94 



THE OSAGE TRIBE. 



[ETH. ANN. 39 



The word tsi-the', in the fii'th stanza, which is descriptive of the 

 act of the Xo'-ka in bringing tlic sacred hawk out of the symbolic 

 rush case, is the same word as that used when speaking of the birth 

 of a child. 



All the words of this song, excepting the first word of every line 

 of each stanza, are archaic or obsolete and cannot be translated. 

 The five translatable words that are tlescriptive of the acts of the 

 Xo'-ka and that belong to each of the five stanzas are as follows: 



1. Thi-to"', he touches (the knot of the hanging strap). 



2. Thu-shke', he unties (the knot). 



3. Gtha-tha', he unfolds (the flap of the rush case). 



4. Ga-wa', he opens wide (the mouth of the rush case). 



5. Tsi-the', it passes (the bird passes as in birth). 



Song 3. 

 (Osage version, p. ii9i; literal translation, p. 53-1.) 



4 



M.M 



J_- 



104 



Transcribed by Alice C. Fletcher 



J.. !< n. 



^^ 



^ 



LJ- LT" 



Time beats f 



Thi • ton 



mon-ki 



r r r r 



she the - tho wa ha, 



r r ' r r 



Thi-ton mon-ki sho the - tho wa ha 



tse he, 



T r 



Thi-to" mon-ki 



wa ha. 



r r rr r r Tr r r r 



Thi-to" moi-ki she the-tho wa ha, Thi-to" moiki sho the-thowaha 



The Wa-xo'-be, the Sacred Hawk (PI. 6), symbol of the courage of 

 the warrior, is kept in a deerskin pouch (PL 6) made to fit closely to 

 the body of the bird. Tliis pouch is open at both ends, but to the end 

 at which the head of the bird lies there is attached a gathering thong 

 in order to close that opening. A carrying strap is tied to the 

 middle of the pouch. This strap is made just long enough to go 

 around the neck of the commander, who must carry the bird on his 

 back as he goes forth to make an attack. The lower end of the pouch 

 is always left open and cut into slits, in the midst of which can be seen 

 the hair of the bits of scalp attached to the base of the bird's tail. 



