LITMIR.BIZ

      FIG. 389. Symbolic chart of the Osage.

      Just under the river, at the left, we see a large star, the Red or Morning Star. Next are six stars, Ta¢ad¢in. The Omaha know a similar group, which they call "Minxa si ʇañga," or "Large foot of a goose." Next is the Evening Star; and last comes the small star, "Mikak'ĕ-ɔiñʞa." Beneath these four we see the seven stars, or Pleiades (Mikak'ĕ udátse pé¢ŭnda, the Seven Gentes of Stars), between the Moon (on the left) and the Sun (on the right). Beneath these are the peace pipe (on the left) and the hatchet (on the right). A bird is seen hovering over the four upper worlds. These worlds are represented by four parallel horizontal lines, each of which, except the lowest one, is supported by two pillars. The lowest world rests on a red oak tree.

      The journey of the people began at a point below the lowest upper world, on the left side of the chart. Then the people had neither human bodies nor souls, though they existed in some unknown manner.[pg 379] They ascended from the lowest upper world, on the left, to the highest. There they obtained human souls in the bodies of birds, according to Sadeki¢e. ʞahiʞe-waʇayiñʞa said that there they met a male red bird, to whom they appealed for aid. (See p. 383, line 18.) This was distinct from the female Red Bird, who gave them human bodies. They descended to the first world, and from that they traveled until they alighted on the red oak tree. (See p. 383, line 30.) The ground was covered with grass and other kinds of vegetation. Then the paths of the people separated: some marched on the left, being the peace gentes that could not take life; they subsisted on roots &c.; while those on the right killed animals. By and by the gentes exchanged commodities.

      The small figures on the left, in going from the tree (on the right when facing the tree), show the heavenly bodies or beings to whom the Black Bear went for help, and those on the right, in going from the tree (on the left when facing the top of the chart), show similar bodies or beings to whom the Waɔaɔe or war gentes applied for assistance. These are unknown to the members of the Tsíɔu gentes. After the female red bird gave bodies to the Tsíɔu people, the Black Bear found seven skins, which were used for tents. Subsequently the people discovered four kinds of rocks, which were the In’qĕ sáde, or black rock; In’qĕ tṵhṵ,1 or blue (green?) rock; In’qĕ ɔüʇse, or red rock; and In’qĕ skă, or white rock. Therefore, when a child is named, four stones are heated for the sweat bath. After finding the rocks, according to ʞahiʞe-waʇayiñʞa, four buffalo bulls approached the people, as one of the men was returning to the company. When the first bull arose after rolling on the ground, an ear of red corn and a red pumpkin fell from his left hind leg. The leader of the Tsíɔu wactáʞe noticed them, and asked his younger brother to pick them up and taste them. The leader of the Bald Eagle subgens did so. Then the elder brother said: "These will be good for the children to eat. Their limbs will stretch and increase in strength." When the second bull arose after rolling, an ear of spotted corn and a spotted pumpkin dropped from his left hind leg. These, too, were tasted and declared good for the children. When the third bull arose after rolling, an ear of dark corn and a dark (black?) pumpkin dropped from his left hind leg. From the left hind leg of the fourth buffalo dropped an ear of white corn and a white pumpkin. Therefore, when a child is named in the Tsíɔu gens (alone?) the head man of that gens (ʞahiʞe-waʇayiñʞa himself, according to his statement) takes a grain of each kind of corn and a slice of each variety of pumpkin, which he puts into the mouth of the infant. Hada-ɔüʇse knew that the four kinds of[pg 380] rocks were found, "but he could not say in what part of the tradition the account belonged. He said that subsequently

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