Old Apache Customs, Chiricahua Apache Text :: :: University of Virginia Library

Old Apache Customs, Chiricahua Apache Text

excerpted from Chiricahua Apache Texts, with Ethnological Notes

39. Old Apache Customs as told by Lawrence Mithlo

39.1.

Long ago, at a time long before there were many white men,

39.2.

Our grandfathers lived in the dirt, they say.

39.3.

At that time, there were only arrows.

39.4.

The slingshot was also a help, they say

39.5.

Now these were the only weapons of the Indians, they say.

39.6.

The Indians lived a hard life, they say.

39.7.

These were the only knives the Indians had, they say.

39.8.

Long ago, even fire was lacking, they say.

39.9.

Coffee was lacking, they say.

39.10.

At that time long ago, they lived poorly.

39.11.

"My child, one does not curse.

39.12.

Even when the boys [and] girls were twenty five and over,

Linguistic Notes by Harry Hoijer

Ethnological Notes Morris Opler

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"My child, one does not curse.

(39.11)[11]

"Shishke'é, doo'jódziͅda. Doháń k'eshíndiida. Doháń bich'iͅiͅlójigoda. Doháń baajadloda. Dohyáabaajó'iͅiͅlee'át'édań goshinsíͅ. Yóósń Tóbájiishchinéń bichiͅiͅ'itédahdlii. 'Áń dá'gobíłk'eh gok'ehgodaanndá. Niigosjáńí yáí 'ágoił'íͅ."

daayiiłndíná'a."

"My child, one does not curse. One hates no one. One behaves foolishly to no one. One laughs at no one. One treats with respect those to whom one can do nothing.[10] Pray to God [and] Child of the Water. We live because of those two. They made the earth [and] the sky."

they said to them, they say.

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(39.11) Linguistic Notes

1. doháń bich'iͅiͅlójigoda 'one behaves foolishly to no one'. do-...-da negative; -ch'iͅiͅ 'toward' plus 3a person of ló- ...-go 'to be crazy, foolish' [imp. neut. intr.]. This verb is derived from Spanish loco [see 38.21].

2. Yóósń 'God'. yóós- > Spanish Diós; -ń relative.

[_]

Ethnological Note Ethnological Note
[For the same reason cited in Ethnological Note to Chiricahua text 19, note 5, this sentence has been modified from the original version. In the original, this sentence is translated: "One worships those to whom one can do nothing."--MEC]