gg USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS |kth.a.nx.33 



The first stanza is an introduction by the narrator, not a part of 

 the " Sonp of the Wihl Rose." The remaining stanzas are the song 

 of the Wihl Rose itself: 



I will tell you of siiiiietliitiK I know. 

 Ami you can't half IniaRlne how good; 

 It's the sont; of wHil roses that grow 

 In tbe land the Dakota-folk love. 



rroui the heart of the .Mother we come. 



The kind .Mother of I.ife and of All : 



And If ever you think she is dumb. 



You should know that tlowers are her songa. 



And all ireature-s that live are her songs. 

 And all creatures that die are her songs. 

 And the winds blowing by are her songs. 

 And she want.s you to sing all her songs. 



lilke the purple in Daydawn we come. 

 And our hearts are so brimful of joy 

 That whene'er we're not singing we hum 

 Tl-li-ii-li-i. ta-la-ia-loo, ta-la-la-loo ! 



When a maiden is ready to weil 

 Pin wild roses all over her dress. 

 And a rose in the hair of her head; 

 Put new moccasins onto her feet. 

 Then the heart of the Motiier will give 

 Her the songs of her own heart to sing: 

 And she'll sing all the moons she may live. 

 Ti-li-ll-Ui. ta-la-la-loo, ta-la-la-loo! 



Maltts ioensis (AVood) IJritton. Crab Apple. 



She (Omaha-Ponca) ; sk<;-hi, apple tree; .•^/tc-zhv". applewood: 

 sh^-m, apple seed. 



The crab apple was used for food by tribes having acquaint- 

 ance with it. The Omaha and Ponca knew it as being found in the 

 Oto countrj' along the Missouri, in the southeast part of Nebraska. 

 They said it is found nowhere west or north of this except on one 

 creek which flows into the Niobrara River from the south at about 

 the line between Knox and Holt Counties, 150 or 200 miles from any 

 other locality where trees of this species grow. This would seem 

 to indicate a case of plant migration by human agency, the occa- 

 sion i)eing the dropping in camp, in some place favorable for germi- 

 nation, of fruits or viable seeds brought with camp supplies ob- 

 tained on a trip of considerable but not at all unusual distance to 

 the southeast. 



