WEBVTT

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At one time, there
was a beautiful lake

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near old Laguna village.

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A giant water snake named
Ma'sh'ra'tru'ee lived

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in the lake, which was connected
to the four worlds below,

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and which allowed the gentle
snake to travel to the worlds

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below.

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The snake was the
messenger who carried

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the prayers of the people
to the mother creator below.

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Ma'sh'ra'tru'ee always made sure
the people had plenty of rain

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for the plants and the
animals, and of course,

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to keep the beautiful
lake full of fresh water.

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But the neighboring-- but
then, neighboring cousins

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became jealous,
and one night, they

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came and broke down the natural
barriers which formed the lake,

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and all the water drained away.

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The beautiful lake that
had been there dried up,

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and the giant water snake
was never seen after that.

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Petroglyphs of coiled snakes
are signs that a natural spring

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or pool of rainwater is nearby.

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The head of the
snake glyph points

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in the direction of the water.

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The Spaniards thought
the snake glyphs

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pointed to buried treasures
the Indians had hidden.

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The Spaniards did
not understand--

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fresh water is the treasure.

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Rattlesnakes sense the
approach of summer rainstorms,

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and they emerge to join the
horned lizards, tortoises,

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tarantulas, and the
red-spotted toads,

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all of them waiting
for the rain.

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The coyotes have a
particular ecstatic howl

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they give for the rain.

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The curved-beaked
thrashers and cactus wrens

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also have special rain songs.

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The red-spotted toads
carry on with their singing

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all night after a
summer rainstorm.

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When the hot days
of June arrive,

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and the last moisture of
the spring rain has gone,

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the desert animals
become increasingly

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vulnerable to drowning.

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Once the natural
waterholes dry up,

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thirst drives the creatures
to try to reach water,

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no matter where
the water may be.

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I found an elf owl floating
face down in a water barrel.

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It was early morning, and
the water was still cool.

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When I turned him over, his
big yellow eyes were open wide.

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Although the wings were stiff,
still the eyes seemed alive,

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kept moist by the water.

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If the water barrel had
been full to the brim,

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the owl might have
been able to escape.

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When the summer
thunderstorms arrive,

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the arroyos and dry riverbeds
may be suddenly transformed

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by muddy torrents of floodwater
that appear out of nowhere,

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even as the sun shines.

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Flash floods race out of
cloudbursts from many miles

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away.

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Lightning travels in horizontal
branches for up to 20 miles

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to strike a bolt
out of the blue sky.

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Motorists, most frequently
those driving four-wheel-drive

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vehicles, are swept away in
floodwater as they [AUDIO OUT]

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A number of automobiles have
been lost in the underpasses

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since I moved to Tucson.

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But so far, no one has drowned.

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During the 1983 Salt
River floods in Phoenix,

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vandals removed
emergency barricades

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from a washed-out bridge.

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Two carloads of
high school students

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drove off the
bridge in the dark,

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and were swept
away by the river.

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Four students drowned.

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Laguna Village is located on
a sandstone hill above the San

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Jose River.

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I grew up in an old house
at the foot of the village,

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where the people put
Presbyterians and mixed-bloods

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like the Marmons.

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After big summer
rainstorms, the runoff

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would come, reddish
brown with white froth,

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swirling past our house.

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The runoff seldom rose high
enough to flood our yard--

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or my great grandmother's yard--

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but the worry was over our
old house with no foundation.

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Its walls of sandstone
and adobe mortar

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were unprotected
from the floodwater.

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With my great
grandmother's house,

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the problem was that my
great grandfather had

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had a lapse in good judgment.

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Although he learned to
speak the Laguna language,

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and never returned to his Ohio
birthplace even for a visit,

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still he had the idea
that his house in Laguna

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should have a cellar.

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He directed the builders
to dig a small cellar

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beneath the kitchen.

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This cellar was
all that remained

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of my great grandfather's Ohio
notions concerning houses.

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Otherwise, adobe was the
building material used,

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and the architectural
style he chose

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was modified New
Mexico territorial.

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Because of the cellar, the
heavy summer rainstorms

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used to cause us
considerable anxiety.

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If that damn cellar did
trap the flood water,

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the adobe walls would
become saturated--

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and wet adobe will crumble.

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Would the muddy brown water,
with its cargo of tumbleweeds,

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corn husks, candy
wrappers, and tin cans,

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boil over into our
yard from the road?

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Once or twice, my father
and my uncle Wafer

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had to fill sandbags to
hold back the rising water.

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But the flood we feared
never quite developed, not as

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long as our neighbor,
Felipe Riley, was alive.

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Felipe Riley used to
dry farm with the runoff

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from the village hillside.

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He diverted the water
with an intricate network

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of small stone check dams,
which he carefully engineered

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so that the rainwater fed small
ditches leading to his pumpkin

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and squash plants, his
peach and apricot trees,

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and to his big field of corn.

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His granddaughter
Madeline and I were

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playmates, and how
we used to love

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to play in the shade
among the tall corn plants

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where we were not
supposed to go.

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Felipe's arrangement
of the stone

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checked dams was so
subtle, conforming

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to the natural contours
so well, that we did not

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realize how Felipe had saved our
old houses until after Felipe

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had passed on.

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Without Felipe's care, the rocks
which formed the check dams

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gradually scattered.

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The runoff from
the village above

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began to increase,
until finally,

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one summer, after
I was in college,

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the cellar at
Grandma Alma's house

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was flooded, as were tribal
warehouses located nearby.

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Later, government
engineers spent

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thousands of dollars
to install giant storm

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drains that dump into the river.

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Felipe just needed a few rocks.

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But then, that is the
federal government.

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