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University of Virginia Library

The Child of Water, Chiricahua Apache Text

excerpted from Chiricahua Apache Texts, with Ethnological Notes

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1. The Child of Water as told by Lawrence Mithlo

1.1.

At the beginning the Creator

1.2.

Afterwards Child of the Water was born.

1.3.

So there were four existing at the very beginning [of time].

1.4.

And Child of the Water was the child of White Painted Woman.

1.5.

He who is called Giant

1.6.

Then White Painted Woman went about weeping.

1.7.

Then White Painted Woman prayed.

1.8.

1.9.

"What shall I do that this baby of mine is [safely] reared?"

1.10.

Every day he who is called Giant customarily came to her.

1.11.

Then she dug a hole for the little one under the fire that lay there.

1.12.

She only took him out when she washed him.

1.13.

Soon Child of the Water became able to walk around.

1.14.

Then [one day] she had taken him out [of the hole].

1.15.

Just as she had put him back in [the hole], the Giant came to her again.

1.16.

Then White Painted Woman spoke thus to the Giant:

1.17.

Then the Giant spoke thus to White Painted Woman:

1.18.

Then White Painted Woman, before his eyes, made the tracks of a baby for him.

1.19.

Just then he saw also those blankets of the baby that were [smeared] with excrement.

1.20.

Then White Painted Woman spoke thus to the Giant:

1.21.

Then the Giant spoke thus to her again:

1.22.

Then White Painted Woman picked up a baby blanket.

Linguistic Notes by Harry Hoijer

Ethnological Notes Morris Opler

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"What shall I do that this baby of mine is [safely] reared?"

(1.9)[9]

"Díń shishke'ń ha'yágohé `áshłágo nsáná?"

jindíná'a.

"What shall I do that this baby of mine is [safely] reared?"

she said.

[_]

(1.9) Linguistic Notes

1. díń 'this'. Demonstrative stem dí- plus the relative enclitic -ń. Cf. note 1.8,§1.

2. shishké'ń 'my child'. -shké' 'child', shi- first person possessive pronoun, -ń relative encliti c .

3. ha'yágohé 'what, in what way'. See note 1.6, §2.

4. áshłágo 'I, doing so'. First person imperfective mode of 'á-...[? perf.]-lá 'to do so' [act. tr.]. 'á- 'thus, so'. Note that the initial stem consonant assimilates in voice to the subject pronoun sh- preceding it.

5. nsáná 'I rear it'. nsá, first person imperfective mode of ni-...[si- perf.]-ł-yá 'to raise, rear; to cause to grow' [act. tr.]. ni- terminative prefix. In this form, the first person pronoun sh-, the classifier -ł and the initial stem consonant y- assimilate to s-; cf. nshyá 'I grow' [imp. mode, act, intr.]. -ná is the emphatic enclitic.

6. jin dínáná'a 'she said, it is said'. 3a person imperfective mode of di-...[hi- perf]-ndí'to say' [act. intr.]. In the 3a person, the prefix disappears. See note 1.6, §7.