It seems to me as a Navajo man, I
have always gained my strength from the stories
of Navajo women.
And I'm not really sure why.
But most of the stories, I think,
is because I come from a patriarchal society,
where women have the power.
As Lucy says, the smaller they are, the more power they got.
I think that's true.
So--
There's a story.
I would like to tell the short story.
And after that, I will read some poems in the computer.
We don't have many trees up North.
So I used my computer.
These things are great, you know?
When you're herding sheep.
Sometimes I use them sitting on top of the hill.
I always wanted to have my picture taken
sitting until one of those rocks out there,
maybe sand dunes with a big umbrella
that's like an orange one from Princeton.
And my computer, my cellular phone, and that's
a modern Navajo.
Well, anyway, the story goes that one time, this
is one of the stories that kept me going in times of hardship.
And the story is that I have a great grandmother, whose
name was [NAVAJO].
And she used to do all types of thing.
And one time, back when they were
Mexican raiders in Navajo country,
I guess she got caught.
And there was a huge bonfire in the middle of the plain.
And Navajo women and children, and even
the men were sitting there, they didn't know what to do.
So most of them were crying and gave up,
and start talking about what life would be like as a slave,
and so on.
And suddenly, they heard the speaker, laughter.
There's loud laughter coming and--
they said oh, [NAVAJO]
And she came in and started cheering up the people.
She said what's wrong with you guys?
You know, we never get together like this.
And let's have fun.
Tell each other stories, update one another
with the latest gossip.
And look, you guys are boiling some stew.
And this is wonderful, isn't it?
And what a great time.
So she did that.
And then I guess after that, then she set out
the bed-rollings, the bed for her captives--
for her captors, the Mexicans.
And she would take off the saddles, brushed the horses,
and run around with a blanket, and gather grass, and bring it
in to feed the horses.
And then she would run to the nearest water place, bringing
jugs and water, and so on.
And so she was really good to her captors,
and cooked for them, and always teasing them.
Here, I've cooked for you.
Eat some more, you're getting skinny.
Eat some more, your wife probably won't recognize you,
and all that.
And she was having such a wonderful time.
And the people, the rest of the people thought she was crazy.
Perhaps, she was.
But she was having fun.
And so she did this every day.
And she traveled with them, telling them
this is where we need to camp.
Because if we camp over there, the enemies will get you.
We camp over here.
We'll be camping near water, and so on.
And she kept doing that until she
came to the valley of Chinle.
There was a place called the valley store.
Just west of there.
There's this huge red bluff and you can hardly go up.
It's very hard to go up.
There's a sand, big giant sand stones there.
They're almost like steps.
And they say that it's even hard to get up there when on foot.
So every morning, when she was doing this,
she also told her captors, you can't ride horses
while they're still cold.
Let me warm them up for you.
So she would saddle them, and test them, ride them,
and warm them up.
And so she just kept doing that until they got to that place.
And that morning, she got on this one horse.
And she did the same thing.
But suddenly, she took off the west
and let out this big loud scream.
It was the kind of scream that challenged her captors
and said come and get me if you can.
And so they knew she was escaping.
So they took off after her.
And she went straight for this cliff that I was talking about.
And as she was going up, supposedly, she
had missed a step to be killed.
[SPEAKING NAVAJO]
And of course, the horse didn't miss a step.
It went over the cliff.
And I don't know who was listening
to her when she said that.
Then she escaped to Black Mesa, where
she killed the horse that she escaped on, and start
butchering it, and start screaming
and says come on out, you cowards, you Navajos.
Chicken Navajos, come and have a feast with me.
And because she knew her relatives and other people
were hiding, and they looked around
where they found no one following her.
They came out.
And they butchered the horse and then boiled that and ate that
and had a feast.
And I guess she told them the story, what she did in--
while she was planning her escape.
I always remember that story because that tells me
that this Navajo woman knew her country so well.
And she also knew horses because every time,
she rode out those horses every morning,
she found the toughest, fastest, and most sure
footed horse she could find.
And that's the horse she escaped on.
So she knew that the Mexicans didn't have a chance.
And so I always remember the story
whenever I get into trouble or when-- no,
does he get into trouble?
No.
When I find myself in a difficult situation,
I would ask myself, what would [NAVAJO] do in the situation?
What would her thoughts be?
What would she be doing?
And it's really interesting because every time
I was asked that question, somehow her voice
appears and says try this.
Why don't you try this?
Do this way.
Come on, don't be too chicken.
You know, dare.
Take a little bit more risks.
And so I've been doing that since then.
So now, the women do control my life.
Whether they're alive or from the past, or whether they're
mythological figures.
So I've always valued that story because it's a family story.
And we pass it on to our children.