Mitos y Leyendas: Arrowhead, the Fortunate Fool (Part Two)

• Mitos y Leyendas brings you the second part of the legend of the warrior Arrowhead, the fortunate fool.
• In this second part, we share whether the warrior manages to marry Yellow Corn.
• After rescuing Little Flower, our hero faces a new request from the lady.

After having rescued Little Flower, the Acomas celebrated a feast where everyone sang and danced. They believed that there would be a wedding at that moment, but Yellow Corn again raised her voice.

«I will marry only when I have a horse just like Demon,» she declared. The celebrations stopped. There was sadness on the face of Chief Black Cloud. However, he and Arrowhead spoke with the wise men to fulfill the request.

They told him that there was only one horse capable of doing what Demon did. Its name was Flaming and it lived in hell. Our poor protagonist was completely discouraged.

However, his horse would not leave him alone. At night, it said, «Do not despair. Listen. Speak with Black Cloud to give you two boxes to tie to my mount. Tell him to give you two sacks of resin, two bags of flint arrowheads, half a deer and a sack of oats, wheat, and corn.»

To Hell

Arrowhead gathered everything necessary. He and Demon, after much walking, were able to find the cave that connected to hell. At the entrance, sounds of wind, like storms, could be heard.

The noises were birds. They sang to make such storms to warn the horse that someone had entered the cave and thus it would stay away. «Throw the corn and wheat,» said Demon. The birds descended and stopped singing.

Then, they encountered wolves, lions, and bears. «Give them the deer, but break it into pieces.» The man threw the deer little by little, and the beasts, thus, ate and let them pass.

They continued on their way. They went like this throughout the night and day. At one point, Demon made a sound for Flaming to appear, but only its echo returned. On another attempt, something was heard in the distance.

The Flaming Horse

They kept advancing. When they reached a point, Demon said, «When I tell you, get down to the ground and pour the resin in a large circle around me. On top of it, you have to throw the flint arrows.»

When the sounds of the Flaming horse were heard nearby, Arrowhead began to draw the circle. «Hide, so the horse doesn’t see you,» Demon explained to his master, «When it arrives, we will fight.»

Then, he painted the scene. Demon said, «Twice I will breathe fire with my nose. If the resin doesn’t light, Flaming will kill us; if it does, he will surrender.» At that moment, Flaming arrived like the wind of a tornado, kicking and neighing with its hind legs.

Arrowhead trembled with fear. Demon spat fire but the circle didn’t light. He did it a second time and emerged victorious. Flaming said: «Wow! Now I have a master! I will do what you ask and I will follow you gladly wherever.»

Arrowhead Returns to Yellow Corn

Black Cloud was happy and pleased with our protagonist. «Now yes, you will marry this man.» However, Yellow Corn said, «not yet. We will play hide and seek twice.»

The woman explained the rules, «First, I will hide twice. If you find me, then you will do the same number of times. If I can’t find you, I will marry you.»

Everyone agreed to the game. Yellow Corn hid. Our warrior was a little nervous about the game.

He wondered if he could win again. Flaming approached him and told him not to worry and that everything would work out well for Arrowhead. The game began.

Flaming Helps Arrowhead

Worried, Arrowhead began to search. Flaming said, «pay attention. Go get a bow and an arrow from Black Cloud and then go to the edge of the lake and shoot the beautiful swan you see there.»

Before shooting the arrow at the swan, Arrowhead exclaimed, «Tonight I want to eat swan!» «Stop!» shouted Yellow Corn, «don’t shoot me…The swan is me!» The first victory was for the warrior.

The girl hid again. This time, Demon helped his lucky owner. He sent him to the kitchen of Chief Black Cloud to slice a loaf of bread there.

When he got there and with a knife in hand he exclaimed, «Look at that tasty bread! I’ll cut a piece!». Quickly, the kitchen was filled with a voice «Stop! It’s me!» Yellow Corn emerged from that bread.

Arrowhead Hides

It was Arrowhead’s turn to hide. Again, his horses helped him to come out victorious. In the first round, Demon made him a fly.

Then he flew everywhere and was easily able to completely evade Yellow Corn, who could not find Arrowhead anywhere. She admitted defeat.

The second phase began. This time Arrowhead hid in Flaming’s hoof. Poor Yellow Corn could not find any trace of the young man. In the end, she gave up. She asked him «please, come out.»

Before appearing, the warrior Arrowhead had already gained some cunning and said, «All right, but you must promise that you will marry me, otherwise, you will spend years looking for me.»

The Warrior Arrowhead Gets Married

Defeated, Yellow Corn said, «Don’t be cruel, please, I promise that we will get married tomorrow.» Thus, the warrior Arrowhead appeared before her.

Thus, this youngest son of a large family not only got a wife but also two majestic horses. Luck was on his side with every step he took.

So, although our warrior Arrowhead was not very intelligent, he had something that made him special, a kind of divine favor that protected him and helped him overcome every test that was presented to him.

We hope you enjoyed this wonderful story. Mitos y Leyendas says goodbye for now and thanks you for your preference and for having come this far.