The flame caught, but the fire sputtered, snapped and frightened the people. Finally one of the unnamed heroes of Navajo history pokes the fire with a branch from a tree, and tames the blaze. He has invented the poker, and controlled a powerful element in the lives of the people.

I include this story because it is one of the few in which insight into a problem is one person's solution. Generally, it is by community consent or some super-natural power that one discovers the solution to a dilemma.

Talking God, Haasch'eelti'i, for instance, was the architect of the Navajo hogan. The people build the hogan according to Talking God's directions, and it takes shape quickly. But Talking God did not say where he wanted the door. Eventually it was decided that since all prayers and songs start in the east, the doorway of the hogan should also face east. Pragmatically, since the prevailing winds bring fierce sandstorms and blizzards from the west, this is a highly practical direction for the door to face.

About Talking God. He is the power that is Life, who is Spirit, who has created for Good, for Beauty, Harmony and Blessing. It is he who restores us. It is with his feet, with his body, with his voice and with his mind that we walk as we are restored in the ceremonies of healing. It is Talking God who gave human beings the good path by which they should govern themselves.

One of the first things the people had to do when they reached the Fourth World was to straighten out the night and day, and order the seasons, so there would be a pattern to their lives.

Once the sun had been made of turquoise, and marked with a nose, eyes and mouth, and streaked with yellow, and wrapped in twelve unwounded buckskins, there was a very long discussion of all the beings. Not just the people, but all living things in the Fourth World had to agree on something as important as the Sun.

Some thought the Sun should be placed on the highest mountain, but eventually it was decided to place the Sun in the sky. Then there was the question of how the sun should move. Should it move up and down? Should it move in a circle around the sky and never set? Finally all agreed the best thing would be for it to move from East to West to give light all over the world.