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1. Tsék'eeshchíhé 'Coyote'. This is one of the many names by which this mythical being is known. It is popularly translated 'he who has defecated on a rock', an etymology which is kept alive by the tale recorded in Chiricahua text 14: 'Coyote and the Rolling Rock'. This etymology, however, is not verifiable by my linguistic evidence. tsé- is undoubtedly to be identified with tsé 'rock' and -é is very likely the archaic relative, but k'eeshchíh- cannot be explained as a form of the verb k'e-...[si- perf.]-chiͅiͅ 'to defecate on' [act. intr.], the third person perfective of which is yik'eeschaͅaͅ 'he has defecated on it'.

2. ndásá ch'éńyá 'he had gone farther on'. ndásá 'farther on' plus the 3rd person perf. of ch'é-ni-...[ni- perf.]-yá 'one person moves out' [act. intr.]. ch'é- 'out'; ni- completive; -yá 'one person moves'. The stem forms of this theme vary in Mesc. as they do in Chir. See the Linguistic Notes to Chiricahua text 1.15, §2.

3. 'indaa'izhásheedatł'ijí 'Blue Bunting'. A compound of 'indaa'izháshee 'bunting'; datł'ij 'it is blue'; and -í relative. 'indaa'izháshee is itself a compound of 'indaa 'white man' [see Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 6.3, §5] and 'izháshee 'bird'. Later in the text [see passage 15], 'indaa'izháshee is used alone to refer to the Blue Bunting.

datł'ij is, as in Chir. [see the Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 28.1, §1], a third person form of da-ni-...-tł'ij 'to be blue' [imp. neut. intr.]. Note, however, that the final consonant is -j as compared to Chir. -zh. One of the most striking phonetic distinctions between Mesc. and Chir. is found in their treatment of the Ath. voiced final spirants: Chir. -z, -zh regularly corresponding to Mesc. -dz, -j respectively. For a full account of the phonetic distinctions between these two languages, see H. Hoijer, "The Southern Athapaskan Languages" [American Anthropologist, Vol. 40, No. 1, Jan.-March 1938], pp. 75-87.

4. yaach'íńt'iná'a 'he had gone to him, it is said'. 3rd person perf. of 0aa-ch'i-ni-...[ni- pf.]-t'é 'one person moves to someone' [act. intr.]. aa- 'to' [pp.]; ch'i- ?; ni- completive. The theme -t'é 'one person moves' is often used in Mesc. where the theme -1-ghee would be used in Chir. Cf. the following Mesc. verbs based on -t'é with those Chir. verbs based on -l-ghee listed in the Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 13.7.

0aa-ch'i-ni-...[ni- perf.]-t'é 'one person goes to someone' [act. intr.].

dah-ch'i-di-|...[ni- perf.]-t'é 'one person jumps out, away; one person moves quickly' [act. intr.].

ch'i-ni-...[ni- perf.]-t'é 'one person comes' [act. intr.].

ná-ch'i-ni-...[ni- perf.]oͅdoͅt'é 'one person comes back, one person goes back' [act. intr.].

yaa-ná-ch'i-|...[ni- perf.]-t'é 'one person jumps' [act. intr.].

Lexical differences such as this one, phonetic distinctions such as those referred to in 3 above, and the few grammatical distinctions that are described in the Grammatical Sketch constitute the main lines of diversion of Chir. and Mesc.

hóͅndááł 'you are going'. 2nd person prog. of -yá 'one person moves'. See Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 1.15, §2 for an explanation of the stem form. This is an example of one of the paradigmatic distinctions between Chir. and Mesc. For a summary of these, see §§13-18 of the Grammatical Sketch.

'óo 'yes, all right, well'. This interjection is generally used to denote assent. It is also heard áó. An emphatic ''óowó is also often heard. This is the only occurrence of the sound w in Mesc.

1. dooyáada ndah bégonsiní ná'óoshłáhát'éda 'nothing but that of which I know would I do for you'. doo-...-da negative [note that this affix encircles the entire phrase]. yáa 'anything'; ndah 'but'; bégonsiní, relative in -í of bégonsiniͅ, the 1st person of 0é-go-ni-...-ł-ziͅ 'to know about' [imp. neut.; see Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 1.1, §5]. ná- 'for you'; 'óoshłá, 1st person opt. of 'á-...[? perf.]-lá 'to do so' [act. tr.]. 'á- 'thus, so' plus the opt. prefix becomes 'óo-. hát'é [should read 'át'é ?] 'it is so'.

2. shań'iͅiͅ 'give it to me'. 2nd person imp. of 0aa-ni-...[ni- perf.]-'iͅiͅ 'to give someone an unknown object' [act. tr.]. It is to be noted here, however, that the object [tobacco] is not unknown. It is characteristic of Mesc., as compared with Chir., that this theme is often used where in Chir. the theme -'aa 'to handle a round object' would be used. It is not quite accurate, therefore, to give the same meaning to -'iͅiͅ in Mesc. as in Chir.

Dooha'yá nát'oh si'iͅiͅ dihnoosh'iͅiͅhát'éda 'there is no tobacco here [that] I can give you'. doo...-da negative; ha'yá 'any, some'; nát'oh 'tobacco'; si'iͅiͅ 'an unknown object lies'; dihnoosh'iͅiͅ, a combination of dih- 'tobacco offering', naa- 'to you', the 1st person opt. prefix, and the opt. stem of the theme -'iͅiͅ 'to handle an unknown object' [act. tr.]. Note that hát'é is oftener used than 'át'é [the characteristic Chir. usage] in constructions of this sort [see note 1.4, §1].

1. sáͅń 'wife'. Literally, 'old woman.' sáͅ 'old age' plus the relative enclitic -ń. See Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 21.1, §§1 and 2.

