The Kind Hawk - a Hopi Legend

Long ago, in a Hopi village, a little boy lived with his mother, who loved him very much.  She dressed him in a beautiful shirt and moccasins, covered with the most intricate embroidery.

  

 One day, the boy went out to play.  he started to wander far from the village, across the plains.  There, he was spotted by another tribe.  The raced in and carried him off.  The other tribe brought the boy to their camp.  Once there, the women took his shirt and moccasins, and gave them to the Chief's son.  While the other children played all day, the little Hopi boy worked and worked.  They gave him little to ea.  Soon the boy grew thin and ill.


Near the camp, there was a high bluff.  And atop the high bluff there lived a hawk.  Each day the hawk looked out at the world, spread beneath him.  And each day the hawk coasted on the thermals, and gliding over the camp where the boy worked and worked.  One day, when all the tribe members were gathered at the Chief's lodge, the hawk swooped down and hovered over the boy's head.

The boy was frightened.  The past weeks had been difficult and sad for him.  He could not imagine life becoming even worse.  "Please do not kill me!" he begged the hawk.


The hawk reassured him.  "I mean you no harm," he told the boy.  "I have watched you and seen your troubles.  Hop on my back.  Hold onto my wings and I will fly you away from this place."

The boy jumped on the hawk's back.  Anything, he reasoned, would be better than his life here.  He held on tight.  The hawk flew up in the air.  With the boy on his back, the hawk glided over the place where the tribe members were gathered.  When they saw the boy on the hawk's back they were amazed and angry.

The hawk flew to the highest bluff and set the boy down.  "Wait here," he told him.  


Then the hawk flew back to the village.  He swooped straight to the Chief's son and, using his fierce beak, pulled the shirt right off him.  This he carried to the boy.  Then the hawk returned to the camp.  He dived straight for the moccasins, pulling them right off the feet of the Chief's son.  With these, the hawk returned to the bluff and the boy.


There, the hawk dressed the boy.  Then he fed him meat of a jack rabbit, and other fine foods.  Finally, with the boy dressed and fed, the hawk flew him back to his mother.


And then, without waiting for thanks or praise, he flew back to his bluff and looked out at the world again.

Netsuke pendants on etsy

Eggplants, Hawks, and Mt. Fuji, Oh My

Hatsuyume (初夢) is the Japanese word for the first dream had in the new year. The contents of that dream foretell the dreamer's luck in the year ahead.  Of course, like in so many places, in Japan, the night of  December 31st is often spent wide awake.  Thus the hatsuyume was often the dream seen on the night of January 1st.  For this reason, January 2nd (the day after the night of the "first dream") is known as Hatsuyume in the traditional calendar.  

It is considered to be particularly good luck to dream of Mount Fuji (seen here as a vintage sterling silver charm shaped like a fan, with pictures of Mt. Fuji on each side)...

a hawk...

(seen as a sterling silver 3D charm)...

and an eggplant...

(with a pewter eggplant 3D charm).  (Do you know how hard it is to find an eggplant charm?  VERY hard.)

Though this belief has been in place since the early Edo period, there are various theories regarding the origins as to why this particular combination was considered to be so lucky. One theory suggests that this combination is lucky because Mount Fuji is Japan's highest mountain...

 

the hawk is a clever and strong bird, 

and the word for eggplant (nasu or nasubi 茄子) suggests achieving something great (nasu 成す). 

Another theory suggests that this combination arose because Mount Fuji, falconry, and early eggplants were favorites of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.  

You can see the falconry angle, but I'm having trouble picturing him eating an eggplant.

Given the eggplant, the bracelet had to be created in a deep eggplant purple.  

I have done this with artisan lampwork and foiled lampwork beads, amethyst, fluorite, artisan glass furnace beads, cat's eye beads, Swarovski pearls, and Czech pressed glass and fire polish crystals in deep amethyst.   

Each Cornerstoregoddess bracelet comes with a bead to protect the wearer from the evil eye.

It could very well be the ONLY Hatsuyume bracelet around.  It is certainly the only one that looks like this.  And it's here.