Tsika is unintelligible to the younger Osage of the
present day. One man told the author that he thought it meant, "O
grandfather," being addressed to the principal Wakan{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}a. He said that
it was substituted for another name of that being.
7 The chorus or refrain at the end of each line is omitted in the free
translation, as it would make confusion. If retained, the first four
lines would read thus:
The first of the race: he really said, O grandfather!
He was saying, "Ho, younger brother! the children have no bodies":
he really said, O grandfather!
"We shall seek bodies for our children": he really said, O
grandfather!
"Ho, younger brother! you shall attend to it": he really said, O
grandfather!
8 E{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}i anka refers to the preceding words, which were those of one of
the mythic speakers. He was an ancestor of the Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u gens.
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