Déélgééd- Navajo CreatureCreature · Monster"Monster Antelope"

The Deceiving Monster

Déélgééd was born during the Separation of the Sexes, when the breakdown of proper relations between men and women produced the Anaye. Where other monsters announced themselves openly, Déélgééd looked like prey. From a distance it had the shape of an ordinary antelope, antlers and all, a familiar silhouette against the horizon. A hunter would approach, expecting meat for the camp. He would close the distance, nock an arrow. Then the antelope turned, and what faced him was not game but something with horns built for killing and an appetite for the hunter himself. The Glittering World held many dangers a person could see coming. Déélgééd was not one of them.

Monster Slayer's Hunt

Monster Slayer came for Déélgééd as he came for all the Naayééʼ, armed with lightning arrows from his father the Sun. The disguise that fooled ordinary hunters could not fool him. He saw the monster inside the antelope shape and killed it.

Déélgééd's body, like those of other slain Anaye, transformed the landscape where it fell. The rock formations and colored earth mark the site of that ancient killing. With the monster destroyed, antelope became what they were meant to be: animals a hunter could approach and trust to be prey. The gamble was over.