Long, long ago, the monster Cloud-Eater lived in a great mountain in the east. He had an endless appetite for clouds, so each morning he stood on the peak of his mountain, opened his gigantic mouth, and swallowed each cloud that appeared on the horizon. Without clouds rain did not fall, and soon the land suffered from severe drought.
Day after day the sun shone in a cloudless sky, baking the land with its intense heat. The corn in the fields shriveled and died, and the animals and people began to suffer from lack of food. Even those who had stored food soon ate what they had saved. When months passed and still the rains did not come, the people knew that they would survive only if someone could kill Cloud-Eater.
Ahaiyuta lived with his grandmother far to the west on Corn Mountain. He was as strong as his father, the sun, and as fast as a deer. When Ahaiyuta heard his grandmother complain about the drought that Cloud-Eater was causing, he said to her, “I shall go to that great mountain in the east and slay Cloud-Eater. Then the nourishing rains will come, and our people will be well and happy.
“Be careful!” his grandmother advised. “Cloud-Eater is a dangerous enemy. Even the bravest and strongest warriors have been powerless against him.”
Ahaiyuta chose his largest bow and his longest arrows. As he said farewell to his grandmother, she said, “Take these four feathers and guard them well, for they are great treasures. The red feather will lead you along the right path. The blue feather will let you talk with all the animals. The yellow feather will let you make yourself as small as the tiniest creature. The black feather will give you the strength you need to do the tasks you have set out to do.”
Ahaiyuta put three of the feathers into his pocket and placed the red feather in his hair. Then he thanked his grandmother and set out toward the east. He walked, and walked, and walked. The land was as parched as his grandmother had said. Where once corn had stood straight, tall, and green in the fields, now only brown, curled stems lay collapsed and shriveled upon the cracked earth. The land was silent. The birds were too hungry to chirp, and the animals were too weak to run about in a futile search for food.
As the sun beat relentlessly down upon his head, Ahaiyuta grew thirsty, hungry, and tired. After a long period of emptiness and silence, he was surprised to come upon a gopher standing beside its hole. He immediately put both the blue feather and the yellow feather into his hair and shrank down to the size of the gopher.
“You are strong and brave to be wandering about in this great heat! And you certainly possess marvelous powers!” the gopher exclaimed. “Where are you going?”
When Ahaiyuta explained his mission, the gopher said, “Come into my hole, and you can take my underground passageways to Cloud-Eater’s mountain. You will find food and water along the way, and I will lead you to the monster.”
The gopher tunneled his way first through the earth and then through Cloud-Eater’s mountain until they could hear the sleeping monster breathing deeply below them. The gopher broke through the dirt and began to gnaw through the fur away from the monster’s heart.
Cloud-Eater opened his eyes, saw the little gopher, and sleepily growled, “What do you think you are doing here?”
“Peace, peace, Grandfather,” the gopher replied. “I have just taken a few hairs for my nest. You will hardly miss them!” Then, quick as a deer, he scampered back up his tunnel.
Once he had rejoined Ahaiyuta, the gopher whispered, “Quickly, before the monster wakes fully, take your bow down my tunnel and shoot your arrows into his heart! The tunnel leads directly to his heart, and I have gnawed away the fur that covers it. You should be able to kill him with your first arrow.”
Ahaiyuta placed his black feather in his hair, walked to the end of the tunnel, raised his bow, set an arrow on the string, and carefully aimed at the monster’s heart. The bowstring was still humming when Cloud-Eater gave a roar that echoed throughout the mountain and made the earth tremble. Dirt and rocks crashed around them as the monster thrashed this way and that. Finally, all was silent. “Cloud-Eater has eaten his last cloud!” Ahaiyuta exclaimed. “Now the rains will surely come!”
When the monster’s lifeless body lay lifeless and still, Ahaiyuta retrieved his arrow and let the gopher lead him back toward the tunnel entrance. As Ahaiyuta emerged, he saw that a heavy layer of dark clouds now obscured the sun.
He had barely begun his journey back toward Corn Mountain and his grandmother when great drops of rain began to splatter upon him. Faster and faster they fell, until the path Ahaiyuta trod became a stream of rushing water. Everywhere about him the hungry earth was gurgling with delight as the moisture quenched its great thirst.
Ahaiyuta grinned with delight. He had accomplished what he had set out to do. He has saved his people, and he would be known as a great hero.
