LAPLBSCHB] RITE OF VIGIL FREE TRANSLATION. 109 



4. 



Teach me ye dreams. Teach me ye dreams. 



5. 



In the light of the house I stand with browned hands. 



(Browned with the soil of the earth, the symbol of No°'-zhi''-zho°.) 



6. 



In the light of the house I stand with darkened face. 

 (Darkened with the sacred soil of the earth.) 



7. 



In the light of the house I see tlie down of the eagle. 



The first four stanzas of the song picture the leader as causing 

 himself, in his vigil, to sleep — that is, to forget all human affairs while 

 he seeks for dreams that will give the signs by which he can read 

 the future. In the fifth, sixth, and seventh stanzas he beholds him- 

 self as in a vision standing amidst the evening firelight within the 

 House of Mystery, his hands browned with the soil of the earth, the 

 sacred sign of this rite, and as looking upon the assembled No°'- 

 ho°-zlii''-ga, within the Sacred House in priestly attire, the crown of 

 their heads covered with the white down of the eagle. 



In the first four stanzas of the second song the supplicant speaks 

 of his hands and face as browned and blackened by the sacred soil 

 of the earth, a symbol of one of the abitling places of Wa-ko°'-da, to 

 whom the Do-do°'-ho°-ga had offered the supplications of the people. 

 In referring to this ancient prescribed manner of approaching the 

 divine power with supplications, the leader uses the expression, 

 "u-wa-ni-ka-e," which, freely translated, means, I abide in it as a 

 person. The expression applies not only to the representative of the 

 people but also to the people themselves who make as a' part of their 

 daily life this prescribed manner of appealing to Wa-ko°'-da. It has 

 been stated elsewhere ,36th Ann. Rept. B. A. E., pp. 49-50) that 

 from ancient time it was the custom of the people to cry to Wa-ko°'-da 

 morning, noon, and night. When about to make their cry they 

 touched the earth with their fingers and the soil that clung to them 

 they placed upon their foreheads, then standing in the open air, in 

 front of the doors of their houses, they made their daily appeals to 

 Wa-ko^'-da. 



The song, in the last stanza, closes with the mention of the light 

 of day touching the face of the supplicant. This has reference to 

 the close of the seven days' No" '-zhi^-zho" (vigil) and the awakening 

 from that supplicatory sleep into the ordinary day of life. Many of 

 the sacred songs close with a reference to the retxiru to the light of 

 day which marks the conclusion of some particular ceremonial act. 



