Today, legislation is pending which will provide them trust title to the land upon which they reside. Some Tontos gradually returned to Payson after 20 years of exile to find white settlers had taken much of their land. The Reserve was dissolved in 1875 when they were forcibly moved to the San Carlos Apache Reservation. The large Rio Verde Reserve, near Camp Verde, was established in 1871 for the Tonto and Yavapai Indians. The Tonto Apache are the direct descendants of the Tontos who lived in the Payson vicinity long before the advent of the Anglo. One-third of the tribal members are under the age of 16 (BIA, Indians of Arizona, 1994). 102 members live on the reservation (Tonto Apache Tribe, 1994). The total population of the Tonto Apache Reservation is approximately 140 of which 110 are enrolled tribal members. The title is similar in thought and concept to the Dragon Emperor of China.The Tonto Apache Tribe is located adjacent to the town of Payson (originally named Te-go-suk, Place of the Yellow Water), in northwestern Gila County approximately 95 miles northeast of Phoenix and 100 miles southeast of Flagstaff, Arizona.Ĭonsisting of 85 acres, its the smallest land base reservation in the state of Arizona. Traditionally, Korean kings and emperors saw the majesty and power of the phoenix as divine, and often favored this mythical animal as a symbol of their supreme right to rule. Phoenix King was the Western title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Great Joseon, the last royal dynasty of Korea.
The phoenix is also a symbol of rebirth and divinity, as Ozai stated that he would no longer be Fire Lord, and instead be reborn as the Phoenix King, the supreme ruler of the world, through the fires he would set in the Earth Kingdom. Similarly, it is asserted that a phoenix can heal a person with its tears, and even temporarily make them immune to death. The bird was also said to regenerate when wounded, essentially making it immortal and invincible. In some legends, the new phoenix embalms the ashes of its old self in an egg made of myrrh and deposits it in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis, the "City of the Sun". The new phoenix is destined to live as long as its old self and the creature is also associated with fire, justice, obedience, and fidelity. An androgynous creature, it was also associated with Yin femininity, the moon, and the earth, as opposed to the dragon, which represented Yang masculinity, the sun, and the sky. In Chinese mythology, the phoenix, also known as fenghuang, is one of the four Sacred Creatures, the other three being the dragon, the qilin, and the turtle. Both nest and bird burn and are reduced to ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live again. It is a radiant bird with a tail of gold and red plumage, or purple and blue, by some sources, and has a 500 to 1,000 year life cycle, near the end of which it builds itself a nest of myrrh twigs that it eventually ignites.
The phoenix, or benu, is a mythical sacred firebird which originated in many ancient mythologies, including Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, Indian, Persian, Roman, and Chinese, among others. The Fire Nation crafted a large platform with a depiction of a phoenix for Ozai's coronation as Phoenix King.