562 THE (EGIHA LANGUAGE—MYTHS, STORIES, AND LETTERS. 
NOTES. 
560, 1. jeq¢i" ibiya-bi a". This is referred to in the last sentence of the myth con- 
taining the Omaha explanation of the gray down (?) on ripe plums. All fruits and 
vegetables were thought to be of phallic origin. 
560, 6. Uhiack ega” ete, yiga"ha, or pigatha, uhiack ega® ete. Both used. 
560, 11. ¢a-biama wa‘u-ma, instead of a¢a-biama wa‘u ama, as the women were re- 
quested to go. 
560, 12. ite¢a-bi te amede, the women were absent then; perhaps this explains the 
use of such a form. 
561, 2. g¢ize agi-bi yi, implies that the mother went to the cradle, took it up, and 
was returning to the other woman when the severed head fell to the ground (?). 
TRANSLATION. 
Once upon a time Ictinike was going somewhere. Near the place was a lodge in 
which dwelt two women. Ictinike traveled till he reached the bank of a stream, and 
then he went along the bank. Beneath the water there appeared to be a great many 
plums, and they were red. “ Oh!” said he, as he undressed ; and, putting aside his 
miserable attire of raccoon skins, he dived down after the plums. But he seized a 
large handful of dirt. On returning to land and viewing what he had behold it was 
a lot of dirt! Again he looked at the water and there were the plums. So he dived 
again and with a similar result. Having returned the fourth time with nothing but 
dirt, he chanced to raise his eyes to a cliff above the stream, and there were many 
plum trees filled with fruit, which caused the branches to hang down over the stream. 
Tt was the reflection of these in the water that had deceived him. ‘Then he put on his 
clothing, ascended the cliff, and gathered the plums, with which he filled one corner 
of his robe. 
Then he went to the lodge. He rubbed semen over the plums, and threw them 
one by one down through the smoke-hole of the lodge. On seeing the first plum one 
of the women said, “Oh, sister-in-law! I have found a plum!” They scrambled for 
the plums. On entering the lodge, Ictinike observed, “Whew! my relations, my 
grandchild, and her sister-in-law have returned here! Why! those plums are very 
abundant, and yet you two have not picked any of them?” “Oh! grandfather, we 
have not gone anywhere. If they are near here, we may pick them for ourselves,” 
exclaimed one of the women. ‘ Ho, go and pick them,” said he. The child of one of 
the women was still in the cradle, and the mother had set it up in the cradle against 
the side of the lodge. So Ictinike said, “ When you go leave the child in the cradle 
with me, as it might get hurt if you took it among the plum trees.” “Oh, grand- 
father! it shall be as you say,” said the mother. Ictinike promised to watch over it 
as over arelation. So the women departed. 
Presently Ictinike started to his feet in great haste, seized the kettle that had been 
placed there full of water, and hung it over the fire. Thenhe killed the child, and cut 
the flesh in narrow strips, which he boiled. But he put the head back in the cradle, 
wrapping it in the head covering, and arranged it just as if it was alive. He put 
