IJ.FLESCHE] BITE OF VIGIL FREE TRANSLATION. 



347 



Song 4 has only one stanza. The words of this stanza are clear but 

 their pm-port is vague and uncertain, nor could any explanation of it 

 be obtained. One line will serve for all the stanza freely translated. 



Song 4. 

 (Osage version, p. 508; literal translation, p. 626.) 

 vr vc J _ no Transcribed by Alice C.Fletcher 



i 



D.C. 



^^ 



.? 



^ 



7 



d d d d 



r r r ^ 



Time beats ' 



Ga - ta the shki tho - the tha, Ga - ta the shkitho- the tha. 



4 



^^ 



^ 



f 



d d d 



r r 



r r 



Ga - ta the shki tho-the tha, Ga - ta the shki tho- the tha, 



■{ _•? ' ., D.C. 



^^ 



ipa 



f 



r 



-» — * 



r 



r 



r 



r 



r 



r r 



Ga - ta the shkitho- the tha, Ga - ta the shki tho-the tha. 



FREE TRANSLATION. 

 1. 



The yonder one, also, i.s ever present. 

 Songs of the Osprey. 



The next group of three songs is called Sho'-sho-ka Wa-tho", Songs 

 of the Osprey. The sentences employed in these songs are frag- 

 mentary and many of the words are archaic, so that little can be 

 gathered from the words themselves as to the meaning of tliis group 

 of songs. The group, however, refers to a part that the osprey, a 

 mystic bird, plays when the warriors are hotly pursued by the enemy. 

 At such a time, if it happens to be in the autumn, the warriors stop 

 m their flight to set fire to the dead prairie grass. This act is done 

 ceremonially and is an appeal to the rain to come and make their 

 tracks invisible to the enemy. As the fire is kindled the flames leap 

 upward and clouds of smoke rise heavenward while the mystic osprey 

 would come and play amidst the flames and smoke with slu-ill cries. 

 The Do-do°'-ho°-ga of the war party would regard this action of the 

 bird as a sign that Wa-ko°'-da has heard their prayer and ^vill send 

 the rain to give the warriors the aid asked. 



In the Wa-do'-ka We-ko ceremony, which is performed soon after 

 the return of a successful war party, there is a group of sono-g called 

 O-gtha'-ge Wa-tho°, Fire Songs. The second song in thfs group 



