Ceremony Poem XXIII Summary

  • Remember Hummingbird and Fly? They're still flying around trying to find some tobacco.
  • They go to Caterpillar's house in the West and ask him for some.
  • Caterpillar rubs his hands together and magically makes some tobacco, which he wraps up for them in some corn husks.
  • All of a sudden, Tayo and the woman he met under the apricot tree are making love. It's pretty awesome.
  • How awesome is it? Well, Tayo's climax is compared to "the edge of a steep riverbank crumbling under the downpour" (XXIII.1). In other words, sex with this woman is like rain after a long drought.
  • That night Tayo dreams about the cattle. His dream isn't interrupted even when the woman pulls him back on top of her. The woman's whisper seems to affect the cattle in the dream.
  • The woman gets up before dawn, and Tayo follows her outside. He breathes in the smells of snow, pine trees, and horses. He feels great—better than he has in a long time.
  • Tayo takes the mare to graze. The jingling sound of her bit reminds him of the sound of a ceremony in his village in late November.
  • Before dawn, the sound of bells would announce the approach of the Ka't'sina ("Dawn people") from the southeast.
  • Spontaneously, Tayo stands up and sings the Ka't'sina song for the sunrise, as best as he can remember it.