84. Verily, at that time and place, it has been said, in this house,
85. They spake to one another, saying: O, younger brothers,
86. The little ones have nothing which they can use for food at all
times,
87. You will go and search for such food as they can use for all
time.
88. A younger brother hastened
89. To the very center of a lake,
90. Where lay the root of the tse´-wa-the (_Nelumbo lutea_).
91. He hastened home with the root,
92. And spake, saying: O, elder brothers, how will this serve for
food?
93. The elder brothers hastened to try the taste of the root,
94. Like milk the juice squirted in their mouths,
95. And they said to one another: O, younger brothers,
96. This will serve as food for the little ones.
97. When the little ones make use of this plant as food,
98. They shall always live to see old age, as they travel the path
of life.
12
99. There lacks one more, O, younger brothers, they said to one
another.
100. You will go forth and make further search.
101. Even as these words were spoken,
102. One hastened to the farther borders of the lake,
103. Where sat the do (_Apios apios_).
104. Close to it he stood,
105. Then he hastened home, carrying the plant with him.
106. Standing before his brothers, he spake, saying: O, elder
brothers,
107. How will this serve for food?
108. They replied: O, younger brother,
109. That is the very object for which you have been searching.
110. The elder brothers hastened to try the taste of the root,
111. Like milk the juice squirted in their mouths.
112. Then they spake, saying: The little ones shall use this plant
for food.
113. When the little ones use this plant for food,
114. They shall always live to see old age.
115. It shall make their limbs to stretch in growth, as they travel
the path of life.
When Wa-xthi´-zhi made up his mind to give a description of the
Child-naming Ritual of his own gens, the Puma, he did not hesitate to
recite the wi´-gi-es and to tell of the ceremonial forms that accompany
the entire ritual. But when asked to recite the wi´-gi-es of the 11
gentes who were summoned to take part in the ceremony of conferring
a name upon a Puma child he declined to give them, although he knew
all of them, for the reason that they were not his to give. He had
not obtained from any of these gentes the right to transfer them to
strangers or to members of other gentes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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