Ethnological Notes
Morris Opler
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Ethnological Note 1
This is a Mescalero version of the incidents related in
Chiricahua Apache Texts 1-5. Contrary to the usual Mescalero custom, however,
this informant makes Killer of Enemies the hero of the tale instead of Child of
the Water. This may be explained by the fact that the informant is of part Lipan
extraction and spends a great deal of his time with the old Lipan people.
Furthermore, he is an ardent convert to a recently developed religious movement
[the "Silas John Cult"] which originated on the San Carlos Reservation and
therefore designates Killer of Enemies as the chief culture hero to whom songs
and prayers are to be addressed. See Ethnological Notes to the Chiricahua Apache
Text 1, note 3.
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Ethnological Note 2
This is somewhat ambiguous. It is clear, however, that
the informant meant to indicate that Killer of Enemies also took blood from the
body of the dead Buffalo.
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Ethnological Note 3
Literally: "he who kills with his eyes."
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Ethnological Note 4
That is, the ladder which led to the doorway of Owl's
house.
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Ethnological Note 5
The sense of this interchange is somewhat obscure.