318 



THE OSAGE TRIBE. 



[DTH. ANN. 39 



Song 3 is an old song and it has lost its meaning, the words being 



untranslatable. 



Song 3. 



(Osage version, p. 499; literal translation, p. CIS.") 

 MM J - sn Transcribed by Alice C.Fletcher 



h N S 



J', s' s^. 



^ 



i 



Time beats 



r 



r 



r 



r 



Hi -a wi - tha no" zhi" 90" 



r 



da 



hi 



r 



tha, 



r r r r f^f f^y r Trr 



Hi-awi-thano"-zhi° <;on da hi" da, She xa-tha no"-zhi" 90" da hi" da. 



! ^ A ^. J). 



^.^'rrrn-f^ 



^- •^ 



^ 



J 



T— f— ^ r ^^f r r r- r ^ r 



She xa-thano"-zhi"9o"dahi"da, She xa-thano"-zhi"9o"dahi"da. 



(Sung twice.) 

 MiD-DAY Songs. 



The title of the next group of songs is Mi Tho'-to° Wa-tho", which, 

 freely translated, means Mid-day Songs. 



Long before any contact occmred with the white race it was the 

 custom of the Osage people to offer their daily supplications at dawn, 

 mid-day, and svmset, for the sun and its pathway were regarded as 

 one of the abiding places of Wa-ko°'-da; therefore, in accordance with 

 this belief, the people offered their prayers at these three periods of 

 the day. The title of this group of songs and the words of the first 

 song imply that at a mid-day cry the sun held out to the people as 

 gifts the red eagle, the white eagle, and the bald eagle. Old Sho"'- 

 ge-mo^-i" was not explicit as to the pm-pose of these gifts, but left it 

 to be inferred that the three birds specified in the song were given to 

 the people to use as symbols of the three periods of the day mentioned 

 above. The red eagle is held by the Osage as the most sacred and it 

 was from the Red Eagle gens that the principal hereditary chief was 

 chosen. It was the office of this gens to exert its influence for the 

 preservation of peace, not only within the tribe but also with all other 

 outside tribes. 



A free translation is given of the words of Song 1. 



