LAFLESCHE] Nl'-KI Wl'-GI-ES 281 



103. For the fourth time the Buffalo threw liimself upon the earth, 



104. And the speckled corn, 



105. Together with the speckled squash, 



106. He tossed into the air, 



107. Then spake, saying: What Uving creature is there that has no 



mate? 



108. And thus he wedded together the speckled corn, a male, to the 



speckled squash, a female. 



109. He continued: The little ones shall use these plants for food as 



they travel the path of life. 



110. Thus they shall make themselves to be free from all causes of 



death as they travel the path of life. 



111. The elder brothers spake, saying: O, younger brothers, we bid 



you go and make further search. 



112. Then the younger brothers arose and went forth 



113. To a place where stood a red oak tree. 



114. Close to the tree they gathered and stood, 



115. And they spake, saying: Of this tree also 



116. We shall make our bodies. 



117. As they put their feet upon the branches of the tree the acorns 



fell to the earth in profusion.^' 



118. Whereupon they spake, saying: Of this act also (the falling of 



the acorns to the earth in profusion) 



119. The little ones shall make their bodies 



120. And enable themselves to live to see old age as they travel the 



path of life. 



121. The brothers passed on and came to the red cedar tree" (an 



evergreen) . 



122. Close to the tree they gathered, 



123. Then the tree spake, saying: I am a god who is difficult to be 



overcome by death. 



2» At the close of the recitation of this wi'-gi-e Mc-zhoo-a'-ki-da explained that the Tsi'-zhu Wa-sht-a'-ge 

 in order to perpetuate the memory of the story of the people ahghting on the red oak tree, adopted three 

 gentile names to be ceremonially given to their children; Pi -gi', U-buMse, and Non-bu'-dse; Ti-gi', Acorn, 

 the fruit of the red oak tree; U-bu'^ise, Profuse; No^-bu'-dse, composed of No°, action of the feet, referring 

 to the mythical story of the ahghting of the people upon the acorn tree, bu-dse, a part of the word u-bu-dse, 

 meaning profuse. The story as given in paraphrase tells that the people of this gens on their descent from 

 the sky alighted upon a red oak, the shock of their weight on the branches sending down a shower of acorns 

 from the tree, where they lay on the earth in profusion. This incident was regarded as prophetic of the 

 great number of children to be bom to the gens. Centuries ago, when the break occurred which resulted 

 in the Osage and the Omaha becoming two distinct tribes, the Omaha preserved in the name they 

 retained for the red oak tree, " Bu-de," a memory of this ancient myth, which gave a prophetic promise, 

 to the people that their craving for a prolonged tribal Ufe should be fulfilled through an abundant posterity. 



" Tradition is silent as to the origin of the sacred pole that belonged to the Omaha We'-zhio-ste gens 

 and as to the time when the rites connected with it ceased to be observed. To the lower part of the cere- 

 monial pole is fastened a piece, which is called zhi'-be, the leg. (See Twenty-seventh Annual Report, 

 B. \. E., p. 229.) The ceaar figures prominently in the rites of the Osage as a symbol of Ufe persistency, 

 and it may he that the We'-zhi»-ste sacred pole which was made of red cedar is a vestige of one of the rites 

 the Omaha took with them when they separated from the Osage. Whether this be so or not, it is certain 

 that the red cedar is a sacred tree to both the Omaha and the Osage and that both had rites relating to that 

 tree which may at some time in the past have been in common use between them. 



