AWARENESS

How Men First Played the Game of Ball - Apalache 


In ancient times the great chief Ytonaslaq, whose name meant Sleeping Fire in the Apalachee language, had no family but his young granddaughter Nico Taijulo. Her name meant Sun Woman. 

Sleeping Fire had for an enemy a chief who called himself Lightning Bolt, as if he had great powers. Lightning Bolt lived in a village nearby, and his shamans had told him that one day a son of Sun Woman would kill him. He was full of fear as Sun Woman grew up from childhood. When Sun Woman was grown, she took up a water jar every morning and went to the stream for water like other daughters and granddaughters. One day, between the village and the stream, she did have a child, a boy. Because she feared that Lightning Bolt would try to kill him if he knew that the child was hers, she hid him in the bushes by the path. She knew that he would soon be found. Then she took up her jar of water and went home to her grand-father, just as she always did. Panther, Bear, and Jay saw her go. When they came along through the bushes, they found the baby, and argued what to do. 

"We must take it to Sleeping Fire," said Jay at last. "He always knows best." And so Bear picked up Sun Woman's son, and they took him to his great- grandfather. 

"Do not speak of this child to anyone," Sleeping Fire told Panther, Bear, and Jay. "No one must know that my granddaughter has a son. That one who calls himself Lightning Bolt will be afraid of him, and try to kill him if he hears. We will call the boy Chita." 

And so the boy Chita grew up as an orphan, but his great-grandfather and mother made sure that he was cared for. He grew tall and strong, and was better than anyone else at shooting with the bow and arrow. He was better at hitting the rolling stone with his lances in the game of chunkey. He was better at every skill and game. When he was twenty, he was given the strange name of Eslaf-yoopi, though no one but his mother knew what it meant. At the same time his great- grandfather Sleeping Fire warned him again about the man who called himself Lightning Bolt. 

Now, the wicked Lightning Bolt had wondered for a long time whether the orphan boy was Sun Woman's son. He thought often of the warning his shamans had given, and when he heard how strong and brave Eslaf-yoopi was, he was afraid. I must know! Lightning Bolt thought. Then he thought. If I can set a trap for Eslaf-yoopi and kill him, at least I will know that he is not the one I should fear. 

So, Lightning Bolt went out looking for the young man, and found him. "Hoh, Eslaf-yoopi!" Lightning Bolt said. "Can you help me? I am making arrowheads and need more flints. It will be a good thing if you bring me a basketful from the bottom of the spring in the Great Sinkhole. They are the best flints." 

Eslaf-yoopi agreed, but remembered Sleeping Fire's warning, and went to tell his great-grandfather of all this. "It is good you come to me," Sleeping Fire said. "The spring in that place is so deep that you might never come up again." He took a handful of shell beads from a pouch and put them in the basket his great-grandson carried. "Hear me: When you come to the Great Sinkhole you will see a little bird diving into the water. Give him these beads, and ask him to bring up flints for you." 

Eslaf-yoopi did this, and Diving Bird was happy to have the beads. He brought up flints enough from the bottom of the spring to fill the young man's basket, and Eslaf-yoopi took them to Lightning Bolt. Lightning Bolt was not pleased to see him, but he smiled and thanked him. 

"These will do well," he said, "but when I have made the arrowheads, I will need many shafts for my arrows. Can you help me? The best arrows are made from canes that come from the canebrake in the Great Thicket. It will be a good thing if you cut an arm-load of canes and bring them to me for my arrows." 

Once again Eslaf-yoopi agreed, but again he went to tell his great- grandfather of all this. 

"It is good you come to me," said Sleeping Fire, "for the canebrake Lightning Bolt spoke of is deep in the Great Thicket. It is a dangerous place where there are many poisonous snakes. Hear me: To be safe, you must make hoops from grapevines and take them with you. When a snake comes, you must roll a hoop past it. When each snake turns to chase the hoop, you can cut canes until the next appears." Eslaf-yoopi did this, and cut canes until he had rolled away all of his grapevine hoops. Then he ran from the canebrake and out of the Great Thicket to the place where Lightning Bolt was. When Lightning Bolt saw him he was not pleased, but he smiled and thanked him. 

