CACTUSES vs. CACTI

Hole in the desert. The water threatens to flood the entire village. When the people ask for advice, depending on the version, either l'itoi, the creator in the O'odhams' origin story, or medicine men, will stop the water if the people make an offering to the spirits. They must choose to sacrifice that which is most valuable to them. After offering other things, an old man reminds them that their children are their most valuable treasures. They select two girls and two boys, sing songs all night to calm the children's fears, dress them with shell necklaces, and the next morning lower them into the hole. Gradually, the flooding ends.

The shrine, a collection of stripped ocotillo stalks arranged around a pile of stones, is easy to