hter. The young girls uncle catches the step-dad molesting her and kills him. The Uncle drags the dead mans body to ‘Course-Textures Rocks Lie Above in A compact Cluster’ and situated his body with in a pit. There was no wake held for the man. (53) This is a very interesting historical tale because it deals with the crime of incest among the Apache people. The tale is told through oral narratives, once again displaying the great importance and historical significance of place-names and the effectiveness they have on moral beliefs amongst the Apache people.Apache place-names also tell stories of significant customs which should always be followed. Annie Peaches, another one of Basso’s friends and informants, tells a story toke place at ‘Big Cotton Wood Trees Stand Here and There.’ A mother in law awakens to hear yelling and screaming and she fears that it is her son-in-law tormenting her daughter once again. She calls out to him ‘you pick on my child a lot. You should be pleasant towards her’ but what the old woman did not realize was that they were being attacked. She was heard by the attackers and killed. (52) ‘Big Cottonwood Trees Stand Here and There’ is a significant place-name because it tells of a custom in which after the first year of marriage, the mother-in-law can not interfere in her daughters marriage. When the old woman did not follow the custom she, in turn, was punished. The story basically states ‘follow the rules or there will be severe consequences.’It seems odd to read quotes from Bronislaw Malinowski and A.R. Radcliffe-Brown stating that oral narratives were not relevant. They declared that, “Narrative accounts had little intrinsic value and served primarily as charters to justify present order; old traditions were often modified to meet such ends.” (Cruikshank 1990: 52) Clearly, through Bassos’ study, and earlier stud...
