he same great god. So constantly
are the lesser gods employed in offering plumes to the great god
that at night the sacred road (the Galaxy) can be seen filled with
feathers, though by day they are invisible. They believe that the soul
or essence of the plumes travels over this road, just as the soul from
the body travels from Zuni to the spirit lake, and in their offerings
of food the food itself is not received by the gods, but the spiritual
essence of the food.

One of the most important characters in Zuni mythology, the Kaek-l[=o],
finding himself alone in the far Northwest, saw many roads, but could
not tell which one led to his people, and he wept bitterly. The tear
marks are still to be seen on the Kaek-l[=o]'s face. A duck, hearing
some one's cries, appeared and inquired the cause of the trouble. "I
wish to go to my people, but the roads are many, and I do not know the
right one." The sagacious duck replied, "I know all roads, and I will
lead you to your people." Having led the Kaek-l[=o] to the spirit lake,
he said, "Here is the home of the K[=o]k-k[=o]; I will guide you
to the kiva and open for you the door." After entering the kiva the
Kaek-l[=o] viewed all those assembled and said, "Let me see; are all my
people here? No; the K[=o]-l[=o]-oo-w[)i]t-si (plumed serpent) is not
here; he must come," and two of the K[=o]k-k[=o] (the Soot-[=i]ke)
were dispatched for him. This curious creature is the mythical plumed
serpent whose home is in a hot spring not distant from the village of
Tk[=a]p-qu[=e]-n[=a], and at all times his voice is to be heard in the
depths of this boiling water.

In the days of the old, a young maiden, strolling along, saw a
beautiful little baby boy bathing in the waters of this spring; she
was so pleased with his beauty that she took him home and told her
mother that she had found a lovely little boy. The mother's heart told
her it was not a child really, and so she said to the daughter; but
the daughter insisted that she would keep the baby for her own. She
wrapped it carefully in cotton cloth and went to sleep with it in her
arms. In the morning, the mother, wondering at her daughter's absence,
sent a second daughter to call her. Upon entering the room where the
girl had gone to sleep she was found with a great serpent coiled round
and round her body. The parents were summoned, and they said, "This is
some god, my daughter; you must take him back to his waters," and the
maiden followed th