In connection with this tale I add the following remarks about one of
the two modes of making doctors, and about certain spirits. These
remarks are given, as nearly as possible, in the form of the original
Wintu narrative.
I have added, besides, the songs of four great existences, or gods.
Every individual existence in Indian mythology has its own song. This
song refers to what is most notable in the actions or character of
that existence. The given song is sung by a doctor immediately after
its spirit of that existence has entered him.
Kol Tibichi's yapaitu (yapaitu is another name for one of the first
people), the rainbow, would not leave him till he used a woman's red
apron as a headband, because the rainbow is connected with the
catamenial periods of Sanihas (daylight).
The yapaitu dokos (yapaitu missile), mentioned further on, is a
projection of the spirit itself of the yapaitu. Sometimes it flees
from the patient; the duty of the doctor, in such a case, is to find
the dokos. If he does not, it may return to the sick man after the
doctor has gone; and in that case the last condition of the patient is
worse than the first. Generally, however, it waits to be cast out.