Winged Monster

According to the Navajo Creation Myth, in the process of emerging from the underworlds and settling on their land, the People (Diné) faced many dangers from the natural environment and its harsh conditions, as well as from spiritual beings. These threats figure in the legends as monsters that take the shape of humans, birds, animals, and rocks. The heroic figures of the twin warrior brothers, Born of Water (Tobadzîschíni) and Monster Slayer (Nayé̆nĕzganĭ), were engaged in a series of battles with the various monsters, and, as the legends tell it, destroyed them one by one.

The Winged Monster, also known as the Great Bird or Monster Eagle (Tsé Nináhálééh), was one of those menacing beings. Most accounts tell of a giant bird who lived in Ship Rock (Tsé Bitʼaʼí), a landmark monolith in the Navajo homeland, located in northwestern New Mexico. The bird was very powerful and could lift people up in the air and throw them against the rocks in order to kill and then eat them. Monster Slayer, who had a magic feather which enabled him to survive the Winged Monster's attack, managed to trick the bird, destroy it, and tame its two young chicks, transforming them into an eagle and an owl. The geologic formation of Shiprock itself is also believed to be the body of the great monster layed out on the ground, with the two ridgelines extending away from the peak marking the beast's outstretched wings.