298 THE OSAGE TRIBE [bth. ann. 36 



FREE TRANSLATION 

 1 



I have triumphed, I have triumphed, 

 With the aid given by the Xo'-ka, etc. 



I have triumphed, I have triumphed, 

 With the aid given by the Sho'-ka, etc. 



The song next in order is not as easily translated because most of 

 the words are purposely corrupted in order to hide their meaning 

 from the uninitiated. This practice of disguising the significance of 

 the words of a song, particularly one that is of a sacred nature, is 

 common not only among the Osage but also among the Omaha and 

 the Ponca. Two phrases of an Omaha Song of Peace will serve as 

 an illustration: 



Traaacribed by Alice C. Fletcher 



Ya the ho o tha Ya the ho 



The corrupted words, "Ya the ho-o tha," have absolutely no sig- 

 nificance to a person not familiar with the inner meaning of the rite. 

 But to one who knows, the undisguised words of these two phrases 

 are: The-thu ha-i ba, the-thu ha i ba; The-thu, here, at this house; 

 ha-i, coming; ba, they. The full meaning of these words and of the 

 song as explained by a man versed in the rites is as follows: When 

 the messengers of a peace-making party approach the village of the 

 tribe to be visited, the people hasten out of their houses and stand 

 watching to see whose house the strangers are approaching. The 

 song portrays this general scene and also that in front of the house 

 toward which the messengers are moving. The family give the glad 

 exclamation: "They are coming here! they are coming here!" (to 

 our house). The exclamation signifies that the messengers will be 

 hospitably received and that the family feels itself honored in the 

 choice of their house by the messengers of peace to be the place of 

 ceremony. (See Twenty-seventh Annual Report, B. A. E., p. 382.) 



When the following song was sung in its sequential order by 

 Wa'-thu-xa-ge into the dictaphone, the opening lines of five 

 stanzas were unintelligible to the writer, and he asked what they 

 meant. With a slight frowia Wa'-thu-xa-ge said: "O, they mean 

 nothing; they are only o'-ni-o°" (vocables). The writer, being 

 unsatisfied and knowing the native custom of hiding the true meaning 

 of the words of sacred songs from an uninitiated person, remarked: 

 "The words to me sound like A ha a-tsi° da ha the ka we." There- 

 upon the old man, with a hearty laugh, said: "That's just what they 

 are!" 



