NG OF THE BIRDS[H]

_Pawnee_

All around the birds in flocks are flying.
Dipping, rising, circling, see them coming.
See, many birds are flocking here,
All about us now together coming.

Yonder see the birds in flocks, come flying;
Dipping, rising, circling, see them gather.
Loud is the sound their winging makes.
Rushing, come they on the trees alighting.

From the flock an eagle now comes flying;
Dipping, rising, circling, comes she hither.
Loud screams the eagle, flying swift,
As an eagle flies, her nestlings seeking.

It is Kawas coming, Kawas flying;
Dipping, rising, circling, she advances.
See! Nearer she comes, nearer comes.
Now, alighted, she her nest is making.

Yonder people like the birds are flocking;
See them circling, this side, that side coming.
Loud is the sound their moving makes,
As together come they, onward come they.

FOOTNOTE:

[H] Rendition by Alice C. Fletcher.

SONG OF KAWAS, THE EAGLE[I]

_Pawnee_

O'er the prairie flits in ever widening circles the shadow of a
bird about me as I walk;
Upward turn my eyes, Kawas looks upon me, she turns with flapping
wings and far away she flies.

Round about a tree in ever widening circles an eagle flies, alert
watching o'er his nest;
Loudly whistles he, a challenge sending far, o'er the country wide
it echoes, there defying foes.

FOOTNOTE:

[I] Rendition by Alice C. Fletcher.

THE EAGLE'S REVENGE

_Cherokee_

Once a hunter in the mountains heard a noise at night like a rushing
wind. He went outside his tepee, and found an eagle was sitting on the
drying pole, feasting at the deer he had shot. So he shot the eagle.

The next morning the hunter took the deer back to the village. He told
how he had shot the deer and then the eagle. Therefore the chief sent
out men to bring in the eagle, and have an Eagle dance.

That night when they were dancing, there was a _whoop_ outside. A
strange warrior walked into the circle. He was not of that village.
They thought he had come from one of the other Cherokee villages.

This warrior told how he had killed a man. At the end of the story, he
yelled, "_Hi!_" One of the men with rattles, who was leading the
dance, fell dead. The stranger sang of another deed. At the end he
yelled, "_Hi!_" Another rattler fell dead. The people were frightened.
But the