Yû! Ha! Now the souls have come together. You are of the Deer (x x)
clan. Your name is (x x) Ayâsta, I am of the Wolf (o-o) clan. Your
body, I take it, I eat it. Yû! Ha! Now the souls have come together.
You are of the Deer clan. Your name is Ayâsta. I am of the Wolf clan.
Your flesh I take, I eat. Yû!
Yû! Ha! Now the souls have come together. You are of the Deer clan.
Your name is Ayâsta. I am of the Wolf clan. Your spittle I take, I
eat. I! Yû!
Yû! Ha! Now the souls have come together. You are of the Deer clan.
Your name is Ayâsta. I am of the Wolf clan. Your heart I take, I eat.
Yû!
Listen! “Ha! Now the souls have met, never to part,” you have said, O
Ancient One above. O Black Spider, you have been brought down from on
high. You have let down your web. She is of the Deer clan; her name is
Ayâsta. Her soul you have wrapped up in (your) web. There where the
people of the seven clans are continually coming in sight and again
disappearing (i.e. moving about, coming and going), there was never
any feeling of loneliness.
Listen! Ha! But now you have covered her over with loneliness. Her
eyes have faded. Her eyes have come to fasten themselves on one alone.
Whither can her soul escape? Let her be sorrowing as she goes along,
and not for one night alone. Let her become an aimless wanderer, whose
trail may never be followed. O Black Spider, may you hold her soul in
your web so that it shall never get through the meshes. What is the
name of the soul? They two have come together. It is mine!
Listen! Ha! And now you have hearkened, O Ancient Red. Your
grandchildren have come to the edge of your body. You hold them yet
more firmly in your grasp, never to let go your hold. O Ancient One,
we have become as one. The woman has put her (x x x) soul into our
hands. We shall never let it go! Yû!
(Directions.)--And this also is for just the same purpose (the
preceding formula in the manuscript book is also a love charm). It
must be done by stealth at night when they are asleep. One must put
the hand on the middle of the breast and rub on spittle with the hand,
they say. The other formula is equally good.
_Explanation._
This formula to fix the affections of a young wife is taken from the
manuscript sheets of the late Gatigwanasti. It very much resembles the
other formula for the same purpose, obtained from. A‛yû´ⁿinĭ,
and the brief directions show that the ceremony is alike in both. The
first four paragraphs are probably sung, as in the other formula, on
four successive nights, and, as explained in the directions and as
stated verbally by A‛yû´ⁿinĭ, this must be done stealthily at
night while the woman is asleep, the husband rubbing his spittle on
her breast with his hand while chanting the song in a low tone, hardly
above a whisper. The prayer to the Ancient One, or Ancient Red (Fire),
in both formulas, and the expression, “I come to the edge of your
body,” indicate that the hands are first warmed over the fire, in
accordance with the general practice when laying on the hands. The
prayer to the Black Spider is a beautiful specimen of poetic imagery,
and hardly requires an explanation. The final paragraph indicates
the successful accomplishment of his purpose. “Your grandchildren”
(tsetsûli´sĭ) is an expression frequently used in addressing the
more important deities.