DORSEY.] TRADlTIOxN'S OF THE ELDERS. 381 



" In placing the stick to the east, Tai^se ^^aqpa tse. The East Wind, 

 and Tahe cade, Dark-Horned Deer, were mentioned; to the nortli, 

 Ta^se j;asa" tsf. The Iforth Wind, and The Deer with gray horns were 

 mentioned; to the west, Ta;se Ma^'ha tse. The West Wind, and an 

 animal which makes a lodge and is with the Tahe pasi3[e were men- 

 tioned ; to the south, Ta^^se Ak'a ts6, The South Wind, and Ta waiika he 

 a:5[^aoi skutanJ[a were mentioned." ' 



3ahii[e-wai[ayin2[a gave no f^^rther information, as a reported case 

 of smallpox near the agency led the author to start for the East Feb- 

 ruary 21, 1883. Since then he has learned of the existence of similar 

 societies among the Kansa and the Ponka, and he suspects that there 

 were formerly such societies among the Omaha." 



TRADITIONS OF THE ELDERS. 



In presenting the accompanying traditions, the following abbre- 

 viations are used in the interlinear translations: 

 an., animate. \ in., inanimate. \ pi., plural. \ st., sitting. 



cv., curvilinear. mv., moving. reel., reclining. std., standing. 



du., dual. I ob., object. \ sing., singular. \ sub., subject. 



UNC'Uf/AHE. TSbU WACTAHE ITAdE.^ 

 (Tradition of the TsfDu wacti^je gens.) 



1 Oiil'jfa weha5[i^e': adi"tati, Tsika!' 



Child last he really O grrand- 



said father! 



Ha, wisfin'jfa, oin'j[a oui5[a wafin'3[e, ^5[i anka": ddi°tau, Tsika! 



Ho younger child body they have he was say- he really O grand- 



brother none ing that said father! 



' Meaning uncertain : it may refer to the female or doe. 



'See "Omaha Sociology," §§ 14^16,19, 38, 33, 34, 36, 56, 143, 248-2.58, and passim, 

 in Third Annual Report of the Director of the Bureaii of Ethnology. 



■*Tlie literal rendering of the title is " Growth told. Tsiou Peacemaker theirs." 

 This may be translated freely by " Revelations of the elders of .the Red Eagle gens." 



■"Oin'JLa weha5[i(fe, "The first end of the children " or " The beginning of the 

 race." This reckoning was backward. The Ponka have a similar usage: uhafige, a« 

 end: uhafige pahanga te, tlie first end or beginning. Adi»tau, formed by crasis from 

 ade and {"tau, may refer to the words of the old men who have handed down these 

 traditions. Tsika is unintelligible to the younger Osage of the present day. One 

 man told the author that he thought it meant, " O grandfather," being addressed to 

 tlie principal Wakan^a. He said that it was substituted for another name of that 

 being. 



*The chorus or refrain at the end of each hue is omitted in the free translation, 

 as it would make confusion. If retained, the first four lines would read thus: 



The first of the race: he really said, O gi-andfather! 



He was saying, " Ho, younger brother! the children have no bodies": he really 

 said, O gi-andfather! 



" We shall seek bodies for our children": he really said, O grandfather! 



"Ho, younger brother! you shall attend to it": he really said, O grandfather! 



* E3[i anka refers to the preceding words, which were those of one of the mythic 

 speakers. He was an ancestor of the Tsiou gens. Here he addressed his younger 

 brother. At this time the brothers were destitute of human souls and bodies, though 

 they possessed conscious existence and could talk, as well as move about from place 

 to place. 



