They say that a long time ago, before the Long Walk, but after the time of First Man and First Woman, there lived a Son in the Chuska Mountains near what is now Crystal New Mexico. This son was born for the Running Water Clan, and to the Burning Corn Clan, but his parents died when he was young but before he was a man. He did not go through the Rite of Passage or be blessed by a Há'tali'í.

This son didn't have many friends, and his family wanted nothing to do with him because he liked a certain plant that makes you feel dizzy and weak. The son found solace with this plant, and said it made him walk in the spirit world. As Navajo we use different types of plants for vision quests, but only under the observation of a Há'tali'í or Medicine Man. To use these plants without observation can cause soul sickness, and mind sickness so the Son's family did little to encourage the man further. They never visited, and he rarely spoke to them.

The man's hogan also fell into disrepair, his roof leaked and bugs invaded his sheepskin, yet the man didn't care; he walked in the spirit world and thought nothing could hurt him.

One night as this man walked with the Spirits, he came upon Coyote. "You are so clever and swift Coyote", the Man said," I wish I could be just like you." And Coyote replied, "you wouldn't want to be like me, everyone hates and fears me. They throw corn pollen on my tracks and avoid me whenever I walk into a room. I always lose my friends and no one ever trusts me."

"That's ok with me, no one likes me either, and my family doesn't care." The man replied, "but at least you run swiftly, can attack, can kill with your teeth. You're always warm in the winter, and I like the color of your coat."

So Coyote looked at the man and said, "So you really want to be like me? Go without food or water for five days. Many times I have had to fast for even longer than that. If you can do that you will be more like me."

So the Son went home and fasted. He didn't eat or drink anything for five days, just smoked the special plant, and sat in his hogan and let the bugs from his sheepskin bite his flesh. To satisfy his hunger and thirst pains, he chewed pine pitch.

On the sixth day, he went back to the Spirit World and found Coyote once again. "I haven't eaten for five days," the man said. "And drink?" Coyote asked. "None." The man said, "I just chewed pine pitch the entire time."

Coyote thought to himself. If this Son really wants to be like me, I wonder how far he will go? "Go back to the land of Men, and find everything the Dine' hates. Talk to Snake, and Owl, and touch the flesh of a corpse. If you do not get sick, and can embrace these things you will be more like me, because I often have to eat dead flesh, and talk to all the creatures of the night and make them my friends."

The man returned to the Living world and found the things we Navajo hate. He went to a grave yard and dug up a corpse, and laid with the corpse all night long, tasting it to make sure he did not become sick. He found a bullsnake writhing through the grass and he held it, and brought it back to his hogan to live with him. He found a screech owl and captured it to train to help him hunt when he became like Coyote. The last thing he did was to find a coyote, which he killed, and skinned.

Wearing the skin of the coyote, he went back to the spirit world, and found the god Coyote. "I have done all these things you said, I have lain with a corpse all night, even tasting its flesh. I have brought a bullsnake home with me to be my companion. I have trained an owl to hunt with me, and I have even skinned a coyote, so I can look more like you."

Coyote looked at the man with the skin hanging over him in ragged drapes. He thought, I bet this man would do anything to be like me, I bet he would go to any length to be more like Coyote. Coyote felt inspired by this man, never had He been respected by a man! But there lay one final test.

"I do not run with my family, I do not care for my family, I have even killed different people in my family for my own gain." Coyote said. "Your last test must be to kill a member of you own immediate family to prove your loyalty to me. I shall allow you to take my form one time for the Act. Once you have done that, I will make you into my own image at your desire."

The Son looked at Coyote. "Kill a member of my own family?" He said. Coyote nodded. "This is a hard request you ask of me. I had hopes of one day being reunited with them."

"Nevertheless, that is your final test," Said Coyote. "And remember, I am Coyote, I never get caught."

The man went back to the land of men. How would he kill a member of his family? He asked himself, who should it be?

He thought of all the family members still left alive. The Son had a brother who lived near what is now Window Rock, and a sister who lived near the San Francisco Peaks far to the West. Each disliked the Son, yet it seemed the brother disliked him the least.

I must kill my brother. The Son thought finally. And so he did.

When the brother was dead and in the ground, the Son dug him up and got his arm. Then he burned the arm, and collected the dust leftover to take into the Spirit World as proof.

"I have killed my brother," the Son said when he found Coyote. "Here is Proof."

Coyote took the small bag of powder and smelled it.

"This was indeed your brother," Coyote said. "And now you shall have your reward. Coyote raised his arms above his head, and pointed down at the man. Lightning flowed into the man as Coyote said these words:

"You have completed your mission, fulfilled your end of the bargain. Now I give you the Heart of Coyote, the Body of Man, and the Mind of Animal. You shall be able to walk with men during the day, and with animals at night. Owl, Raven, Hawk, and Snake are your only friends now, and with them; their forms. You shall be my voice among the land of the Living, my force will enter you body.

I shall name you. . .SkinWalker."

And from that day forth, no one knows what became of the Son, for he was no longer Diné.

Nahasch' id

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