Nati'nesthani

Also known as: He Who Has Floated / He Who Teaches Himself / Áhodiseli · Family: Navaho (Diné`) · Role: He Who Teaches Himself · First appears: Nati'nesthani · Part 1

In Nati'nesthani · Part 1, Nati'nesthani gambled away his own goods and those of his family, leaving only a valuable necklace. His niece warned him that his brother would kill him if he lost it, and Nati'nesthani began preparing a hollow log to travel down the San Juan River. In Parts 2–3, Hastséyalti first warned him not to enter the log, then summoned him with Hastséhogan and carried him to the divine ones; his niece gave him her turkey to take along. With food, water, and cloud bedding supplied by Hastséyalti, Nati'nesthani set out in the log, which the gods carried to the river.

In Parts 4–5, sacred people under the water, including Tiéholtsodi and Tielín, pulled him from the log and took him below. The Fringe-mouths of the water later freed the log, and his turkey found him on the riverbank. The gods named him Áhodiseli, He Who Floats; in Part 6 the turkey gave him corn and other seeds, and he planted a farm. In Part 7, he visited Deer Raiser and repeatedly revived him after he swooned from Nati'nesthani’s tobacco. Deer Raiser called him his son-in-law, and Nati'nesthani married Píniltani-bitsí. In Parts 8–10, Deer Raiser and his daughter tried to poison him with tobacco and mush, but Nati'nesthani avoided the poison. He showed his wife corn and his farm, and taught her how to prepare corn dishes.

In Parts 11–13, Píniltani-bitsí gave him fine garments and took him to her father’s farm, where Deer Raiser began plotting against him again. Nati'nesthani survived Deer Raiser’s attempts to have him killed by bears, slew the bears, and confronted his father-in-law for abandoning him in battle. In Parts 14–15, he met the owner of the lodge, who gave him medicine against Deer Raiser’s poison. Nati'nesthani told Deer Raiser he knew of his attempts to kill him, treated him, and returned to teach his people what he had learned, establishing the rite of atsósi hatál among the Navahoes. He then returned to the whirling lake of Tó`nihilin, where he still dwells.