358 THE ¢EGIHA LANGUAGE—MYTHS, STORIES, AND LETTERS. 
rate; he spoke of seeing his child.” And as the water-deity gave the child back to them, 
they went homeward with the child. When they arrived above with him, the child was 
dead. They gave him back to his father. And all the people cried when they saw the 
child, their relation. They plunged the white haired dog into the water. When they 
had seen the child, and had buried him, they gave all the pay to thetwomen. After a 
while the parents lost a girlin like manner. She did not eat any of the food of the water- 
deity, and therefore they took her home alive. But it was another water-deity who had 
her, and he promised to give her back to them if they gave him four white dogs. 
THE LAMENT OF THE FAWN OVER ITS MOTHER. 
Toutp BY JosEPH LA FLECHE. 
Lagti wi” mi’ga Laqtijinga jigiggai. Laqtijinga aka wé¢ai té. 
Deer one female Fawn sh ornare ney discovered them. 
ers. sub 
Natha, ¢éama niaci"gai ha. An’kaji, niaci"ga-baji, yaxai hé. Ki, Natha, 
O mother, these are men 3 Not so, they are not men, they ure . And, O mother, 
crows 
¢éama niacigai ha. An‘kaji, niaci"ga-baji, yaxai hé. Ky, Na*hd, ¢éama 
these are men Not so, they are ae men, they are 3 And, O mother, these 
crows 
nfaci@gai ha. An‘kaji, nfaci"ga-baji, yaxai hé. Egi¢e kfdai nfaci"ga ama. 
are men E Not so, they arenotmen, theyare . At length they shot man the 
crows at her (sub.). 
Laqtijinga aka a™hai té. 
Fawn the fled. 
: (sub.) 
(When he returned to the place, he found that the men had cut up his 
mother, and had put her liver on the fire. So he sang this lament:) 
a Se 
Na®-ha ni-d-ci"-ga-bi_ e-hé, ye -x4-bi e-cé ¢a™-cti; qi ¢a" nd-¢i-zi- 
he 
O mother they are men I said, ey arecrows you formerly; Liver the is sizzling 
said (ob.) 
ai-dje. 
on the fire. 
NOTE. 
I first heard of the song in this myth in 1871, when I was with the Ponkas in 
Dakota. But the fragment of the text was given me at the Omaha Agency. Had the 
Fawn spoken the lament, he would have said, “Na*ha, niaci™gd-bi ehé, yAxa-bi ecé 
yntéde di na¢izide 4ha", O mother, I said that they were men, you said that they were 
erows; but now your liver is sizzling on the fire!” 
