44 THE OSAGE TRIBE [eth. ann. 43 



12 



99. There lacks one more, O, younger brothers, they said to one 



another. 



100. You will go forth and make further search. 



LOl. Even as these words were spoken, 



102. One hastened to the farther borders of the lake, 



103. Where sat the do {Apios apios). 



104. Close to it he stood, 



105. Then he hastened home, carrying the plant with him. 



106. Standing before his brothers, he spake, saying: O, elder brothers, 



107. How will this serve for food? 



108. They replied: 0, younger brother, 



109. That is the very object for which you have been searching. 



110. The elder brothers hastened to try the taste of the root, 



111. Like mUk the juice squirted in their mouths. 



112. Then they spake, saying: The little ones shall use this plant 



for food. 



113. When the little ones use this plant for food, 



114. They shall always live to see old age. 



115. It shall make their limbs to stretch in growth, as they travel 



the path of life. 



When Wa-xthi'-zhi made up his mind to give a description of the 

 Child-naming Ritual of his own gens, the Puma, he did not hesitate 

 to recite the wi'-gi-es and to tell of the ceremonial forms that ac- 

 company the entire ritual. But when asked to recite the wi'-gi-es 

 of the 1 1 gentes who were summoned to take part in the ceremony of 

 conferring a name upon a Puma child he declined to give them, 

 although he knew all of them, for the reason that they were not his 

 to give. He had not obtained from any of these gentes the right to 

 transfer them to strangers or to members of other gentes. 



It so happened that when Wa-xthi'-zhi was describing the Child-nam- 

 ing Ritual of his own gens, which he had a perfect right to do,Wa-sho'- 

 she (pi. 4), a member of the Ho^'-ga A-hiu-to° gens, was present. 

 This man, when asked if he would be willing to give the U'-no° 

 Wi'-gi-e (Old-age Wi'-gi-e) of his gens for a fee, promptly replied that 

 he would. He had obtained by purchase from his father the wi'-gi-e 

 and so had acquired the right to transfer it to anybody, but the trans- 

 fer must always be made for a fee. The fee was provided and Wa- 

 sho'-she sat down and recorded the Old-age Wi'-gi-e of his own gens, 

 the Ho^'-ga A-hiu-to". This name refers to the "Stainless Bird," the 

 mottled eagle, who conducted the Ho°'-ga people to earth from mid- 

 heaven. (See 86th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 162, lines 177 

 to 199.) 



