Díí'kwe'é Dibé Yázhí Bich'ah wolyé jiní.
This place is called Little Lamb's Cap, they say.
A man stayed behind and drew the animals on the canyon wall
and blessed it with prayers.
For the people's return, he waited.
Time passed.
Then a long-robed man came through the Canyon.
He's there on the wall with the others.
Which will last longer--
the drawings, or the stories of jiní?"