Kumeyaay - Seen-u-how' Hum-poo' (Old woman's whip)
Another story of the Lagunas tells how Seen-u-how' marked the birds and animals with her Hum-poo' (whip). The Hum-poo' (whip) is a stick of tough wood shaped like a half circle and very sharp at one end. The Indians could through the Hum-poo' (whip) with great accuracy and often used it to kill game.
Somewhere on the precipitous side of the Ah-ha' Mut-ta-ti' e (Water Mountains) where the atmosphere quivers with a mystical radiance, and rocks assume fantastic shapes, is a cave formed like a half moon. Seen-u-how', the old woman of magic, lived there in olden times with her How-wak (twins); one of whom was so happy and light hearted that he laughed and sang the whole day long, while the other was exceedingly quiet and sad, spending most of his time in the dark shadows of the cave, bemoaning his fate.
The joyous son wandered back and forth o'er the mountains day after day. Free from care he roamed, making friends with the birds and animals; talking with them and learning their wisdom. They, in turn, became devoted to him, often following him home, even staying there at times when he was on distant journeys.
In those days the animals resembled each other so closely (as did the birds also), that they could hardly be told apart, and they all had the gift of speech.
But Seen-u-how' and the sorrowful son never said a word to them, though at times so many congregated there that the cave was crowded to overflowing.
The animals could see, however, the weird, mysterious things which transpired there in the dim light. Sometimes they looked at the wrinkled face of old Seen-u-how' and she changed into a beautiful maiden, clad in finest buckskin, wearing strings of glittering beads around her neck, on her feet were moccasins woven from the mescal plant, such as the fleet runners wore on long journeys, and she seemed short of breath as though having come swiftly a long distance. Meanwhile, the son of the saddened heart softly wailed and mourned out his dismal life.
One day, when most of the people of the animal world had gathered in the cave, Huta-pah' (coyote) felt a drop of water splash on his face. He whispered to the other people that it must be raining. The shadows were so deep he could not see that the woe-be-gone son sat weeping near him in the gloom.
The other thought Huta-pah' (coyote) was mistaken, but said he, "Hush! Listen! And you can hear the drops falling." And listening they did hear the patter of the tear-drops falling from the eyes of the sorrowful one, yet knew not what it was. So they all rushed out through the low opening of the cave to see if it was really raining.
This angered Seen-u-how' and as they dashed by her, she struck each one with her Hum-poo' (whip); not killing any, but greatly changing their appearance, however.
She made three marks down the back of Ma-pa'cha (badger); tore the tail of Huta-pah'(coyote), and now it is bushy instead of long and pointed; pounded Nim-me' (wildcat) so hard that the marks of the blows remain on his body yet; 'e kwuk (deer) carried a long tail before it was whacked off by the Hum-poo'; poor To-luk (owl) had his eyes so injured that he only sees at night since then; even the smallest bird of all, with its ruby colored throat, shows where it felt the flick of the whip.
Scarcely a beast or a bird of the wild wood but received that day some mark of the Hum-poo' (whip), and that is the reason they can now be distinguished one from another.