Coyote and Turtle, Mescalero Apache Text excerpted from Chiricahua Apache Texts, with Ethnological Notes |
Coyote and Turtle, Mescalero Apache Text | ||
Then he started off again.
'Ákoo dándásé nááhiiłteená'a.
Díͅíͅ'í hiiskáͅná'ago, dziłíghe'yá tółáníńlíͅná'a, tábaͅaͅyá ts'at'iná'a.
nDásé, tósikáͅná ch'éńyáná'a.
'It'ah neełdáͅná'a.
Tółánísikáͅshíͅ bich'iͅiͅneeł'áͅshíͅ tábaashíͅ 'iyáahee bindáantsaaí sidáná'a.
Four days having passed, he was walking along the bank of a big river in the mountains.
Farther on, he came out to a big lake.
It was still early morning.
Someone with big eyes was sitting facing him on the shore of the big lake.
1. tółáníńlíͅná'a 'a big river'. tó 'water'; łání, relative in -í of łáͅ 'much'; ńlíͅ 'it flows' [ni- perf. neut. intr.].
2. tábaͅaͅyá 'on the bank'. tá-, combining form of tó 'water'; -baͅaͅ 'edge'.
[a literal translation of the first few lines of this passage would read: "Then he started off again. / Four days having passed, a big river running through the mountains, he was walking along its bank. / Further on, he came out to a big lake. / ..."--MEC]
3. tósikáͅná 'a big lake'. tó 'water'; sikáͅ 'something in a container lies' [si- perf. neut. intr.]; -ná emphatic encl.
4. bich'iͅiͅneeł'áͅshíͅ 'facing him'. bich'iͅiͅ 'toward him' plus the 3rd person of ni-...-l-'áͅ 'to have one's head in position' [si- perf. ? neut.].
Coyote and Turtle, Mescalero Apache Text | ||