The Repetition of Numerical Values in Myths and Literature Essay Example

the fourth time they enter and raise the buckskin, after which the two females (who are actually somehow one) emerge in human form from images of women wrought in turquoise and white shell, respectively ("Changing" 37). Even the major antagonist of the story, Yeitso, is not immune from the predictability of the obsessive-compulsiveness of the repetitive, ritualistic four.

As the four holy people say to the Hero Twins, advising them on the habits of the said monster, "They said that he showed himself every day three times on the mountains before he came down, and when he showed himself for the fourth time he descended from Tsotsil to Tosato to drink" ("Changing" 44). Unfortunately, the twins use this advice less advantageously than they should.

As the narrator states, even though Yeitso kneels down to drink four times from a lake, "The brothers lost their presence of mind at the sight of the giant drinking, and did nothing while he was stooping down" ("Changing" 45). Understanding the lack of drama that would have followed from a surprise ambush and the easy killing of the main terror of the tale without a fight (though compared to the twin's father, Yeitso actually doesn't seem so terrible), the twins can be forgiven for their temporary, fear-induced inaction.

The repetition of numerical values is a common factor in historical myth and literature throughout the globe, and is particularly impressive in its integration into religious texts. A text that uses this repetition extensively is the Christian Bible. The number seven is used at the beginning of the text, in the second chapter of Genesis, to describe the week it took for

God to create the world - six days for Him to create it , and one for Him to rest (Holy 2).

The number seven is also used at the end of the text, when John introduces his apocalyptic book of Revelation by addressing it to "the seven churches in the province of Asia" (Holy 867). The number forty also appears early and later in the text, first in the Old Testament to describe Noah's forty days and nights of rain while in the ark in Genesis chapter seven (Holy 5), and later in the New Testament to describe Jesus' forty days and nights of fasting in the wilderness in Matthew chapter four (Holy 682-683).

The number forty is also foundational to the history of the nation of Israel, as laid out in Numbers chapters thirteen and fourteen, when the Israelites explore the promised land of Canaan for forty days, get scared to try and take it over because the people of the land are so big, rebel against God by refusing to enter, and are punished by Him by being forced to wander around the desert for forty years - one year for each day they had explored the land before (Holy 105-106).

The numbers twelve and three are also extremely important in the Biblical text. Twelve is the designated number of the sons of Jacob in Genesis chapter thirty-five (Holy 27), among whom the Promised Land is eventually divided in Joshua chapters fifteen through twenty-one when they are no longer individuals, but swelled, populous tribes, or small types of nation-states (Holy 162-167). Twelve is also the designated number of Christ's apostles in the

New Testament (Holy 688).

The number three is used in reference to all sorts of facets of the doctrine of the Christian faith as spelled out in the Bible, from the three-in-one Godhead of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Ghost - to the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after His death in Luke chapter twenty-four and other sections of the Gospels (Holy 748-749). Peter denies Christ three times in John chapter eighteen, before Christ's death (Holy 767), and has his faith reinstated three chapters later, after Christ's resurrection, when Christ tells him three times, predictably, to "feed His sheep" (Holy769-770).

Also, in the Old Testament, infamous Jonah, in the first chapter of the book that bears his name, spends three days and nights inside a "great fish" before being spewed out onto land to do God's work (Holy 654-655). Another similarity between "Changing Woman and the Hero Twins" and other myths and narratives of posterity is its inclusion of a father god and his sons. The twins' father is first clarified as being "the Sun" by Spider-Woman, who gives the boys advice on how to get to his dwelling and gifts with which to overcome the obstacles along the way ("Changing" 40).

After making their way unscathed to his home, it takes some time before the twins' Sun-god father actually acts somewhat fatherly towards them. After trying to kill them in multiple interesting and creative ways, he finally decides they must really be his sons and agrees to give them aid to kill the monster Yeitso, even though Yeitso is also his son (what a father). He even goes so

far as to promise the boys, "I shall hurl the first bolt at him" ("Changing" 43).

Only half making good on his promise, the Sun-god does indeed hurl a lightning bolt, but his intentions with the bolt seem more to transport the twins to the mountain where Yeitso dwells than to actually injure Yeitso himself ("Changing" 44). A battle ensues, and the three sons of the god go at it in the classic archetypical, mythological son-of-god style - Yeitso hurling lightning bolts and the twins firing rounds of lightning-like arrows. The twins emerge victorious ("Changing" 45).

The archetype of a father god and his sons is extraordinarily common throughout most all mythology, in tales originating from all regions of the world. Though one of the most potent images in modern society of the father god and his son comes from religion, as in the Christian view of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ, there are many more examples which are arguably just as popular and influential as anything in contemporary religious texts - the major canon in popular thought and philosophy being the mythology of the Greeks and Romans.

Not so Different After All One of the most immediately similar Greek tales to "Changing Woman and the Hero Twins" in this regard is the story of Phaethon, son of the Sun. Phaethon, a mortal on his mother's side, travels to the palace of the Sun  to find out if indeed the Sun is his true father. Once there, the Sun not only confirms that Phaethon is his son, he also offers him evidence, saying, "But I will give you a proof. Ask anything

you want of me and you shall have it" (Hamilton 180-181).

Unfortunately, while the Sun-god of the Greeks is a much better father figure than the one of the Navajo, the son of the Sun-god of the Greeks is much more foolish than the sons of the Sun-god of the Navajo. Asking his father for the reins to the chariot of the sun (to which, with great despair, his father, bound by his word, must relent to), he proceeds to try to drive the sun across the sky. It is by all accounts a disaster, and Phaethon's inability to control the horses of the chariot leads not only to his own death, but chaos on the earth below (Hamilton 181-184).

Also similar to "Changing Woman and the Hero Twins," where once slaughtered, Yeitso's remains fall to the ground and form various physical features unique to the Navajo landscape ("Changing" 45-46), it is written that during Phaeton's horrific ride, "it was then that the Nile fled and hid his head, which still is hidden" (Hamilton 183). Though the Navajo Sun-god fathers some impressive youths in his time, the arguably most famous of the Greek gods, Zeus - "Lord of the Sky, the Rain-god and the Cloud-gatherer, who wielded the awful thunderbolt" (Hamilton 25) - fathers quite a progeny himself.

Not only does he lend his seed to the infamous Hercules (Hamilton 227), but to Perseus - the winged-sandal wearing, mirrored-shield bearing slayer of Medusa - as well (Hamilton 204). An interesting similarity between the tale of Perseus and that of the Hero Twins is that while Perseus was born to Danae by Zeus, taking on the

form of a "shower of gold [which] fell from the sky and filled her chamber" (Hamilton 198), the Hero Twins are the product of a similar type of naturalistic union:

In the morning Changing Woman found a bare, flat rock and lay on it with her feet to the east, and the rising sun shone upon her. White Shell Woman went down where the dripping waters descended and allowed them to fall upon her... Four days after... White Shell Woman said: 'Elder Sister, I feel something strange moving within me; what can it be? ' and Changing Woman answered: 'It is a child. It was for this that you lay under the waterfall. I feel, too, the motions of a child within me. It was for this that I let the sun shine upon me. ' (Hamilton 37-38)