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MICHELSON ] OWL SACRED PACK OF THE FOX INDIANS 21 
And the one on the warpath is the one who carries this sacred pack 
on his back. When he departs he uses this (song). He stands beck- 
oning the one who stays alone. The one who stays alone has the 
catlinite pipe in his hand. And the one on the warpath is the one 
that will have this sacred pack on his back. This is the way he will 
sing; and then he departs: 
Where I am going, where I am going, 
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Where I am going, where I am going, where I am going. 
Then indeed he departs. He is accompanied by as many as he is 
assisted in singing. 
Many people frequently cry when the others start off to war. This, 
it is said, is the reason why they cry: some do not come back, some 
come crippled when they are wounded. ‘This land is what the Indians 
are always fighting over. This is why they always fight against each 
other when they see each other. For possession of this land is the 
only cause. 
Now these are the gens festival songs: 
What I carry on my back at night, 
What I carry on my back at night, 
What I carry carefully on my back.? 
In the sky, 
I tell you, I tell you, 
They are bright, they are bright.? 
Try to hoot slowly, 
Ku“ku'ku't’wa, ku‘ku‘ku‘t’wa, 
Try to hoot slowly, 
Try to hoot slowly.* 
The one who started to fly away, the one who started to fly away, 
It is he, the manitou, 
The one who started to fly away, the one who started to fly away, 
¢ The one who started to fly away, the one who started to fly away.* 
They use these four songs. The drum is beaten. Yet the gourds 
are first rattled. The flute is blown four times: first it is blown toward 
the east, then toward the south, then toward the west, then toward 
the north. So it is four times. Then they stop to beat the drum first 
four times, tum, tum, tum, tum. Then is when it is begun to be 
beaten vigorously. Then, too, the singers begin singing loudly. 
After they sing, after they use the four songs, then those who are 
going to dance make firm their foothold (1. e., arrange themselves in 
a line), that is, the leaders, one woman and two men. Then the 
leader, a man, blows this flute. After he has blown it, then a song 
is started. This is how it is. It is a dancing song. The song is 
used when there is dancing. 
3 The hidden meaning is: ‘‘sing slowly,’”’ but the song also refers to the owl. 
4The esoteric meaning of the song is: “‘ After the owl blessed the man, then the former flew away.” 
