APPENDIX
The following supplementary notes concerning the legends and superstitions which form the background of certain of the poems of Indian theme in Parts I and Ill may prove helpful to the reader. It is suggested, therefore, that if he wishes to grasp their full meaning, he read the notes in the Appendix before reading the poems in these two groups.
FLYING MOCCASINS
THE BLUE DUCK
"The Blue Duck" is a poetic interpretation of an American Indian medicine dance. In early autumn the tribe, which has gathered in the dancing-ring, is supposed to have placed on a pole by the shore of Ah-bi-tóo-bi (Half-full-of-water),—a lake adjoining the Indian village—a crudely carved wooden duck. The ceremony is begun by the drummers who beat monotonously upon the drums. The singers and the dancers then begin to stamp and to shout and to grunt, and finally to dance. The chief medicine men—priests, "mystery men," who by virtue of their special, powerful medicine songs and their rare "med-
71
