272 THE OSAGE TRIBE [eth. ann. 30 



The right to use this supplicatory ceremony must be formally 

 sought by a woman and the right conferred by a person having due 

 authority. The priest confers this right not only upon the wife of 

 the initiate but also upon all the women who accompanied her as she 

 entered the sacred lodge. 



Paraphrase of the Ni'-ki Ritual of the f i^'-dse-a-gthe Gens 



TSl'-ZHU DIVISION 



The following paraphrase of the Ni'-ki Wi'-gi-e of the ^i"'-dse-a- 

 gthe gens was given by Pa'-thi°-wa-we-xta, a member of the Tsi'-zhu 

 Wa-no° gens. This old man was regarded as one of the best authori- 

 ties on the tribal rites. He initiated Xu-tha'-wa-toM", from whom 

 was obtained the Ni'-ki Ritual of the fsi'-zhu Wa-no" gens (see 

 pip. 238-272). At the time Pa'-thi"-wa-we-xta promised to give the 

 ritual in full he was very feeble, and before arrangements could be 

 made for him to record the rite in the dictaphone he was dead. The 

 old man regretted when he gave the promise that he could then give 

 only a brief paraphrase of the ritual, "for," he said, "no part of the 

 rite should be given in that form." The paraphrase is as follows: 



The people, whose abode was in the heavens, assembled that they 

 might meditate upon the means by which they would descend to the 

 earth to come into bodily existence. They decided that the eagle 

 was the only person who could safely conduct them to the earth. 

 They, therefore, appealed to him and he led them downward. The 

 people, led by the eagle, came to the earth and alighted upon seven 

 trees: Po^'-to^-ga-hiu, the full-grown shagbark hickory; Po°'-to"-ga- 

 hiu zhi°-ga, the young shagbark; Pi-fi' or Zho"'-zhi-lii (Pi-^i', acorn; 

 zho°'-zhi-hi, redwood), the red oak; ^^a'-gthu-hi ha shu-ga, the thick- 

 barked bitter hickory; ^^a'-gthu-hi, the smooth-bark bitter hickory; 

 Thiu'-xe, the willow. (The old man said seven trees, but he gave the 

 names of only six.) 



The people found that in the willow tree there was a mystical 

 power — a power for resisting the forces inimical to life. They wished 

 to cut the tree to make of a part of its body a wa-xo'-be, a sacred 

 article for ceremonial use. They sent their Sho'-ka (official mes- 

 senger) to find the material out of which to make a knife. Four times 

 he went out to make search, but without success. At the fifth time 

 he brought home a knife which he had made out of a stone of a grayish 

 color. He had made for it a handle that was round. The people 

 accepted the knife, consecrated it for ceremonial use, and called it 

 Mo^'-hi^-i-ba-btho-ga, the round-handled knife. With this sacred 

 knife they cut out of the body of the tree four small pieces, which 

 they threw into the air as sacred offerings, one to each of the four 

 winds. Blood flowed from each of the four wounds made with the 

 ceremonial knife. 



