6 
compound would give *nahih~apiw or *nah~apiw {See page 5); hence 
nahapiw is parallel with the unmistakable unit word itapiw : he sits thus. 
Historically, we may compare Menomini nandhapiw (reduplicated), which 
is in the phonetic system of Menomini characterized as an unmistakable 
unit word. But the historical criterion is irrelevant; the chief real criterion 
is negative (absence of certain sandhi forms); hence I could not always 
get it right. I have not used the hyphen in particle compounds with ayihk 
as second member, e.g. jnhts-ayihk : inside, although ayihk is plainly the 
local form of ayih : such and such a thing, and the first members are 
plainly derivatives with suffix -i forming particles : to use the hyphen here 
would demand setting up too many particles that occurred only in com- 
position with ayihk. 
An interesting case is that of the initial element nisiwandt-: destroy, 
as in nisiwandtsihdw : he destroys him. This is an old form, cf. Menomini 
ne’swandt- : mess, confusion. Here some speakers have an analogic 
reformation, as in misi-wandtsihdw : he destroys him, where the form is 
interpreted as having an initial element wandt^, extended form of wan- : 
disappear (e.g. wanihdw : he loses him), with prefixed particle misih : big. 
Reduplication which leaves the stem unchanged has been separated by 
a hyphen, as, pa-pimuhtdw : he walks and walks, but the (archaic) types 
where the stem is changed have been written as unit words; papdmuhtdw : 
he walks about. 
General Nature of the Texts 
The texts here given are stories of the kind called dtaydhkdwin. An 
dtaydhkdwin or sacred story is a traditional story concerning the time when 
the world was not yet in its present, definitive state. The actors are often 
the totem ancestors (I am not sure that this term is appropriate for the 
Plains Cree) before they took the shape of present-day animals. Or the 
stories are in the time when wisahkdtsdhk was on this earth. He, however, 
is not the high spirit that he is among the more easterly Algonquian- 
speaking tribes, and much about him is inexplicable. People wonder why 
he calls everybody “younger brother.” The Sun-Dance is crowding out 
the Mitewin; at Sweet Grass the latter is viewed as black magic. 
List of Symbols Used 
The equivalents from European languages are in part rough approxi- 
mations. 
a short, low vowel, usually like the vowel of German nass, but vary- 
ing occasionally forward, through the vowel of French patte, all 
the way to that of English pet; or backward, all the way to the 
vowel of American English son. 
d long, low vowel, as in English father, but tending in the direction of 
the vowel in English saw. 
d long, mid front vowel, as in German Tee, geht. 
h as in English hand; it occurs, however, also finally and before 
p, t, ts, k. 
