b'THE OLD STORYTELLERSkinwalkers, Tricksters and Heather\'s OmenBy Hank Sheffer, The Old StorytellerP eople from all over the world have been coming to the Superstition Mountain area since the turn of the last century. Some seek the legendary goldothers come to study the many Indian writings and true-life stories that have been left behind. The mountain holds its own element of age-old mystery and magic and by that very nature; it lends itself to conjure up all sorts of Indian stories that have been passed down through the generations by skinwalkers and tricksters. What are skinwalkers and trickster you ask?While mythical skinwalkers tend to carry out more of the nasty, evil side of things; the tricksters lean towardto charge him as before. On impact this time, however,where the long-departed inhabitants had lived, where being, mischievous creatures that are most oftenBuffalo tossed him up in the air and gored him to death. they took care of their individual chores and where they featured in tribal stories, myths, and legends. Coyote did their cooking. All of this by looking and seeing, is the most common trickster figure among the tribes "Ever since that time," the storyteller would conclude,rather than just looking.of the Southwest. Coyotes have been willing to be Coyotes, and Buffalo have always disliked Coyotes. We found bits of pottery and tools, centuries-old, which Among these tribes, a number of stories andhad been discarded long ago. We also found a large descriptions have been told throughout the years,That last line always gives me a chuckle. metate and several manos, which we left in place to await although they all include the ability of humans to changetheir owners return.into animals and back again. Sometimes, they evolveMost visitors to the famous Superstition Mountain here from living their lives as medicine men, respectedin Arizona area have heard of the Hieroglyphic Canyon.After a leisurely walk up the mountain, we arrived at our healers or spiritual guides, walking freely among theThe misnomer, hieroglyphic, has been around as long asdestination. It is amazing how quickly the canyon came tribe during the day and then secretly transforming atanyone can remember. However, I can tell you first hand,into view. Also located at Hieroglyphic Canyon is what is night. Unfortunately, try as they might, some later choseIve been there and the people who did the writings onknown as the Indian Waterfall and the Apache Bathtub. to use their powers for evil and deception. those canyon walls were definitely not Egyptian. WhatPapa`s eyes got as big as number eleven fry pans as he began to read the ancient writings to us younger folks. We Now storytelling plays a significant role in the day- listened intently as he walked from jagged edge to jagged to-day teaching of children. The knowledge ofedge on the rock explaining aloud as he went. It is difficult these powers exhibited by the skinwalkersto describe the delight exhibited by this is passed down from the elders,grand old Indian with the long white storytellers through the generations.hair, clinging to the rock, teaching us These stories invariably have a moral orfrom what had been written so many make a point to carry on through their daily lives. Onehundreds of years before.of my favorite coyote/trickster stories is relayed to us by Tom McHugh in his book, The Time of the BuffaloOne member of our party drew diagrams of theand it goes like this: canyon and took pictures as the shadows moved all-too-quickly through the afternoon. There was Despite the extravagant efforts of these tribal tricksters,this shared feeling that if the old writings were to be their plots did not always succeed. Sometimes otherdestroyed by the unthinking, uncaring people with characters, like Buffalo himself, got the better ofpaint cans, we would at least be able to document the them, as he did in the prevalent motif of theexistence of the writings.coyote that metamorphosed into a buffalo. In the Pawnee version, Coyote, famished, and envyingWe ate our lunches; all of us with traditional Indianthe ease with which Buffalo grazed grass, asked the greatare there are pictures that have been drawn on that wallPB & J sandwiches and, then rested for a short while. beast to help him change his identity. Buffalo obliged,over many years. These pictures are called petrographs,Papa continued to reveal more about the messages from directing Coyote to stand in a wallow, and then chargingsometimes petroglyphs, but certainly not hieroglyphics.the writings that for others had seemed to be a mystery toward him. At the instant of contact, Coyote turnedThey were used to convey an idea or information by wayfor centuries. After lunch, we explored a little further up into a buffalo. of pictorial symbols- -there is a great deal to be learnedthe canyon and then returned to the petroglyph wall for from them. one last look. At that point we returned to our base camp But "Coyote-Buffalo" grew overconfident. Before longand a hot pot of coffee as the sun completed its journey he misused his special powers, attempting to changeI shared an experience with my kids and some very closethrough the Arizona sky. The day had truly been an a fellow coyote into a buffalo by means of the sameNative American friends. Our small get together woundenjoyable one for all of us.technique. When the dust had settled, his companionup dealing directly with those ancient writings and a stood unchanged in the wallow and he himself hadvery old legend. It was fortunate for me to be on thisThe following day Papa Fire Eagle and his family were suddenly shrunk in size. Instead of transforming hisparticular sojourn into the mountains because the tripscheduled to leave the Apache Junction area. It was a friend into a buffalo, he had turned himself back intowas of great importance to those friends of mine. Jimsad day for me. We had continued the strong friendship Coyote. Now he pleaded with Buffalo to transformFire Eagle was an ageless man in his 70s. I received anwe had built and shared from several years passed and him again. Once more Buffalo obligingly consented.education that day such as I could never achieve in anywould miss them greatly. This was especially so for my As Coyote placed himself in a wallow, Buffalo begancollege I ever attended. Papa showed me how to look fordaughter, Heather, as she had become quite enamored 10 October 2019'