92 THE OSAGE TRIBE. [etii. an.n. 39 



In former days when the Osage people were often forced to retaliate 

 upon their enemies to insure self-protection, a war leader, at a critical 

 moment, as when about to order his men to attack a village, would, 

 among other songs, sing the Song of Reversal. On such an occasion 

 six stanzas were given to the song, and the words of the fourth line of 

 each stanza were modified so as to give the song a supplicatory char- 

 acter. Freely translated, these words were as follows: 



1. Make their feet to be cramped. 



2. Make their legs to be cramped. 



3. Make their bodies to l)e cramped. 



4. Make their arms to be cramped. 



5. Make their heads to be cramped. 



6. Make their mouths to be cramped. 



The third song has five stanzas. The singing of the song is accom- 

 panied with a series of ceremonial acts performed by the Xo'-ka. He 

 unties the hanging strap of the shrine and unfolds one by one the suc- 

 cession of symbolic cases in order to remove therefrom the sacred 

 hawk for use in the ceremonies to follow. 



In order that the meaning of the song with its accompanying cere- 

 monial acts may be better understood, it may be well, before proceed- 

 ing with the song, to give a brief description of the various articles 

 that compose the portable shrine (Fig. 3) and their symbolic signifi- 

 cance, and also to indicate the gentes whose office it is to furnish 

 these articles as well as to recite the wi'-gi-es relating to them. 



1. The wide strap wound around the middle of the shrine (PI. 5, A), 

 and by wliich it is hung in its place, either at the right or at the left of 

 the door of the house of the owner, is made of buflialo skin. The office 

 of furnishing the skin for tliis strap when renewing an old shrine or mak- 

 ing a new one, as well as the reciting of the wi'-gi-e relating to the 

 strap, belongs to the Tsi'-zhu Wa-no° and the ^'i"'-dse-a-gthe, two 

 gentes of the Tsi'-zhu great division. (For origin of the sacred 

 straps, see Ni'-ki Ritual of the Tsi'-zhu Wa-no" gens, 36th Ann. Rept. 

 B. A. E., pp. 262-208.) 



2. A scalp is attached to the hanging strap of the slii'ine (PI. 5, A). 

 The office of contributing this scalp belongs to the Wa-^a'-be and I°- 

 gtho"'-ga gentes of the IIo"'-ga subdivision of the Ho°'-ga great 

 division. (The mythical story of the contribution of the scalp by 

 these two gentes is to be found in liijes 98 to 103 of the Wi'-gi-e of the 

 Birth of the Bird, to be given in a later volume.) 



3. The leg of an eagle is also attached to the hanging strap of the 

 shrine (PI. 5, A). The office of furnishing the eagle's leg belongs to 

 the Ho"'-ga A-hiu-to", Winged Ho"'-ga (eagle) gens of the Ho^'-ga 

 subdivision of the Ho"'-ga great division. (The story of the act which 

 the eagle's leg commemorates is recorded in the wi'-gi-e belonging to 

 this gens, 36th Ann. Rept. B. A. E., pp. 212-219.) 



