A Navajo man, now old, begins the tale of how he earned his name, Nahokonss Naga, or North Wanderer. The Navajo have long described the north as black, despite its white snows. While working at an American man’s trading post, Nahokonss Naga had fallen in love with one of the American women also living at the post. After consulting the medicine man he was studying with and his mother, he fasted, prayed, and sang. Though he felt better, when he saw the American woman at the trading post again, he realized he could not release his feelings. She often hired him as a guide to the surrounding area, and one day, she offered him her bracelet if he would let her ride his pinto horse. Nahokonss Naga told her he would have let her ride his pinto free of charge, but accepted the bracelet anyway. On their expedition, she told him she would be leaving the next day to the northern mountains. Her brother’s ranch was there, but she told Nahokonss Naga he would be welcome in their home. Though Nahokonss Naga explained he didn’t know the way there, she showed him a map of the trail before departing.

After the American woman, who Nahokonss Naga named Nahokonss Atad (Northern Maiden), left, Nahokonss Naga trained harder in his medicine and prepared to go north and find her. Once he had acquired many gifts and readied his pinto horse, he told his mother he was going to a squaw-dance to find a wife. She let him leave, and he proceeded north. After three moons on the trail, Nahokonss Naga reached a mountain with a large town at its base. During his stay in the town, he endured a drunken scuffle with the American locals but refused to leave after coming so far. Over a week later, he finally saw her in the town and followed her to her brother’s ranch. In his elation, the northern landscape seemed painted in many vibrant colors—not black as the elders said. At the ranch, Nahokonss Atad was surprised to see him, but welcomed him gladly, bashfully accepting his gifts and introducing him to the ranch’s residents.

Nahokonss Naga stayed at the ranch for a long time, during which he noticed one of the men seemed very close to Nahokonss Atad. However, this man, Charlie, exuded a menacing aura and often engaged in intimacies with Nahokonss Atad without her consent. Nahokonss Naga had hoped to ask Nahokonss Atad to come south with him once spring arrived, but trouble arose after Charlie accused Nahokonss Naga of cheating at cards. At the trading post, the Americans had taught Nahokonss Naga to cheat while playing, so he assumed it was normal to cheat. Ironically, Charlie also frequently cheated, but after giving back his winnings and clarifying things with the other ranchmen, Nahokonss Naga was allowed to continue playing with them. During the game, a crowd of villagers had gathered to watch. Nahokonss Naga caught Charlie cheating, putting a knife through his hand. A man who was familiar with the Native Americans quickly ushered Nahokonss Naga away to protect him from the shocked villagers and helped him prepare to leave the ranch. Despite this, Nahokonss Naga stayed close to the ranch and, at night, attempted to kill Charlie. At the sight of Nahokonss Atad giving a wedding ring back to Charlie and telling him to leave for embarrassing her family, Nahokonss Naga allowed him to live. He gave Nahokonss Atad’s bracelet back to her, explaining that if he had known she was married, he wouldn’t have done the things he’d done. He rode back to his village, securing twelve horses along the way to explain his absence. When he arrived home, his mother proposed she find a woman for him to marry and cure the sadness in his heart. Nahokonss Naga agreed, but couldn’t force himself to care which woman she chose.