PREFACE. 
The Indian texts were written by Alfred Kiyana in the current 
syllabary' and subsequently phonetically restored. Kiyana him- 
self plays the flute when the ceremony is performed, and is a half 
brother of Kapayou, the speaker in the rite and owner of the sacred 
pack.? Consequently he is in a position to give full information on 
the subject. Moreover, the genuineness of the legends in the present 
volume are vouched for by the fact that other myths and tales written 
by him have checked up extremely well with both published and 
unpublished material collected by others and myself. Such myths 
and tales are those of the Culture Hero (Wi'sa‘kii'“*), Lodge Boy and 
Thrown Away (Apaiya‘ci'ag*'), Wapa‘saiy“*, Origin of the Months, 
The One Whose Father was the Sun, the Bear and the Wife, the Youth 
that fasted too long and turned into a fish, When Wi'sa‘ka‘*"s Little 
Brother was slain, the Little John (Pi*tci'ca““*) cycle, the cycle of Fox 
and Wolf. Similarly ethnological data given by him compares very 
favorably with that given by other informants on the same topics. 
Hence the authenticity of the legend in this volume can not be 
questioned. 
The translation of the principal text is based upon one written by 
Horace Poweshiek, corrected and supplemented by a grammatical 
analysis by myself. Similarly that of the minor texts is based upon 
one written by Thomas Brown.* I have endeavored to make the 
rendition of the principal text as literal as possible; while I have al- 
lowed myselfmore latitude in that of the minor texts. Thefundamental 
plan has been to make the material presented in this volume available 
not only for ethnological but also linguistic students. Hence I have 
not striven for literary excellence in English. The translations of 
William Jones are in a class by themselves, owing to his unique 
mastery of both languages. At the same time the linguistic student 
who begins his study of Fox with Jones’s Fox Texts will not have an 
altogether easy task. 
The list of verbal stems at the end (see p. 616) is nearly, though not 
absolutely, exhaustive; but as the translations are literal it is hoped 
that 1t will be a sufficient help to the linguistic student. 
1 The general principles of the syllabary have been explained in the Boas Anniversary Volume, pp. 88-93. 
2 Both died in the epidemic of influenza during the fall of 1918. 
3 But all the songs in the texts are rendered in accordance with the informant’s opinion. Edward Daven- 
port served as interpreter for this part of the work. I was materially aided in the grammatical analysis of 
the texts by the intelligent assistance of Harry Lincoln. 
4 Compare Boas, Handbook of American Indian Languages, Bull. 40, part 1, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 61, 62. 
27 
