The Houses in the Wall

On the third morning, Polly saw something strange in the cliff. High above the canyon floor, inside a big curved hollow in the rock, there were small square rooms with dark doorways. Someone had built houses inside the wall itself.

A rock squirrel sat on a warm stone and explained. Ancestral Puebloan families built those rooms from stone and mud, many hundreds of years ago. They chose the hollow because it was dry, hard to reach, and warm in winter. One room is painted pale, so people call the place the White House.

Did anyone live here before them, Polly asked. This canyon has never been empty, said the squirrel. Farmers and travellers have followed this wash for more than four thousand years. The Diné families who farm here today are just the newest ones.

Below her, one narrow path came down from the top in long turns. It drops about six hundred feet to the sand. It is the only path a visitor may walk alone. Polly could fly it in a few seconds. She sat still instead and watched the shadow move across the old rooms.