The Hopi Way: Tales from a Vanishing Culture by Mando Sevillano (review)

Reviews The Hopi Way: Tales from a Vanishing Culture. Collected by Mando Sevil­ lano. (Flagstaff: Northland Press, 1986. 96 pages, $9.95 paper.) Despite the seeming physical isolation of the Hopis of northern Arizona, they are probably the most scrutinized tribe on Turtle Island. A steady out­ pouring of articles and books has given us some very divergent views of their life and culture, but what has been lacking until recently are reliable compila­ tions of the oral tales told by the Hopis themselves. Mando Sevillano’s collection, The Hopi Way: Tales from a Vanishing Culture, is far less ambitious in its scope than Ekkehart Malotki’s best collec­ tions of Hopi stories, but nonetheless is a welcome addition to the growing body of Hopi oral lore available to the rest of us. Four of the seven tales come from W. L. Satewa, a Tewa-Hopi artist and storyteller, fluent in both Hopi and English. Told and recorded in English, they are still all Hopi in mood and tone. Three are “teaching stories,” and the two dealing with coyote are a delight to read. The real find among Satewa’s stories, though, is a “modern myth” he heard one night in the kiva. Coyote (again) comes across a blacksnake, who goes “Snap-Snappity-Snap-Snap” and “breathes fire from its head.” Clearly the snake is a train, but to coyote it becomes a mythic monster against whom he can prove his courage and thus “get all the coyote girls.” This is one of the best “shaggy-dog stories” I’ve encountered in Native American lore. (To give away the ending here would deprive you of a lovely moment.) The other informant, an eighty-year-old storyteller from Hano Village, has chosen to remain anonymous. We should all be grateful that this teller was willing to share the stories he or she had, because among them is the true jewel of this collection. “Hano Wuhiti” or Hano Woman. Simply put, it’s a marvelous tale of good and evil, love and betrayal, magic and transformation that deserves a place among the world’s best folktales. A society of sorcerers desire Hano Wuhiti “for one of their members.” Frustrated in their design, they create a witch-bird who removes her heart with a wooden drill. Her husband follows her to The Place of the Dead where she is transformed into a “ghost woman.” She pursues him, and after a series of fantastic adventures he escapes and returns home with a new knowledge and lessons for us all. This bare outline can but hint at the wonders of the tale, and although the collection as a whole lacks cohesiveness, Hano Wuhiti alone is reason enough for acquiring The Hopi Way. STEVE SANFIELD Nevada City, California ...