Navajo tale “Changing Woman and the Hero Twins after the Emergence of the People” is a perfect example of archetype (model) in ancient, and not so ancient, mythology. Containing within the story of its pages the repetitive use of a numerical value, a father god and sons of the father god, and heroes who must overcome dramatic obstacles while obtaining help from outside sources, “Changing Woman and the Hero Twins” places itself among a rich history of similar myths and folklore from around the globe, both secular and religious.
One of the major similarities between this tale and others in worldwide lore is its repetitive use of a numerical value, in this case the number four. From the very first paragraph, where after the monsters have been eating the people “there were only four persons remaining alive” (“Changing” 36), to the “four places of danger” (“Changing” 40) that the Hero Twins must overcome by deceiving each of the subjects thereof four times in the middle of the tale (“Changing” 41), to the four monsters – Old Age, Cold Woman, Poverty, and Hunger – spared death at the end (“Changing” 46-47), the number four figures prominently throughout.
In fact, nearly every gesture in the entire story seems to fail to culminate into any real action until the fourth time it is advanced. For instance, at the beginning of the narrative it takes Talking God four calls to the last four people remaining alive before he finally decides to stand before them (“Changing” 36).
Later, when Talking God and Calling God create Changing Woman and White Shell Woman, they cannot seem to accomplish the task until the fourth time they enter and raise the buckskin, after which the two females (who are actually somehow one) emerge in human form from images of women wrought in turquoise and white shell, respectively (“Changing” 37). Even the major antagonist of the story, Yeitso, is not immune from the predictability of the obsessive-compulsiveness of the repetitive, ritualistic four.
As the four holy people say to the Hero Twins, advising them on the habits of the said monster, “They said that he showed himself every day three times on the mountains before he came down, and when he showed himself for the fourth time he descended from Tsotsil to Tosato to drink” (“Changing” 44). Unfortunately, the twins use this advice less advantageously than they should.
As the narrator states, even though Yeitso kneels down to drink four times from a lake, “The brothers lost their presence of mind at the sight of the giant drinking, and did nothing while he was stooping down” (“Changing” 45). Understanding the lack of drama that would have followed from a surprise ambush and the easy killing of the main terror of the tale without a fight (though compared to the twin’s father, Yeitso actually doesn’t seem so terrible), the twins can be forgiven for their temporary, fear-induced inaction.
The repetition of numerical values is a common factor in historical myth and literature throughout the globe, and is particularly impressive in its integration into religious texts. A text that uses this repetition extensively is the Christian Bible. The number seven is used at the beginning of the text, in the second chapter of Genesis, to describe the week it took for God to create the world – six days for Him to create it , and one for Him to rest (Holy 2).
The number seven is also used at the end of the text, when John introduces his apocalyptic book of Revelation by addressing it to “the seven churches in the province of Asia” (Holy 867). The number forty also appears early and later in the text, first in the Old Testament to describe Noah’s forty days and nights of rain while in the ark in Genesis chapter seven (Holy 5), and later in the New Testament to describe Jesus’ forty days and nights of fasting in the wilderness in Matthew chapter four (Holy 682-683).
The number forty is also foundational to the history of the nation of Israel, as laid out in Numbers chapters thirteen and fourteen, when the Israelites explore the promised land of Canaan for forty days, get scared to try and take it over because the people of the land are so big, rebel against God by refusing to enter, and are punished by Him by being forced to wander around the desert for forty years – one year for each day they had explored the land before (Holy 105-106).
The numbers twelve and three are also extremely important in the Biblical text. Twelve is the designated number of the sons of Jacob in Genesis chapter thirty-five (Holy 27), among whom the Promised Land is eventually divided in Joshua chapters fifteen through twenty-one when they are no longer individuals, but swelled, populous tribes, or small types of nation-states (Holy 162-167). Twelve is also the designated number of Christ’s apostles in the New Testament (Holy 688).
The number three is used in reference to all sorts of facets of the doctrine of the Christian faith as spelled out in the Bible, from the three-in-one Godhead of the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Ghost – to the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after His death in Luke chapter twenty-four and other sections of the Gospels (Holy 748-749). Peter denies Christ three times in John chapter eighteen, before Christ’s death (Holy 767), and has his faith reinstated three chapters later, after Christ’s resurrection, when Christ tells him three times, predictably, to “feed His sheep” (Holy769-770).
