XXXVI. Scalp Dance Song

Songs of the Tewa, by Herbert Joseph Spinden, [1933], at sacred-texts.com

XXXVI

SCALP DANCE SONG

Next after comes Coyote, Stretched-Out-in Dew,
Next after braves of yesterday or the day before!
To Blue Earth town of the Navahos we go
And arriving we shall kill. So that is why
Coyote, Stretched-Out-in Dew, sits straight and ready.
Wi-ya-he-na, a-nde-a-a. The next scalp!

Navajo youths! your fault alone it is
That now you die fallen along your house.
Your fault alone it is that now you die
Fallen along your house with earth-streaked thighs,
That now your mouths are stopped and streaked with earth.
Ho-o-wi-na, a-ye-a-a. The next scalp!