Part 17

12 Here they obtained human souls, though they were in the bodies of birds. See the bird hovering above the four upper worlds in the chart. Then began the descent to this earth.

13 Why the Black Bear was called Káxe-wáhü-san was not explained to the author.

14 Cá{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e | {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}sü{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}sean' ¢akcí¢e &c. You shall take me for your servant; literally, You shall walk, causing me to burn my feet; that is, You shall make me go through fire and water for you.

15 Wátse-{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}ú{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a-na. {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}u{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a shows that the star was regarded as a male animal, just as min'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, in line 43, denotes that the next star was a female animal, not a female of the human race. As they were called "grandfather" and "grandmother," they were looked upon as supernatural beings or gods. So were all of the heavenly bodies to whom the Black Bear applied.

16 Oiñ'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a {~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}uí{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a miñkcé ¢an'tse, a phrase that puzzles the writer, who suspects that an auxiliary verb has been omitted and that the whole should read: "Oiñ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a {~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}ui{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a-wikci¢e miñkcé ¢an'tse? ( Can I give you bodies for the children?) No! You must still make attempts to obtain them elsewhere."

17 Wákan{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}á {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}ána *d*¢in-má{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}i, I am not the only mysterious one (apply to some one of the rest).

18 Mikák'e pé¢u*d*a, sometimes called "Mikák'e u*d*átse pé¢un*d*a," the Seven Gentes of Stars. Could this have any connection with the use of the number 7 as the number of the Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u, Wa{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}a{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}e, and Hañ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a gentes?

19 {~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}ahi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e-wa{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}ayiñ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, of this gens, gave the following as another reading:

Oiñ'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a | níkací{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a | ¢iñ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}é-e{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}an', | cu*d*¢é | e¢aú, | wítsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}ué! | á*d*intaú, | Tsiká!

Child | human beings | none as | I go to you | indeed | O grandfather! | he really said | O grandfather!

Translation.

As the children are not human beings, I go to you, O grandfather!

20 This fragment of the tradition of the Bald Eagle subgens of the Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e gens was told by Pahü-ska, the chief, to Ha*d*a-{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}ü{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}se, who related it to the writer on the following day.

Ha*d*a-{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}ü{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}se, told some of the tradition first in English, but on chanting it in Osage he did not give all; so the former account is now given in these notes: "When the ancestors of the Bald Eagle people came to this earth they alighted on a sycamore tree, as all of the surrounding country was under water. This water was dried up by the ancestors of the Elk people, according to the tradition of the Upqan or Elk gens; but this is disputed by the members of the I*d*ats'e gens, who are Kansa or Wind people. They say that their ancestors blew on the water, drying it up and causing the growth of vegetation. As soon as the water was gone the Bald Eagle people alighted on the ground. Then they met the Black Bear, who offered to become the servant of the Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e people. So he was sent to "Watse-{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}u{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, who was a red star; then to Watse-min{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, a star near the Morning Star; then to the Sun, Moon, and Seven Stars. As the people journeyed, the Black Bear said to the Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u leader, 'Brother, I see a man's trail. Here is the man.' The stranger said, 'I am a young Hañ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a. I am fit for work.' So they took him with them. Then they saw another trail, of which the Black Bear spoke to the Tsí{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u leader. They overtook the man, who was Hañ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}aqtsi or Real Hañ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a. By and by they reached the village of the Hañ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a uta¢an{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}se. They entered the village and made peace with the inhabitants. Then the leader of the Hañ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a uta¢an{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}se said, 'We have some people come to us, and we will make them our chiefs.' So the two wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e were made chiefs. The wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e were then sent to search for a land where they might dwell, as the village of the Hañ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a uta¢an{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}se was filthy and offensive on account of the dead bodies in and around it. This council was the first one of the whole nation. The two wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e went out as mourners for seven days. The Hañ{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e (Pan{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED H~}ka = Ponka) came back first, saying, 'I have found a place.' Afterwards the Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e returned and reported. The council was held again to decide to which place they would go. They agreed to settle at the place visited by the Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u wacta{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e. Then four standards were made by members of the Wa{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}a{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}e (wanun gens, two for each side of the tribe. These were the standards made of minxa ha (swan or goose skins), and they were carried on the hunting road as well as on the war path. But the otter skin standards were always retained by the Wa{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}a{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}e gens."

On comparing this version with that of Sa*d*eki¢e we notice that in one or the other a transposition of some parts has been made. In this latter tradition the appeals to the heavenly bodies and to the Red Bird were made before the journey to the four revolutions of the upper worlds.

21 Here is where the two roads begin.

22 At this point begins the account of the Female Beaver. She was an ancestor of the Osage, according to a statement published in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains.

23 See the author's paper in the American Naturalist for 1885, entitled "Kansas mourning and war customs," with which was published part of the chart mentioned above.