The boundaries of the earth—
Wearing the long wing feathers as I fly,
Wearing the long wing feathers as I fly.
This song probably refers to the Thunderbird. There is an energetic swing to the tune that makes it a favorite. In Indian belief the earth is a circular disk, usually surrounded on all sides by water, and the sky is a solid concave hemisphere coming down at the horizon to the level of the earth. In Cherokee and other Indian myth the sky is continually lifting up and coming down again to the earth, like the upper blade of the scissors. The sun, which lives upon the outside of this hemisphere, comes through from the east in the morning while there is a momentary opening between the earth and the edge of the sky, climbs along upon the underside of the sky from east to west, and goes out at the western horizon in the evening, to return during the night to its starting point in the east.
18. Ha′nahawu′nĕn bĕni′ni′na
Ha′nahawu′nĕn bĕni′ni′na,
Ha′nahawu′nĕn bĕni′ni′na,
Hina′wûn ga′na′ni′na,
Hina′wûn ga′na′ni′na.
Translation