Also, in the Old Testament, infamous Jonah, in the first chapter of the book that bears his name, spends three days and nights inside a “great fish” before being spewed out onto land to do God’s work (Holy 654-655). Another similarity between “Changing Woman and the Hero Twins” and other myths and narratives of posterity is its inclusion of a father god and his sons. The twins’ father is first clarified as being “the Sun” by Spider-Woman, who gives the boys advice on how to get to his dwelling and gifts with which to overcome the obstacles along the way (“Changing” 40).
After making their way unscathed to his home, it takes some time before the twins’ Sun-god father actually acts somewhat fatherly towards them. After trying to kill them in multiple interesting and creative ways, he finally decides they must really be his sons and agrees to give them aid to kill the monster Yeitso, even though Yeitso is also his son (what a father). He even goes so far as to promise the boys, “I shall hurl the first bolt at him” (“Changing” 43).
Only half making good on his promise, the Sun-god does indeed hurl a lightning bolt, but his intentions with the bolt seem more to transport the twins to the mountain where Yeitso dwells than to actually injure Yeitso himself (“Changing” 44). A battle ensues, and the three sons of the god go at it in the classic archetypical, mythological son-of-god style – Yeitso hurling lightning bolts and the twins firing rounds of lightning-like arrows. The twins emerge victorious (“Changing” 45).
The archetype of a father god and his sons is extraordinarily common throughout most all mythology, in tales originating from all regions of the world. Though one of the most potent images in modern society of the father god and his son comes from religion, as in the Christian view of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, there are many more examples which are arguably just as popular and influential as anything in contemporary religious texts – the major canon in popular thought and philosophy being the mythology of the Greeks and Romans.
Not so Different After All One of the most immediately similar Greek tales to “Changing Woman and the Hero Twins” in this regard is the story of Phaethon, son of the Sun. Phaethon, a mortal on his mother’s side, travels to the palace of the Sun to find out if indeed the Sun is his true father. Once there, the Sun not only confirms that Phaethon is his son, he also offers him evidence, saying, “But I will give you a proof. Ask anything you want of me and you shall have it” (Hamilton 180-181).
Unfortunately, while the Sun-god of the Greeks is a much better father figure than the one of the Navajo, the son of the Sun-god of the Greeks is much more foolish than the sons of the Sun-god of the Navajo. Asking his father for the reins to the chariot of the sun (to which, with great despair, his father, bound by his word, must relent to), he proceeds to try to drive the sun across the sky. It is by all accounts a disaster, and Phaethon’s inability to control the horses of the chariot leads not only to his own death, but chaos on the earth below (Hamilton 181-184).
Also similar to “Changing Woman and the Hero Twins,” where once slaughtered, Yeitso’s remains fall to the ground and form various physical features unique to the Navajo landscape (“Changing” 45-46), it is written that during Phaeton’s horrific ride, “it was then that the Nile fled and hid his head, which still is hidden” (Hamilton 183). Though the Navajo Sun-god fathers some impressive youths in his time, the arguably most famous of the Greek gods, Zeus – “Lord of the Sky, the Rain-god and the Cloud-gatherer, who wielded the awful thunderbolt” (Hamilton 25) – fathers quite a progeny himself.
