Diné (Navajo) Tradition

The younger of the Hero Twins, Monster Slayer's brother; in Matthews's version the son of White Shell Woman by the water, in many later tellings Changing Woman's son by the Sun.

The most beloved of the Diné Holy People, 'Woman who changes', found as an infant on Chʼóolʼį́ʼí, mother of the Hero Twins by the Sun, and creator of the first Diné clans; she grows old and young again with the seasons.

The horned monster, a great beast of the open plain whom Monster Slayer killed with a lightning arrow through the heart after Gopher dug a tunnel beneath it.

One of the first beings of the lower worlds, who with First Woman leads the people through the emergence, helps order the world above, and in many tellings finds the infant Changing Woman.

First Man's partner in the lower worlds, whose quarrel with him leads to the separation of women and men and, in many tellings, to the birth of the monsters; she helps raise Changing Woman.

The Sun, who carries the sun across the sky, father of Monster Slayer by Changing Woman; he tests the twins harshly before recognising them as his sons and giving them lightning weapons.

The armour of flint and the weapons, among them arrows of lightning, that the Sun gave his sons when he at last acknowledged them, and with which they killed Yéʼiitsoh and the other monsters.

The elder of the Hero Twins, son of Changing Woman and the Sun, who with his brother journeys to their father's house and returns with lightning weapons to destroy the monsters that preyed on the Earth Surface People.

The Holy Person who guides the Hero Twins on their way to the Sun, giving them protection and words to calm the guardians; in Diné tradition she also taught weaving.

A leading Holy Person associated with the dawn and the east, who appears at key moments of the origin story to guide and teach; the ceremonies in which he appears are not described here.

The Water Monster of the lower world whose child Coyote stole, so that the waters rose until the people escaped upward through a reed; the child was returned and the waters receded.

The monster eagles who nested on Tsé Bitʼaʼí (Shiprock) and carried people off to feed their young; Monster Slayer killed the adults and turned their young into the eagle and the owl.

A Holy Person who in Matthews's 1897 version lives with Changing Woman and is the mother of Born for Water; in many later tellings she is another name or aspect of Changing Woman herself.

The Big Monster, greatest of the naayééʼ, a giant armoured in flint who lived near Tsoodził (Mount Taylor); the first monster killed by the Hero Twins, whose blood became the lava flows near the mountain.