I have no right to speak about another culture. I have done my studies, but I do not * know * and can only relate what I have encountered. I am not Dineh. I am not nadle (important link there–it would honor me if you followed it). I have no right to speak of this.
In the best of times, I have little right to speak of anything.
According to Dineh legend, two nadle named Turquoise Boy and White Shell Girl once belonged to the Dineh people. They invented all arts and handcrafts between them – basketry, weaving, the carving of pipes. All these they gave freely to the Dineh, and they thrived.
At one point, however, there was a terrible war between the men and the women, and they separated to live on opposite sides of a riverbank. Turquoise Boy did the women’s work for the men, and White Shell Girl did the men’s work for the women. They would often meet at night on the riverbank, which was shunned by the rest of the tribe, and commiserate sadly on how difficult it was to satisfy half a tribe all by themselves. These nightly meetings enabled them to notice, however that the river was rising dangerously, and that if nothing was done the Dineh people would all drown.
Turquoise Boy and White Shell Girl made a last dramatic plea to their tribe – come together and cooperate, or die. Faced with death, the men and women grudgingly agreed to put aside their differences and save the tribe. The two nadle built a boat, which enabled the tribesfolk to sail to a new and higher world.
–Raven Kaldera, from Pallas the Genderbender
The last sentence of Raven’s story:
The water is rising. We must, we must all band together soon, before it is too late.