In ancient times, while yet all beings belonged to one family, Póshaiank'ia, the father of our sacred bands, lived with his children in the City of the Mists, the middle place of the Medicine societies of the world.

In the center of the great sea of each of these regions stood a very ancient sacred place Téthläshinakwïn, a great mountain peak. In the North was the Mountain Yellow, in the West the Mountain Blue, in the South the Mountain Red, in the East the Mountain White, above the Mountain All-color, and below the Mountain Black.

"Prey Mole, thou art stout of heart and strong of will. Therefore make I thee the guardian and master of the Lower regions, for thou burrowest through the earth without tiring, and thy coat is of black, the color of the holes and caves of earth," that thou guard from that quarter the coming of evil upon my children of men, that thou receive in that quarter their messages to me, that thou become the father in the Lower regions of the sacred medicine orders all, that thou become a Maker of the Paths of men's lives."

- Frank Hamilton Cushing "Zuni Fetishes"

Print Available:
http://www.deviantart.com/print/5345788/