Coyote and the Creation, Mescalero Apache Text excerpted from Chiricahua Apache Texts, with Ethnological Notes |
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![]() | Coyote and the Creation, Mescalero Apache Text | ![]() |
[Coyote] has now come to the various ravens, who are those of the class of carrion-eaters that fly.
Ntoͅíyiyáͅshé 'igáał'aashé naat'ashégóńt'isé'át'éí gaa'ye góńt'ishé dá'íłts'é baagóńyáí.
Gaa'ye'ichaͅaͅshchoshyiyáné beegodeeyáná'a.
- "Gaa'yentsaaí,
- gołgayágaa'ye,
- gaa'yezáͅáͅyéí,
- tseeshóͅóͅ'ye,
- góńt'ishé.
He has started with the ravens.
- "Raven,
- white-necked raven,
- crows,
- buzzard,
- [and] all other kinds.
1. The literal translation of the first line of this passage is as follows: "Those who eat bad things / all varieties of them / those who are of those that fly about / ravens / all kinds of them / first / that which he has come to. "
2. ntoͅíyiyáͅshé 'carrion-eaters'. ntoͅ ' it is bad, evil'; yiyáͅ 'they eat it'; -shé 'those of such and such a group'.
3. gaa'ye'itsaͅaͅshchoshyiyáné [this form appears in the text as gaa'ye'ichaͅaͅshchoshyiyáné--MEC] 'the ravens'. gaa'ye 'raven'; 'itsaͅaͅshchosh- 'carrion' [?]; yiyáͅ 'they eat it'.
4. gaa'yentsaaí 'raven'. ntsaa 'it is big'.
gołgayágaa'ye 'white-necked raven'. Literally 'plains raven'.
gaa'yezáͅáͅyéí 'crow'. -záͅáͅyé 'little'.
tseeshóͅóͅ'ye 'buzzard'. tsee- 'tail' -shóͅóͅ'- ye ?.
![]() | Coyote and the Creation, Mescalero Apache Text | ![]() |