LAPLESCHE] KITE OF VIGIL FREE TRANSLATION. 47 



cult for a candidate, even with the generous assistance of ids friends 

 and relatives, to procure so great a supply of goods, provisions, and 

 animal skins as were required for use in the initiation. Taking this 

 difficulty into account, the No°'-ho°-zhi°-ga allowed a candidate 

 seven years in which to prepare himself to take the degree. In later 

 days when the Osage came into contact with the traders who supplied 

 the people with flintlock muskets, powder and balls, as well as other 

 commodities, the task of the candidate was not as great, and with the 

 help of his friends he could prepare himself for the initiation in a 

 shorter time. 



There is a penalty wi'-gi-e which is used in common by all the 

 various gentes of the tribe in which the penalties to be inflicted are 

 definitely prescribed. For a long time Wa-xthi'-zhi hesitated to 

 recite this wi'-gi-e, but finally, in the spring of 1918, after much per- 

 suasion he consented to give it. It is as follows: 



Penalty Wi'-gi-e Used by All the Gentes. 



(Osage version, p. 376: literal translation, p. 518.) 



1. Veril}^ at that time and place, it has been said, in this house, 



2. In the midst of the wimls that precede the approaching storm, 



3. Move the Wa'-pa-ki-the of the little ones. 



4. My grandfather (referring to a great butterfly, one of the Wa'-^a- 



ki-the) , 



5. Is, verily, a being from whom nothing is hidden, 



6. He is the Great Butterfly (Dsi°-tha' to"-ga) , . 



7. Who moves amidst the winds that precede the storm, 



8. My grandfather, it is said, 



9. Ever moves amidst those advancing winds, 



10. From him nothing can be hidden, as he moves onward amidst 



the winds, 



11. Guarding the acts over which hang the penalties. 



12. In the very depths of secret places these acts may be performed, 



13. Yet he watches over them as he moves in the midst of the winds. 



14. The guilty ones travel along life's pathway, 



15. My grandfather, 



16. Overtakes them and makes them to become languid, to seek 



solitude and to sit in wretchedness, 



17. Verily, he makes their sivin to become sallow and of sickly hue; 



18. He makes them to become restless and to lie here and there in 



distress. 



19. My gi-andfather, 



20. Causes them to fail to reach the four divisions of the days (four 



stages of life) , 



21. My grandfather, 



