bunzelJ 



PRAYERS TO THE XJWANAMMI 



645 



You will hold discourse together, 



Touching one another with them; 



Then also yonder toward the east, 



You will hold discourse together, touch- 

 ing one another with them. 



Tlien also above 



You will hold discourse together, touch- 

 ing one another with them; 



And then also in the fourth womb,» 



You will hold discourse together, 

 touching one another with them. 



You will encircle the world with your 

 discourses. 



My fathers, 



Grasping 3'our plume wands. 



You will see your plume wands. 



You will see whether they have been 

 finished with precious paint,' 



Or else are unfinished. 



With your spittle. 



With your flesh, 



With your divine wisdom. 



They will be made over afresh into 

 human beings; 



They will be strong. 



From wherever you abide permanently 



You will make your roads come forth. 



Your little wind blown clouds. 



Your thin wisps of clouds. 



Your great masses of clouds 



Replete with living waters. 



You will send forth to stay with us. 



Your fine rain caressing the earth. 



Your heavy rain caressing the earth. 



Here at Itiwana, 



The abiding place of our fathers. 



Our mothers, 



The ones who first had beingf 



With your great pile of waters 



You will come together. 



When you have come together 



Our mothers, 



Our children. 



All the different kinds of corn. 



Nourishing themselves with their fa- 

 ther's waters 

 Tenderly wiU bring forth their young. 

 Clasping their children ' 

 All will finish their roads. 



Then our children. 



Our ladder-descending children. 



Will gather you in. 



Into all their houses. 



You will make your roads enter. 



To stay there quietly. 



Then also tenderly 



Their yoinig will multiply 



Multiplying our young, 



Those toward whom our thoughts are 



bent. 

 You will live. 

 You will not think to hurry to some 



other place.* 

 Indeed, this shall not be. 

 But always in their houses 

 You will remain at rest. 

 In order that our children's thoughts 



may be bent to this, ^ 



For this you are our father, 

 You are our mother; 

 For this you who first had being. 

 Perpetuating your rite of the first 



beginning 

 Sit here quietly. 

 Holding aU your country. 

 Holding all your people. 

 You sit here quietly. 

 Even as you sit here quietly, 

 Even as you listen to us. 

 We pray to you. 

 With your words, 

 Divine ones. 

 With your words 

 You hold all your people. 

 Do not let any one fall from your 



grasp ' 

 When he has gone but a little ways! 

 In order that this may not be, 

 Our father. 

 Our mother. 



The one who first haa being. 

 Even as you listen to us 

 We pray to you. 

 Our father. 

 Our mother. 



The one who first had being. 

 Keeping your days. 

 Your days that have already been made, 



' The fourth underground world, the place of origin of the people. 



' Paint which has been brought from the underworld. It is the property of the priest.';. .\ liny bit 

 added to ordinary black paint makes the prayer stick "finished" (telikinan ya'na) as distinct from the 

 "unfinished" or "worthless" prayer stick Ctelikinan cimato). 



' The young ears, wrapped in their leaves. 



* When the spirit of the com leaves the country the ears in the storerooms shrivel up and waste away. 



• That is, die before he reaches the full number of his days. 



