The Song Scheme
As already said, the Nyohaiva singing is “short”: it requires only one night to complete, probably including a certain amount of narration.
I give the number of songs at each point, first as the narrator volunteered them in telling the full text, and next as he subsequently revised them in a review of the skeleton of the story. There are the usual discrepancies; some perhaps due to misunderstanding; more, probably, to his not having in mind any really fixed scheme of the number of songs at each place.
Outline
| Origin, Identity, Future | ||
| 1. Born at Miakwa’orve | 3 | 3 |
| 2. South to Iδô-kuva’īre | 2 | 1 |
| 3. Yuma Av’alyunu singing like Mohave Nyohaiva | 1 | 0 |
| 4. At Selye’aya-kumītše, about her identity | 4 | 4 |
| 5. At Kamahnulye, the same | 4 | 4 |
| 6. At Savêt-tôhe, the same | 3 | 3 |
| Detour to the Walapai | ||
| 7. At Aha-kuvilye, about buckskin shirt wearers | 4 | 1 |
| 8. Returning from the Walapai to the river | 4 | 3 |
| Southward again | ||
| 9. At Hotūrveve, on the trail | 1 | 1 |
| 10. At Iveθīkwe-‘akyulye, about her new name | 4 | 4 |
| 11. At Amaṭ-ehê’-kwaδôske, claimed as sister | 3 | 3 |
| 12. At Ho’aunye-vatše, claimed again | 3 | 3 |
| 13. At Ahmo-kutšeθīlye, hears singing ahead | 2 | (?) |
| Magic, Game Won, Defiance | ||
| 14. Flies as arrow to Amaṭa-kwitše; afraid to eat | 3 | 3 |
| 15. From Aqwāqa-have to Avi-tšôrinyêne, wins contest, defiance | 4 | 4 |
| War Will Come | ||
| 16. At Avi-haly’a, telling of war coming | 4 | 4 |
| 17. At Avê-ny-eva, same | 1 | 1 |
| 18. At Qapotaq-ivauve, the cardinal directions | 4 | 3 |
| 19. At Avi-tuva’auve, the sky is near | 2 | 3 |
| 20. At Akulye-tšakapava | 2 | 3 |
| 21. Avi-tšitše named | 4 | 3 |
| 22. At Amaṭ-ehê-‘iδauve, about white paint | 4 | 3 |
| War Party Got up | ||
| 23. At Ava-tšohai, reaching allies | 4 | 4 |
| 24. Horrave-sakamīm appointed leader there | 3 | 0 |
| On the March, and Preparations | ||
| 25. Crossing the river to Ahpe-hwêlyeve | 4 | 2 |
| 26. At Amaṭ-tato’itše, curing cactus spine | 2 | 2 |
| 27. At Aqwāqa-mūnyô, on the way to battle | 3 | 3 |
| 28. At Matha-tše-kwilyeve, meeting mountain sheep | 4 | 3 |
| 29. At Koθīlye, crossing the river | 3 | 3 |
| 30. Across it, painting themselves | 4 | 3 |
| 31. On the way, about her steps and arms | 5 | 3 |
| The Stupefied Foe Is Beheaded | ||
| 32. At Aqwāqa-have again, Otšôuta decapitated | 4 | 4 |
| The Victory Dance | ||
| 33. At Sama’ôkusa, about his scalp; the Alyha’ | 4 | 4 |
| 34. At same place, the scalp on the pole | 4 | 4 |
| Transformation of Victim and Victor | ||
| 35. At Amaṭ-ya’āma, Otšôuta’s skull thrown to Picacho Rock | 0 | 4 |
| 36. Nyohaiva turns into Hawk-Rock | 0 | 0 |
| — | — | |
| 110 | 98+ |
The first list aggregates 110 songs in 34 groups; the second, 98 or 100 in 33. In the first list, groups of four songs are most frequent, occurring 17 times. In the second list groups of four occur only 10 times, but groups of three 16 times. In short, in the second enumeration the typical group consists of three instead of four songs. At what appear to be crucial points—Nyohaiva’s identity, her new name, the contest, Otšôuta’s killing, the scalp dance—the two lists agree in naming the full complement of four songs. Evidently there is some sense that lesser episodes merit fewer songs. That this sense of relative weight is fairly constant is shown by the fact that of 31 places or stages to which both lists attribute songs, 19 have the same number; 9 differ by only one song, as three for four or three for two; and only 3 differ more widely: see paragraphs 7, 25, 31. There is thus evident a plan in the narrator’s mind for relative elaboration of songs in different parts of the story. This plan is adhered to with approximate consistency or repetition; but it is no precise ritual scheme fixed in memory.
As usual, the song scheme serves also as a synopsis of the narrative. I have therefore organized it by introducing captions. It is evident from this outline that only about three of the thirty-odd sections contain vigorous plot such as is the usual content of myths and tales in cultures of the same general level as the Mohave. These are sections 14 and especially 15 and 32. If to these are added the first and last one or two brief sections, to give the heroine an origin and an end, we have about the equivalent of what most American tribes would use to make a tale. The remaining sections, nearly thirty, are Mohave filling, or prolixity, dispensable incidents which make the story run slower but give opportunity to build up the singing into a long series, a real cycle, corresponding to a ritual among other tribes. This song association is presumably the cause of the dilatory narration; though it is also clear that the Mohave like the strung-along episodes for their own sake, and maintain the habit even when the narrative is unaccompanied by songs, as in the Mastamho myth and Great Tale.
The difference in manner, according as interest in plot or in song themes prevails, is shown by the fact that the three paragraphs mentioned (14, 15, 32) take up about three-tenths of the length of the narrative, but have only one-tenth of the songs referring to them. That is, Mohave singing is far from really dramatic. Its text tends to be pensive, subjective, reflective on incidents. When the action becomes eventful, tense, or critical, the songs become few, or drop out, until the flow of the narrative quiets again.
From one to four of the songs of each of the groups were phonographically recorded in cylinders catalogued as 14-228 to 14-269 in the University of California Museum of Anthropology. The correspondence of these phonograms to the sections of the narrative is as follows:
| Sections | Phonograms |
| 1 | 228-230 |
| 2 | 231 |
| 4-7 | 232-235 |
| 9-12 | 236-239 |
| 14-23 | 240-249 |
| 25-32 | 250-257 |
| 33 | 258, 264-266 |
| 34 | 259, 267-269 |
| 35 | 260-263 |
That is, all the songs pertaining to the first section and the three last sections were recorded; but only the first of each group of songs for the other sections.