Coyote and Owl, Mescalero Apache Text :: :: University of Virginia Library

Coyote and Owl, Mescalero Apache Text

excerpted from Chiricahua Apache Texts, with Ethnological Notes

2. Coyote and Owl as told by Charles Smith

Ethnological Notes Morris Opler

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Then Coyote looked at him.

(2.6)[6]
'Ákoo Shóͅóͅdé gonéł'íͅná'a.
Nzhóͅnóo gonéł'íͅná'a.

"Shóͅóͅdé,"

goołndiná'a, Tsék'eeshchíhé:

"Doodókohéédó ch'ah 'át'éí ghe'nénł'áͅná'a. Ch'ahí beeshíͅsí."

goołndiná'a.

Then Coyote looked at him.
He looked at him closely.

"Friend,"

Coyote said to him,

"That is a wonderful hat you seem to be wearing[2]. Show me the power of that hat,"

he said to him.

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(2.6) Linguistic Notes

1. nzhónóo 'closely' > nzhóné, a relative form of nzhóͅ 'it is good, well' [3rd person imp. neut. intr. with adj. ni-] plus the subord. encl. -go.

2. doodókohéédó 'wonderful'. An unanalyzable intensifying particle.

3. ghe'nénł'áͅná'a 'you seem to be wearing,'. 2nd person of ghe'-ni-...-l-'áͅ 'to wear [a headdress of any sort]' [si- perf. neut.]. ghe'- 'in, inside'; ni- terminative; -l-'áͅ 'to have one's head in position'. Note that -ná'a, in this verb, gives a dubitative connotation. See the Ethnological Note linked to the English Translation of this line.

4. beeshíͅsíͅ 'show me the power of it'. 2nd person imp. with 1st person obj. of 0'ee-|...[hi- perf.]-ł-zíͅ 'to show, give power by means of something' [act. tr.]. ee- 'by means of'.

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Ethnological Note 2
Coyote refers to Owl's ears as a hat. This device of speaking of one thing in terms of something else which it may remotely resemble, is a common one in these tales, and causes great merriment when it is used.