Page:Journal of American Folklore vol. 12.djvu/340

 8 Journal of American Folk-Lore.

to be industriously working counter-charms all the while, it now be- comes a trial of endurance between the two parties, each being obliged to subsist upon one meal per day and abstain entirely from sleep until the result has been decided one way or the other. Failure to endure this severe strain, even so much as closing the eyes in sleep for a few moments, or partaking of the least nourishment excepting just before sunset, neutralizes all the previous work and places the unfortunate offender at the mercy of his more watchful enemy. If the priest be still unsuccessful on the fourth day, he acknowledges himself defeated and gives up the contest. Should his spells prove the stronger, his victim will die within seven days, or, as the Cherokees say, seven nights. These " seven nights," how- ever, are interpreted figuratively, to mean seven years, a rendering which often serves to relieve the conjurer from a very embarrassing position.

With regard to the oracle of the ceremony, the beads do move ; but the explanation is simple, although the Indians account for it by saying that the beads become alive by the recitation of the sacred formula. The priest is laboring under strong though supprest emotion. He stands with his hands stretcht out in a constrained position, every muscle tense, his breast heaving and his voice trem- bling from the effort, and the natural result is that, before he is done praying, his fingers begin to twitch involuntarily and thus cause the beads to move. As before stated, their motion is irregular, but the peculiar delicacy of touch acquired by long practice probably im- parts more directness to their movements than would at first seem possible.

We give one of the formulas used in connection with the beads when performing the purification rite for a family preparatory to eating the new corn. It will be noted that the form of the prayer is assertive rather than petitional. In this case, as always in con- nection with the Green Corn Dance, the principal bead is white, symbolic of health, happiness, and gentle peace ; instead of red, sig- nificant of triumph over another. The ceremony is performed for each membei of the family in turn, and should the movements of the beads foreshadow sickness to any one of them, the priest at once takes the necessary steps to avert the misfortune.

" THIS IS FOR USING THE BEADS."

Sge! O now you have drawn near to listen, O Long Man, in re- pose. You fail not in anything. My paths lead down to the edge of your body. The white cloth has come and is resting upon the white seats. The white beads are resting upon it (the cloth). The soul restored has now ascended to the first upper world.

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