Not only does he lend his seed to the infamous Hercules (Hamilton 227), but to Perseus – the winged-sandal wearing, mirrored-shield bearing slayer of Medusa – as well (Hamilton 204). An interesting similarity between the tale of Perseus and that of the Hero Twins is that while Perseus was born to Danae by Zeus, taking on the form of a “shower of gold [which] fell from the sky and filled her chamber” (Hamilton 198), the Hero Twins are the product of a similar type of naturalistic union:
In the morning Changing Woman found a bare, flat rock and lay on it with her feet to the east, and the rising sun shone upon her. White Shell Woman went down where the dripping waters descended and allowed them to fall upon her… Four days after… White Shell Woman said: ‘Elder Sister, I feel something strange moving within me; what can it be? ‘ and Changing Woman answered: ‘It is a child. It was for this that you lay under the waterfall. I feel, too, the motions of a child within me. It was for this that I let the sun shine upon me. ‘ (Hamilton 37-38)
The “shower of gold” that seeds Perseus in his mother’s womb is an image strikingly similar to those of the waterfall and sunlight which impregnate Changing Woman and White Shell Woman with the Hero Twins. Not so Different After All Father gods can be found in most every major mythological narrative that exists, not only in the Hebrew texts of faith or the mythology of the Greeks and Romans. The mythology of the Norsemen, for instance, has Odin, the “sky-father,” the “All-father” (Hamilton 454-455) who produces Thor, “the thunderer… he strongest of gods and men” (Bulfinch 306), who with his belt of strength, iron gloves, and fearsome hammer is a hero in his own right. Even the ancient Egyptians hold their highest deity, Amun, as being a father, who in his “manifestation of himself in his word or will” (Bulfinch 271) creates Kneph and Athor, from whose union is born the famous Osiris, god of the Sun, and Isis, his wife, the goddess of the Earth. Osiris, also a father god, bears, among others, Horace, the god of Silence (Bulfinch 271).
An additional similarity tying “Changing Woman and the Hero Twins” to other stories and myths passed down through various cultures and in differing regions of the world throughout the years, is its content pertaining to heroes who must overcome dramatic obstacles while obtaining help from outside sources. The first real obstacles of any consequence the Hero Twins must face are the “four places of danger, – the rocks that crush the traveler, the reeds that cut him to pieces, the cane cactuses that tear him to pieces, and the boiling sands that overwhelm him” (“Changing” 40) – that the boys must pass before reaching their father’s home.
Luckily, the boys have help in the form of Spider Woman, who offers them not only advice but also gives them a charm with a hoop and two life-feathers and another life-feather to “preserve their existence” (“Changing” 40), and who also teaches them a magic formula which will subdue the anger of their enemies if repeated to them. It is precisely this magic formula, which the boys repeat as instructed to the subjects of the four places of danger, that allows the twins to proceed to their father’s house in safety, as well as past the four pairs of sentinels guarding the door – the bears, serpents, winds and lightnings (“Changing” 41).
Not so Different After All The boys’ troubles are far from over upon finally reaching their father, however, as to prove to himself that they are actually his sons the Sun-god tries to kill them multiple times. The first time he tries to kill them he throws them against sharp spikes, which the boys only survive by holding tightly to the Spider Woman’s life-feathers. The second time their father tries to kill them is in a sweat-house, where they will easily be consumed xcept that the Winds dig a hole for them to hide in and advise them on the actions they should take in order to survive the seemingly impossible ordeal. The Winds prove invaluable aids again later, as they give the twins caterpillar spit with which to preserve their life while smoking the Sun-god’s pipe, and blow a rainbow bridge for them to walk upon to cross the stream towards the wands of war when pursuing their final obstacle (“Changing” 42-43). The last serious obstacle the Hero Twins face is the battle with the monster Yeitso.
Fortunately for them, by this time their father seems to be in more of a fatherly mood (at least towards them, as Yeitso is also his son) and gives them armor and weapons with which to fight and kill the monster, which they use accordingly with much success (“Changing” 43-46). This archetypical scheme where the hero or heroes of a tale must overcome great obstacles, many times with gifts or help from an outside source, is very common throughout mythological literature, particularly, once more, throughout the mythology of the Greeks and Romans.
Of all the Greeks heroes (barring maybe Achilles or Odysseus), Hercules is most celebrated by posterity, most likely because of the incredible obstacles he faces and overcomes. Born to Zeus and a mortal woman, Hercules is born into the wrath of Hera, the wife of Zeus, as well. Though she should be used to her husband’s infidelity by the time of Hercules’ coming into the world, she simply cannot let her hatred and jealousy be stifled, taking out her rage, throughout his life, on Hercules himself.
