traditional beliefs
The story is about the passing on of true and good knowledge. Men possessing this knowledge are able to forsee some days.
no information
A woman lamenting her husband (a member of the Medicine Rite) was offered (by the remaining 3 members of the MR) to obtain the knowledge of her husband's religion. To do so she was to "strech her body for them". Instead she accepted her son's help. From this time on poisoning was introduced in the MR to cause one another to be "sore at heart".
no recording
Keremanishak (member of the Medicine Rite) visits an Iowa and takes presents for him and his family along. In return the Iowa wants to give Keremanishak a present. In order to receive it Keremanishak was told to go back home and sleep for 4 nights. After this time the Iowa came along and offered Keremanishak to choose between a child's and a woman's pouch. Keremanishak chose the latter since the former was beyond his power.
no recording of this text
A woman lamenting her husband (a member of the Medicine Rite) was offered (by the remaining 3 members of the MR) to obtain the knowledge of her husband's religion. To do so she was to "strech her body for them". She rejected.
this is the second version of OH1.2 lines 2-24
It's a re-narration about the content of OH1.4 and a discussion whether this recording is useable or not.
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The story was recorded indoors.
Wagisga, a young man whose beloved wife had died went to the spiritland to bring her back (to life). To accomplish this he had to succeed in several tests imposed on him by ghosts (in the land of the dead). He was helped by eight attendents (they call him grandson) who gave him mental support and appealed to the Earthmaker to help the young man. Wagisga proved to be strong in will and finally took his wife home (back into life). The myth portrays the emergence of initiative and faith in succeeding in his (or anybody's) enterprise. According to PR this myth was used to encourage fasters (it tells much about fasting experience) before it was adopted as the origin myth of the Ghost dance. The sent. 193-207 did not belong to the original text but owe their inclusion to this fact. Sent. 15-23 give the traditional literary description of a person about to die. Numerous tales and myths contain this description in almost exact wording (prob. standardized generations ago).
The text has been recorded by the anthropologist Paul Radin. MS18 wrote down the myth in the Hoocąk syllabary. The text was then dictated to PR by OL; there's no recording. According to PR, the only reason for MS18 to "tell" the myth was to show him how a text like this should be narrated and translated: MS18 "had a cynical contempt for white people who attempted to study the Winnebago and for the Indians who helped them."
MS31 retells Radin’s story. MS31, MS4 and MS7 discuss content of the story.
This story was recorded indoors.
The text is about how one gets to the earthmaker after one's death. Having arrived there one will be offered to be born again in whatever form.
The text has been recorded by the anthropologist Paul Radin. There is no information on the location., Integral part of the Medicine Rite
Two friends (one of them being the chief's son) were very successful warriors and therefore highly respected tribal members. Both died on an expedition undertaken to show their appreciation to their fellow-villagers. The two young men were killed by those who took revenge on them for those who they had killed. After the friends' death they returned home. There they came to realize that they got killed. Then, everything the departed have not made use of (food, water, tabacco, life time, things the dead left undone) their fellow-villagers asked of their spirits to distribute among them so they can utilize/take care of it. The two friends were so sad about the fact that they're dead (they found life evry enjoyable) they decided to attempt to return back to life again. Then they started out for their destination, the Earthmaker's lodge. In order to get there they had to pass through four ghost/spirit villages. There they had to prove their strong will and resist tempation (as desiring to stay at one of the places or dancing along with the ghost villagers who tried everything to prevent them from succeeding). The friends eventually got to their destination and Earthmaker offered them to choose the place where they wanted to live (on earth or in one of the ghost/spirit villages they passed through). They chose to be born again into their former families and clans so they could lead the same life again. This they did. The main theme is the showing of devotion and love to the friend; the secondary theme is the attempt to return back to life again.
The text has been recorded by the anthropologist Paul Radin; there's no audio recording.