DORSET-s WANTON] THE BIL.OXI AND OFO LANGUAGES 59 



31. Jci'^x=hi'^hi'^ before a ^-sound; Jcane^ past form of w^, the 

 standing or moving ob. [in the past;^] Jcud^sk dHJciltcM may be the 

 Jcudesha tcut-kana of line 15. 



32. amixyS hadedi\ used because they were going rapidly. Had 

 they been walking- at an ordinary gait, mixye a'de (3d pi. of raixye 

 dedi) must have been used. The woman was sitting on a buffalo in 

 the middle of the stream when the four brothers saw her. This asso- 

 ciation of the buffalo with water occurs also in the tradition of the 

 Inke-sabe gens of the Omaha tribe. 



37-38. dusix hudi^ perhaps contracted from dusi ha^ kudi. 



39. aP'ya^ "the four Hawk persons." 



44. nkint-Jco, instead of nkint-ka^. 



46. ha'ma'"'=^ham,a, ania. 



46-47. tcUka kik^ — tcdmilx kike "whether" rabbit "or" rats and 



nlice CO- 

 TRANSLATION 



There was a woman who washed her head, and then sat with her 

 back to the sunshine. When she had been sitting thus for some time, 

 the Hawk persons found her. Whereupon it was said, " Whoever is 

 the first one to reach her and touch her shall have her for his full 

 sister." No sooner was this said than the four were standing in a 

 row. The Ancient of Fish-hawks was the first to reach her, and 

 when he felt her she screamed. Then the Ancient of Marsh Hawks 

 reached her and felt her. And she cried out. The Ancient of Red- 

 tailed Hawks, too, reached her and felt her. Last of all the Ancient 

 of Blue Darters reached her and felt her, and she screamed once more. 

 Then said he to the woman, "We do not wish to kill you, but we 

 are just doing so to you." Then the four took her away with them. 

 They took her to their camp and made her attend to it while they 

 went hunting. 



While they were absent hunting, she sang [magic] songs [to induce 

 them] to return. By singing these songs she made a great herd of 

 Buffalo come to the camp. [The brothers could not have gone far, 

 because] when the herd had come very close, the woman said to the 

 four brothers, "Turn the mortar upside down over me." And when 

 they had done so, the brothers attacked the Buffalo and killed many. 

 About half of the herd escaped, and the men spent some time in jerking 

 the meat. Then said the woman: "I never eat buffalo meat. I always 

 eat birds and squirrels." Then the brothers departed to shoot birds 

 for her, and as they were starting the}^ turned the mortar upside down 

 over her, leaving some of her long hair outside the mortar. Conse- 

 quently the Ancient of Red Birds [who chanced to pass there] got her 

 hair wrapped around his feet, which made him fall about here and 

 there. 



83515°— Bull. 47—12 5 



