128 



THE OSAGE TRIBE. 



IETH. ANN. 39 



songs are descriptive. The signification of the crow skin and the 

 wolf tail is easily understood and the pendants covered with eagle 

 plumage picture the fluttering feathers of the birds as they tear at 

 each other in the air when fighting over the dead bodies. 



The first song has one stanza with six lines. The first and second 

 hues only are translated, as all the other lines are repetitions. In the 

 first and second of these songs the crows are made to speak of them- 

 selves as "men." 



Song 1. 



J: 



(Osage version, p. 411; literal translation, p. 546.) 

 jgg Transcribed by Alice C.Fletcher 



M M • = 168 Transcribed by Alice C.Fletcher 



*^ r r r r 



Time beats ' . , ' , ' 



Ni - kathoi-ba 



r r r r r r 



a bthea-dawa he, Wa-tha-pa 



pa ha-dsi bthe hi no", Ni - ka tho^-ba bthe a-da wa 



«J r r r 7 T^ 7 -d- -s- 



^m 



r r r - r r r -'•f r f*T r 



he.Wa- tha-pa - pa ha-dsi bthe hi no", Ni-katho"-ba 



hf'vij J n ll ^>^i.^^C-r i lir ^-^ 

 '' r r f-^ r r r^ r }H r r 



a bthea-dawa - he, Wa-tha-pa - pa ha-dsi bthe hi no". 



FREE TRANSLATION. 

 1. 



Side by side two men go forth 



To feast voraciously upon the slain. 



The second song is the same as the first in words and purport, but 

 the two songs are not alike in music or in rhythm. In the first 

 song the time is slow; in the second the time is faster and the music 

 gleeful in expression. No translation of the worils is necessary. 



