LAFLESCHE] Nl'-KI Wl'-GI-ES 277 



around the house and find that the occupant is a Ho^'-ga, a sacred 

 person. They speak to him, addressing him as "grandfather," and 

 he repUes, as though to anticipate a request to be made, and says: 

 ■'The httle ones shall make of me their bodies." This scene is also 

 a cryptic reference to the house of the Ho°'-ga U-ta-no°-dsi, the only 

 gens that did not descend from the sky, but that belongs to the earth 

 and represents its power. In this house, the "house of many open- 

 ings," the children of all the people are ceremonially named and by 

 that act are initiated into the tribal life. At the ceremonies of the 

 naming of a child a representative of the Tsi'-zhu Wa-shta'-ge gens 

 is brought to the "house of many openings" that is in the keeping of 

 the Ho°'-ga U-ta-no°-dsi gens, to take the leading part in the act of 

 sending the little ones forward upon the path of life. 



The objective point of the mythical journey of the Tsi'-zhu Wa- 

 shta'-ge from the sky to the earth appears to be the two houses of 

 mystery, the sanctuary (the house of peace), and the house from 

 which the little ones are sent ceremonially upon their life journey. 

 Both of these houses occupy an important place in the ceremonial 

 life of the tribe. This mythical story is but another expression of 

 the belief that life is conceived in the sky and descends to earth to 

 take material form. 



THE Wl'-GI-E 

 (Osage version, p. 453; literal translation, p. 591) 



1. Ha' tha tsi ta', a bi" da, tsi ga." 



2. The little ones have not become a people, O, younger brothers, 



they said to one another. 



3. The elder brothers spake, saying: O, younger brothers, 



4. We bid you go and make search for a place wherein the little ones 



may become a people. 



5. Then, even as these words were spoken, a younger brother 



hastened forth 



6. To the first great divisions of the heavens, 



7. Wliere he stood and paused. 



8. Then he returned to his elder brothers, to whom he spake, saying: 



O, elder brothers, 



9. Verily, nothing of importance has come to my notice. 



10. The elder brothers spake, saying: Make further search, O, younger 



brothers, 



11. The little ones have not become a people. 



" The meaning of the words of this line has become obscure and can not be translated. Therefore the 

 line is given only in the first section of the translation of the wi'-gi-e. However, it appears in every section 

 of the original (the Osage version). 



