STRAPS FOR TYING CAPTIVES
268. Their round-handled-knife
269. They quickly took from its resting place,
271. And spake, saying: It is a fear-inspiring knife,
272. Verily, it is a mysterious knife.
273. Mysterious-knife
274. The little ones shall take as their personal name.
276. They lifted the round-handled knife
277. And quickly stabbed with it the body of the willow tree.
278. Then from its wound its life-blood streamed forth.
—(36th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 261.)
3. We´-thiⁿ-ça-gi, Strong-strap. With the mysterious knife the people shaped out of the “tree-that-never-dies” a mystic club. Taking with them the knife and the club they went in search of a buffalo and found one. On coming in sight of the animal they brandished the magic weapon four times in the air and the buffalo fell lifeless to the ground:
511. The skin of the (left) hind leg
512. They cut into a narrow strip,
514. And said: Verily the skin stretches not,
515. We shall make use of it as we travel the path of life.
517. Verily, it is a strong strap,
519. We shall consecrate it for ceremonial use,
520. Therefore Strong-strap
521. We shall make to be our sacred personal name.
—(36th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 267-268.)
4. We´-thiⁿ-ga-xe, Strap-maker. By the cutting of the first strap out of the skin of the left hind leg of the magically killed buffalo the people of the Ṭsi´-zhu Wa-noⁿ gens created for themselves the office of making the straps (pl. 8) for the warriors for the tying of captives when any are taken. As they continued to cut out the strap they said:
523. Strap-maker, also,
524. We shall make to be our sacred personal name.
—(36th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 268.)