"These will do well," Lightning Bolt said, "but when I have fastened the points to all these shafts, I will need feathers with which to fletch them. Can you help me? Eagle feathers are best, and there is a nest of eagles in the tallest tree on the High Hill. It will be a good thing if you kill the parent eagles for their feathers, and bring the little eaglets to me alive." 

"I will," said Eslaf-yoopi, but this time, too, he went first to tell his great-grandfather what Lightning Bolt had asked of him. 

"Hoh!" said Sleeping Fire. "It is good that you have come to me, for the eagles in the tallest tree kill everyone who tries to rob their nest. They will claw at your hands and try to peck out your eyes so that you will fall. Hear me: You must cut a large gourd to cover your head and two smaller ones to cover the backs of your hands, and you must carry a lariat to throw over and tie up the eagles when they attack you." 

And that is what Eslaf-yoopi did. He cut a hole in the bottom of a large gourd and eyeholes to see through, and put it over his head. He tied pieces of gourd over the backs of his hands, and took up his lariat and a basket. Then he went to find the tallest tree on the High Hill and climb it. When he came to the nest in the top of the tree, he caught the eagles and killed them, and plucked out their pinions and tail feathers. He put feathers and the little eaglets in the basket, and he climbed down and took them to Lightning Bolt.

When Lightning Bolt saw Eslaf-yoopi coming, he was dismayed. "None of my tricks can kill this young man," he said to himself. "I must find a way for my warriors to destroy him." So he smiled and thanked Eslaf- yoopi, and said, "When you return home, tell your chief Sleeping Fire that I have thought of a new ball game that will be a good thing for fifty of his people and fifty of mine to play. We will play it with a hard ball on a field with a goal-post. To score a goal, the players must kick the ball so that it hits the post. The first side to make 6 goals will win, for after 11 goals the game will end." 

Eslaf-yoopi thought this ball game a fine idea, and returned to his own village to tell his great-grandfather the news. 

"Indeed," said Sleeping Fire, "a new game is a good thing, but this Lightning Bolt has a wicked heart. We must take great care to make good medicine. The players must keep vigil the night before the match, and our old men must search their dreams for omens so that we can place the benches for our players on the lucky side of the field. We will make new fire, too, for a torchbearer to carry at the head of the players on their way to the ball plaza." Old Sleeping Fire smiled. "And when we come there, we will test this one who calls himself Lightning Bolt. We will say that we have only 45 ballplayers who wish to play." 

And all that is what they did. On the day set for the game. Sleeping Fire's people set out with drums and dancing. When they came to the ball game place, Eslaf-yoopi wrapped his feather cloak around him and leaned against a post as if he were feeling ill. When the other side learned that Sleeping Fire was 5 players short, they would not cut their own side, but hid their glee and said, "Hurry and choose any 5 from these watching. We are ready to begin." Sleeping Fire chose Eslaf-yoopi and 4 others who had pretended to be sick or clumsy, and in this way they tricked the other side into thinking they would win easily. 

The 100 players poured into the middle of the field, and Lightning Bolt threw the ball among them. Then the battle began. The players could only make goals by kicking the ball, but they could catch it with their hands and run with it until they were tackled. At once all of the 100 players fell in a great heap on top of the ball carrier, kicking and pulling and hitting. The players on the other side attacked Eslaf-yoopi more than anyone, trying to break his bones or kill him, but they could not. Eslaf-yoopi hid his anger until his team had made 6 goals, and won, and then-7! At once he let out a great roar and a flash that terrified the players and watchers. It shook the plaza ground under their feet. 

"Lightning-Flash! That is what 'Eslaf-yoopi' means! Eslaf-yoopi is the true Lightning!" the people cried. "Only the Sun's son could have such power." 

"No!" cried the false Lightning Bolt. "I will show you! I will beat him! I challenge Eslaf-yoopi to a game of chunkey." 

So they played chunkey, but once again the true Lightning's side won. The false Lightning Bolt feared for his life, and when the game was over he and his men ran away. He made fog and mist rise up to hide the way they went, but the true Lightning and the warriors of his great-grandfather Sleeping Fire found and fought and destroyed them. When Sleeping Fire's people returned to the ball-game ground, they made a special new goal pole in honor of the true Lightning, and ever afterward played the new game of ball in his honor.

Taken from the book The Wonderful Sky Boat and Other Native American Tales of the Southeast retold by Jane Louise Curry