DENS more! 



CHIPPEWA MUSIC II 



305 



but retaining the same outline. Many of these stories contain one 

 or more songs, which are always said to be sung by the characters of 

 the story. These songs are therefore a form of musical expression 

 ascribed to animals, the actors in the stories almost without exception 

 being animals indigenous to the region. Among the most persistent 

 stories is that of the Coon and the Crawfish, which follows: 



There was once a coon who lived in the country of the crawfish and made them a 

 great deal of trouble. At last the crawfish started to make war on the coon. They 

 said they were going to kill him. An old female crawfish warned them against this and 

 said that the coon was so cunning he would surely kill them. She showed them her 

 fingers, which the coon had bitten, and said that he had destroyed whole villages of 

 crawfish. But they would not listen to her. They still said they were going to make 

 war on the coon, so the old '' woman " went into the water and stood there to see what 

 would happen. 



The coon was lying beside the road when the crawfish came along, singing their war 

 song. He seemed to be asleep. Gathering around him and still singing their song, 

 the crawfish pinched him with their claws; sometimes he winced as they did so, 

 pleasing the crawfish very much. But the song was interrupted. The coon suddenly 

 jumped up, crying, "Why are you disturbing my nap?" Then he ate all the craw- 

 fish — every one of them. 



The old "woman" standing up to her neck in the water saw it all; she was 

 safe and the coon could not get her. She laughed to see that what she said had come 

 true. 



The song as recorded contains the words "e'sibiln is dead." In 

 that version of the story the coon is represented as feigning death. 

 Another singer sang the song using the words "e'slhUn cringes," in 

 which version the coon pretended to be asleep. 



No. 180. Song of the Crawfish 



Sung by Odjib^we 



Voice J = 108 

 Kecorded without drum 



(Catalogue No. 449) 



WORDS 



e^sibun coon 



ni'bo dead 



Analysis. — This song contains only the first, second, fifth, and 

 sixth tones of the minor key (see No. 53). The interval of the fourth 

 is prominent in the formation of the melody; this has been noted also 

 in other songs concerning animals (see No. 22). 



67996°— Bull. 53—13 20 



