The Blessing Way

“There was another part of the song, but Horseman couldn’t remember it. He sat very still, thinking. Something about the Black God, but he couldn’t think how it went. The Black God didn’t have anything to do with game, but his uncle had said you have to put it in about him to make the chant come out right.”

Luis Horseman tries to sing a ritualistic chant as he sets up his traps for kangaroo rats, but he can’t remember the wording his uncle taught him when he was young. Horseman’s challenge connects to the theme of Alienation From Traditional Culture, as he’s grown distant from the practices his people have known for generations. The lack of a direct connection between the Black God and game implies that Navajo cultural practices don’t conform to Western logic, but rather operate on subtler, often counterintuitive principles.

“The porcupine stomach would hold a little water, enough for a day. He would use that until he could find something or kill something bigger. But there was nothing he could do about his feet. They hurt now, from all day walking in town shoes, and the shoes wouldn’t last if he had to cover much country.”

Horseman is on the run from the police for stabbing a man in Gallup, so he must live off the land with only the supplies he has on his person. This quotation shows both his resourcefulness and his unpreparedness, exploring the theme The Role of Cultural Knowledge in Survival. At once, he knows how to use a porcupine stomach to carry water as he travels, but he also isn’t equipped for such a long journey with his “town shoes” that can’t withstand the Arizona desert.