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

Coyote and Turtle, Mescalero Apache Text

excerpted from Chiricahua Apache Texts, with Ethnological Notes

4. Coyote and Turtle as told by Charles Smith

Ethnological Notes Morris Opler

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

"Right there, straight ahead, there is a road across."

(4.19)[19]

"Dá'ákaa, dá'iłts'égoosdoné, haná'ítin."

Shóͅóͅdé biłch'indiná'a.

"Right there, straight ahead, there is a road across."

he said to Coyote[3].

[_]

(4.19) Linguistic Notes

haná'ítin 'there is a road across'. Cf. bich'iͅiͅ'i'ítin 'there is a road to it' [passage 18]; 'íńtinyá 'on the road' [passage 9]; da'tinyá '[out of] the door, entrance way' [passage 6]. All of these seem to be composed of the theme -'ítin or 'íńtin plus prefixes which vary the basic meaning 'road, passage'. Thus: haná- 'across'; bich'iͅiͅ 'toward it'; 'i- 'away'; dá- ? [in da'tin 'doorway'].

[_]

Ethnological Note 3
Frog is not referring to an actual road over to the island. As Coyote's answer shows, he is suggesting that Coyote swim across.