Tuuwutsi represent the principal narrative genre of
Hopi traditional literature. In the custom of Native
American storytelling, these oral narratives have a
strong aural component. Among the Hopi, tuuwutsi
are stories that a storyteller has heard secondhand.
The context is secular, and the subjects
are make-believe things. The Hopi distinguish tuuwutsi
fantasy stories from ka’atsa (“not false”)
stories, which have preserved events in Hopi history.
COYOTE TALES, called istutuwutsi, comprise a
subgenre of the tuuwutsi narratives.
Hopi storytellers typically set off the tuuwutsi
fictional narratives from normal discourse by
using special phrases that provide formulaic beginnings
and endings. For example, Aliksaii is the
Hopi counterpart of “once upon a time,” and
paigakpola translates as “now to where it ends.”The
audience replies in expected ways at key places as
the narratives are told.
Some of the Hopi tuuwutsi include “The White
Dawn of the Hopi,” a story of how the Hopi came
to be; “The Hopi Boy and the Sun,” a tale about a
boy who travels with the Sun, his father, learns how
to treat people rightly, and then returns to his own
people to teach them the same; “Son of Light Kills
the Monster,” a story about how the Son of Light retrieves
his kidnapped wife by conquering the monster
Man-Eagle in a series of contests; “The Revenge
of Blue Corn Ear Maiden,” a tale of rivalry between
two friends; and “A Journey to the Skeleton House,”
a story of a young boy’s learning what became of
the dead, his journey to the Otherworld, and how
the living and the dead began to work together.
Both the tuuwutsi and ka’atsa are used by the
Hopi, as are stories in other Native American nations,
to recount tribal history, continue the ORAL
LITERATURE/TRADITION, explain the creation of the
world and its occupants, teach morals or lessons,
entertain, and preserve cultural traditions and
knowledge.
English Versions of Tuuwutsi Narratives
Hopi Coyote Tales: Istutuwutsi. Translated by Michael
Lomatuway’ma. Edited by Ekkehart Malotki. Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1990.
Malotki, Ekkehart, and Ken Gary. Hopi Stories of
Witchcraft, Shamanism, and Magic. Lincoln: University
of Nebraska Press, 2001.
A Work about Tuuwutsi Narratives
Shaul, David Leedom.Hopi Traditional Literature. Albuquerque:
University of Mexico Press, 2002.