86 USES OF PLANTS BY INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 33 
The first stanza is an introduction by the narrator, not a part of 
the “ Song of the Wild Rose.” The remaining stanzas are the song 
of the Wild Rose itself: 
I will tell you of something I know, 
And you can’t half imagine how good; 
It’s the song of wild roses that grow 
In the land the Dakota-folk love. 
From the heart of the Mother we come, 
The kind Mother of Life and of All; 
And if ever you think she is dumb, 
You should know that flowers are her songs. 
And all creatures that live are her songs, 
And all creatures that die are her songs, 
And the winds blowing by are her songs, 
And she wants you to sing all her songs. 
Like the purple in Daydawn we come, 
And our hearts are so brimful of joy 
That whene’er we're not singing we hum 
Ti-li-li-li-i, ta-la-la-loo, ta-la-la-loo! 
When a maiden is ready to wed 
Pin wild roses all over her dress, 
And a rose in the hair of her head; 
Put new moccasins onto her feet. 
Then the heart of the Mother will give 
Her the songs of her own heart to sing; 
And she’ll sing all the moons she may live, 
Ti-li-li-li-i, ta-la-la-loo, ta-la-la-loo! 
Matws tornsts (Wood) Britton. Crab Apple. 
She (Omaha-Ponca); she-hi, apple tree; she-zho", applewood; 
she-si, apple seed. 
The crab apple was used for food by tribes having acquaint- 
ance with it. The Omaha and Ponca knew it as being found in the 
Oto country along the Missouri, in the southeast part of Nebraska. 
‘They said it is found nowhere west or north of this except on one 
creek which flows into the Niobrara River from the south at about 
the line between Knox and Holt Counties, 150 or 200 miles from any 
other locality where trees of this species grow. This would seem 
to indicate a case of plant migration by human agency, the occa- 
sion being the dropping in camp, in some place favorable for germi- 
nation, of fruits or viable seeds brought with camp supplies ob- 
tained on a trip of considerable but not at all unusual distance to 
the southeast. 
