248 THE OSAGE TEIBE [bth. ann. 36 



30 . Behold the swift current of the river, 



31. I have not made it without a purpose. 



32. When the little ones make of it their windpipe, 



33. They sliall free their windpipe from all causes of death. 



34. Behold the ripples upon the surface of the river, 



35. I have not made them without a purpose. 



36. When the httle ones make of me their bodies, 



37. They shall always live to see their breasts wrinkled with age. 



38. Verily, at that time and place, it has been said, in this house, 



39. He spake again, saying: And it so happens, 



40. That in my travel I come to the days that are calm and peaceful. 



41. So shall it happen with the little ones; they also shall reach and 



enter the days that are calm and peaceful. 



When the A'-ki-ho" Xo'-ka has finished reciting the wi'-gi-e the 

 Xo'-ka puts upon himself a pair of the symbolic moccasins, the 

 buffalo robe, the woven girdle, and the woven neckband with the 

 pendant shell gorget, and he is thus fully clothed as Initiator or 

 Priest. The candidate rises, takes the Xo'-ka by the arm and con- 

 ducts him to the door, and when they are outside the ceremonial 

 approach to the "Little House," the place of meeting, begins. The 

 Sho'-ka takes his place a few paces ahead of the candidate, the 

 Xo'-ka. and the A'-ki-ho° Xo'-ka, who stand abreast. The Xo'-ka, 

 being obliged to do so, now himself recites the Wa'-fi-thu-^e Wi'-gi-e, 

 literally Footsteps Wi'-gi-e, freely translated, Wi'-gi-e of the Cere- 

 monial Approach to the "Little House." At the close of the first 

 section of the wi'-gi-e the Xo'-ka takes from the bowl of the pipe 

 he carries a bit of tobacco and tosses it backward over his left shoulder ; 

 he next tosses a similar bit over his right shoulder; then he drops a 

 bit on his Jeft foot, then a bit on his right foot. After these acts the 

 procession moves forward, during which the Sho'-ka calls to the 

 people that the Xo'-ka and his candidate are approaching the "Little 

 House." Four pauses are made in the ceremonial march, at each of 

 which a section of the wi'-gi-e is recited and the tobacco ceremony 

 performed. At the fourth pause the four men have reached and 

 stand at the door of the "Little House." 



From the allegorical story of "Finding the Enemy," of which the 

 wi'-gi-e of the Ceremonial Approach to the "Little House" is an 

 epitome, it would appear that the ultimate purpose of the move- 

 ments toward a tribal military organization was not solely for acquir- 

 ing territory (valleys and river bends) or for monopolizing the buffalo 

 herds but for the all-important aim of perfecting the most effective 

 means of protecting the individual as well as the tribal life, wherever 

 the people may be and whatever their pursuits. The safety of the 