This rage is most cruelly manifested when she brings upon him a sort of madness, in which state he murderously slaughters his children and his wife. Upon coming to sanity and being unable to forgive himself for his horrible deed, Hercules consults the priestess at the oracle of Delphi, who tells him that to be purified he must go to his cousin, Eurystheus, King of Mycenae, and do whatever he demands. Hercules accepts his penance, and the deeds he accomplishes for the King have become some of the most famously overcome obstacles in mythological history – the Twelve Labors of Hercules (Hamilton 229-231). Not so Different After All
As can be deduced from their apt moniker, King Eurystheus takes full advantage of Hercules’ predicament, coming up with twelve seemingly impossible tasks (labors) for him to perform before his penance will be granted – to kill the Nemean lion, slay the many-headed Hydra, capture Artemis’ sacred golden stag, capture a great bore from Mount Erymanthus, clean the Augean stables, drive away the Stymphalian birds, fetch the savage bull of Minos from Crete, catch some man-eating mares, obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons, bring back the cattle of Geryon (a three-bodied monster), attain the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, and lastly, to bring the three-headed dog, Cerberus, up from the underworld of Hades (Hamilton 231-234).
The obstacles are quite a feat for anyone to conquer, even the son of a god, as Hercules is; luckily, he does not have to accomplish many of them alone. During his second labor, killing the Lernaen Hydra, Hercules is quick to realize that for every one of the many heads he so gallantly chops off it’s neck, two grow back in its place. He is in quite a predicament until he is helped by his nephew Iolaus, who brings him a torch with which to cauterize each new wound before another head can grow back (Hamilton 231). Without the help of his nephew, posterity may have known the feats of Hercules, if at all, as the Two Labors. The slaying of the Hydra is not the only task in which Hercules receives help from an outside source.
During his sixth labor, the driving away of the plague-like Stymphalian birds, he is assisted by the goddess Athena, who shoos the birds out of their hiding places while Hercules shoots them down with arrows (Hamilton 232), a scene somewhat reminiscent of the Hero Twins firing off their arrows at Yeitso (“Changing” 45). Hercules is helped immensely, at least at first, in obtaining the girdle of the queen of the Amazons (his ninth labor), as she offers it to him freely. Unfortunately, Hera’s temper gets the best of her again, and she makes the Amazons think Hercules is kidnapping their queen, leading not to his demise, but to that of the generous Amazon queen (and, likely, many of her subjects) as he fights to get away with his prize (Hamilton 232-233). Page: « Prev Page Not so Different After All
As can be deduced from their apt moniker, King Eurystheus takes full advantage of Hercules’ predicament, coming up with twelve seemingly impossible tasks (labors) for him to perform before his penance will be granted – to kill the Nemean lion, slay the many-headed Hydra, capture Artemis’ sacred golden stag, capture a great bore from Mount Erymanthus, clean the Augean stables, drive away the Stymphalian birds, fetch the savage bull of Minos from Crete, catch some man-eating mares, obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons, bring back the cattle of Geryon (a three-bodied monster), attain the Golden Apples of the Hesperides, and lastly, to bring the three-headed dog, Cerberus, up from the underworld of Hades (Hamilton 231-234).
The obstacles are quite a feat for anyone to conquer, even the son of a god, as Hercules is; luckily, he does not have to accomplish many of them alone. During his second labor, killing the Lernaen Hydra, Hercules is quick to realize that for every one of the many heads he so gallantly chops off it’s neck, two grow back in its place. He is in quite a predicament until he is helped by his nephew Iolaus, who brings him a torch with which to cauterize each new wound before another head can grow back (Hamilton 231). Without the help of his nephew, posterity may have known the feats of Hercules, if at all, as the Two Labors. The slaying of the Hydra is not the only task in which Hercules receives help from an outside source.
During his sixth labor, the driving away of the plague-like Stymphalian birds, he is assisted by the goddess Athena, who shoos the birds out of their hiding places while Hercules shoots them down with arrows (Hamilton 232), a scene somewhat reminiscent of the Hero Twins firing off their arrows at Yeitso (“Changing” 45). Hercules is helped immensely, at least at first, in obtaining the girdle of the queen of the Amazons (his ninth labor), as she offers it to him freely. Unfortunately, Hera’s temper gets the best of her again, and she makes the Amazons think Hercules is kidnapping their queen, leading not to his demise, but to that of the generous Amazon queen (and, likely, many of her subjects) as he fights to get away with his prize (Hamilton 232-233). Page: « Prev Page
