I am a chief, I am a chief, I am your chief, yours, who you are flying about. I am too great to be bitten by those little flies that are flying about. I am too great to be desired as food by those little horseflies that are flying about. I am too great to be bitten by those little mosquitoes that are flying about. [151] Ibid., p. 129. In still another song he is compared to a tree[152]: A great cedar dancer is our chief, our tribes. It cannot be spanned, our great chief, our tribes. My chief here from long ago, from the beginning of the myth time, for you, tribes. [152] Ibid., p. 197. A number of sayings of the Tsimshian present also good cases of the use of metaphor. “A deer though toothless, may accomplish something”; “he is just sleeping on a deerskin” (i. e. not expecting approaching hardships); “it seems you think that Nass River is always calm” (i. e. that you will always be fortunate); “he is just enjoying the water lilies for a short time” (as a bear feeding on water lilies and about to be killed by the hunter who lies in ambush).[153] [153] Journal of American Folk-Lore, Vol. 2 (1889), p. 285. Examples of metaphor may be found here and there in songs and speeches. The Osage sing: Ho! Toward what shall they (the little ones) direct their footsteps, it has been said in the house. It is toward a little valley they shall direct their footsteps. Verily, it is not a little valley that is spoken of, It is toward the bend of a river they shall direct their footsteps. Verily, it is not the bend of a river that is spoken of, It is toward a little house that they shall direct their footsteps. The valley and the bend of the river represent the path of life which is pictured as crossing four valleys or as following the course of the river having four bends.[154] This concept also finds expression in the decorative art of the Indians of the Plains.[155] [154] Francis La Flesche, The Osage Tribe, The Rite of Vigil, 39th Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnology, Washington 1925, p. 258. [155] A. L. Kroeber, The Arapaho, Bulletin Am. Uns. Nat. Hist. Vol. 18, Plate 16, p. 100; Clark Wissler, Decorative Art of the Sioux Indians, Ibid., p. 242, fig. 77. Another metaphor is used in the following illustration: Upon whom shall we slip off our moccasins? they said to one another, it has been said in this house. Toward the setting sun, There is an adolescent youth, Upon whom we shall always slip off our moccasins, they said to one another, it has been said in this house. Here the slipping off of moccasins means the crushing and killing of the enemy, here personified in the adolescent youth.[156] [156] Francis La Flesche, Ibid., p. 84.