The snow lies there—ro′răni′!
The snow lies there—ro′răni′!
The snow lies there—ro′răni′!
The snow lies there—ro′răni′!
The Milky Way lies there,
The Milky Way lies there.
This is one of the favorite songs of the Paiute Ghost dance. The tune has a plaintive but rather pleasing effect, although inferior to the tunes of most of the ghost songs of the prairie tribes. The words as they stand are very simple, but convey a good deal of meaning to the Indian. It must be remembered that the dance is held in the open air at night, with the stars shining down on the wide-extending plain walled in by the giant sierras, fringed at the base with dark pines, and with their peaks white with eternal snows. Under such circumstances this song of the snow lying white upon the mountains, and the Milky Way stretching across the clear sky, brings up to the Paiute the same patriotic home love that comes from lyrics of singing birds and leafy trees and still waters to the people of more favored regions. In the mythology of the Paiute, as of many other tribes, the Milky Way is the road of the dead to the spirit world. Ro′răni′ serves merely to fill in the meter.
2. Dĕna′ gayo′n
Dĕna′ gayo′n, Dĕ′na ga′yoni′,
Dĕna′ gayo′n, Dĕ′na ga′yoni′,