FLETCHER] NINETEENTH RITUAL, PART II 253 



little children. P^aeh m;ui stops at the effigy and there, treating tlie 

 figure as he did his enemy, he acts out a deed of valor and tlieu 

 recounts its story. He does this to honor his child, who is taking the 

 gift of a horse to the Fathers. 



As the child approaches, the chief goes toward hiiu with the wild- 

 cat skin and the ear of corn ; he strokes the child's head with the ear 

 of corn. This movement means thanks for the gift and the invoking 

 of a blessing upon the child. 



Meanwhile one of the warriors at the end of the line (see figure 180) 

 comes forward, and with his hair rope leads the horse away and gives 

 it in chai'ge of some one, and the man appointed to keep count makes 

 a record of it. 



These things are all going on at once while the j'oung men are dan- 

 cing. When the dance song begins the two young men rise, each hold- 

 ing in his left hand, high up over his head, a feathered stem and in 

 his riglit a rattle. Both start at tlie .same time and as they leap and 

 dance they wave the feathered stems to simulate the flight of the 

 eagle. The dancer with the brown-eagle feathered stem goes from 

 the north around by the south and pauses when he reaches the place 

 where the dancer with the white-eagle feathered stem started, while 

 the latter goes outside the path of the former by the south and 

 pauses when he reaches the place at the north where the dancer bear- 

 ing the brown-eagie feathered stem had stood. There the two dancers 

 stand until the song is finished, wlien they cross over and take their 

 own proper places, the brown eagle at the north and the white eagle 

 at the south. AVhenever the song is repeated, they rise and dance 

 again in the same manner. 



The circle of the white eagle is alwaj'S outside that of the brown 

 eagle, for the white eagle is the male and its place is outside to defend 

 the female. The brown eagle always moves from the north around to 

 the south and the white eagle goes from the south to the north; the 

 two move in opposite directions so that they may come together; the 

 male and female must conjoin. 



There are two dance songs; they both mean the same and there is 

 no order in which they must be sung. 



The words mean "Now fly, you eagles, as we give thanks to the 

 Children." 



