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FLYING MOCCASINS
Medicine men on the medicine drum,Beating out the rhythm with a steady thrum.Medicine gourd with its rattle, rattle, rattle,Flinging wild with the call of battle.Beaded drummers squatting in the ringLeap to its challenge with a crouch and a spring;Weathered old bucks that grunt and wheezeAs they jangle bells on their wrists and their knees,—Shining new and olden bells,Silver, copper, golden bells,Cow-bells, toy bells, ringing sleigh-bells,Beaded dance bells, "give-away " bells,Jingling, jangling, jingling bells,Set-the-toes-atingling bells,To the beat, beat, beat, beat, beat upon the tom-tom,Beat, beat, beat, beat, beat upon the drum;And a shuffle to the left, a shuffle to the left,A shuffle, shuffle, shuffle to the left, to the left—Hí! Hi! Hí! Hi! Hóv-eeeeeeeeeeeececee-yáh!
Old bucks stamping heel and toe,Ugh! as they snort and they cackle and they crow,—Yowling like the lynx that crouches nigh,Howling like the wolf at the prairie sky:Growling and grunting as they shift and they tramp,Stalking, crouching,—with a stamp, stamp, stamp,—Sleek limbs, lithe limbs, strong and clean limbs,Withered limbs, bowed limbs, long and lean limbs;Flat feet, bare feet, dancing feet,Buckskin-moccasined prancing feet.Eager child-feet, scuffling feet,