2. tsiͅbikáyí 'bark'. tsiͅ 'tree', bikáyí 'its skin, cover'.

káásikáͅ 'here it is'. káá- 'here' [demonst. procl. ?]. sikáͅ 'an object in a container lies' [3rd person si- perf. neut. intr.].

1. náinjaa 'he picked it up'. 3rd person perf. with 3rd person object of ná-di-|...[ni- perf.]-jáásh 'to pick up a mass' [act. intr.]. See Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 1.22, §1. Here, where Blue Bunting is taking a mass of bark from the container, the verb of handling changes [before, in the text, the verb referring to the handling of objects in a container was used]. See Linguistic Note to Chiricahua text 2.7, §15.

2. níhidóͅóͅzhiij 'he pulverized it'. 3rd person perf. with 3rd person obj. of ní-di-...[hi- perf.]- zhiish 'to pound, to pulverize' [act. tr.]. The theme occurs only with these prefixes. Note the difference between the Mesc. and Chir. 3rd person hi- perf.; see Grammatical Sketch, §14.

3. ghehyóͅóͅjaaj 'he put a mass in'. 3rd person perf. with 3rd person obj. of gheh-|...[hi- perf.]-jáásh 'to put a mass in' [act. tr.; gheh-| 'in']. The perfective stem of the theme -jáásh 'to handle a mass' varies between -jaa [see §1 above] and -jaaj. In Chir., the perfective stem is regularly -jaa [the Linguistic Note to Chiricahua texts 2.17 §1 and 2.7, §15.

4. náintsoodz 'he picked it up' has probably been misheard for náinłtsoodz, the 3rd person perf. with 3rd person obj. of ná-di-|...[ni- perf.]-ł-tsóós 'to pick up a fabric-like object' [act. tr.]. Cf. note 1 above. Note that the perfective stem of this theme has the final consonant -j corresponding to Chir. -z [see note 1.1, §3].

5. 'iłch'iͅiͅyiindi 'he pressed them together'. 'ił- reciprocal; -'ch'iͅiͅ 'to, toward'. yiindi, 3rd person imp. with 3rd person obj. of hi-|...[si- perf.] ndi 'to press' [act. tr.].

6. 'idałchishíͅ 'putting his hand in'. 3rd person perf. of 'i-di-...[hi- perf.]-l-'chí 'to move one's hand away' [mediopass.]. 'i- 'away'; di- [to move] one's own' [?]. -shíͅ functions here as a subordinating enclitic.

7. naałtsoosí 'paper'. Literally, 'that fabric-like object which is carried about'. naałtsoos, passive cont. imp. of the theme -ł-tsóós 'to handle a fabric-like object' with the prefix naa- 'about, here and there'.

8. bidáayá 'before him'. -dá 'before, in front of' plus the pp. ee- 'at' and -yá.

1. nát'ohí yiidisgo 'rolling a cigarette'. nát'oh 'tobacco followed by yiidis 'he rolls it' means 'cigarette'.

2. koͅoͅí baach'íń'iͅiͅ 'he gave him a light'. koͅoͅ- 'fire'. Note again that the theme -'iͅiͅ is used of a known object [see note 1.4, §2]. In Chir., the theme -ł-t'aa 'to handle fire' [act. tr.] would be used.

'iłzénách'iisndiiná'a 'they embraced each other, it is said'. 3a person perf. of 0-zé-ná-...[si- perf.]-ndi 'to embrace' [act. intr.]. The theme of this verb may be related to -l-ndi 'to move one's hand' [mediopas.]. ná- 'around'; zé- 'neck' [?].

Note that in the Mesc. texts the narrative enclitic ná'a is employed much less often than in most of the Chir. texts.

Literally, this passage reads: "That / you will come to me / that which you said to me now / I sit here, / Coyote."

'ikásht'óójí, another word for 'bark' [see note 1.8, §2]. This word cannot be analyzed.

1. 'idee 'dish, cup, container'. Literally 'someone's horn'; cf. bidee 'his [e. g., an animal's] horn'. For the etymology of this word, see Edward Sapir, "Internal Linguistic Evidence Suggestive of the Northern Origin of the Navaho" [American Anthropologist, Vol. 38, No. 2, April-June 1936], pp. 225-227.

2. 'ikásht'óójí béghahgo 'áíͅlaago 'having filled it with bark'. 'ikásht'óójí 'bark' [see note 1.20]. béghah > bi- 3rd person pronoun plus the postposition -éghah 'to the measure of'. 'áíͅlaa, 3rd person perf. with 3rd person object of 'á-...[? perf.]-lá 'to make so, to do so' [act. tr.].

3. bich'iͅiͅyaayóͅóͅkáͅná'a 'she brought it in to him'. bich'iͅiͅ 'to him' plus the 3rd person perf. with 3rd person object of yaa-|...[hi- perf.]-kaa 'to bring in an object in a container' [act. tr.]. yaa-| 'in, inside'.

4. bighaastiͅń 'her husband'. Is -ghaastiͅ 'husband' related to haastiͅiͅ 'old man; he is old'? The latter word is also used in the sense of 'husband'.

1. níidnzhishgo 'pounding it'. This is apparently the 3rd person imp. with 3rd person object of ní-di-...[hi- perf.]-zhish 'to pound, pulverize' [act. tr.]. See note 1.21, §4. níi- > ní- plus the 3rd person object yi-. I cannot understand the prefix dn-, however.

2. níidóͅóͅzhiijnágon 'just as he had pounded it'. For níidóͅóͅzhiij, see note 1 above and note 1.24, §4. -ná 'just'; -go subord. encl.; -n past tense enclitic.

3. doo'iyáabighe'ási'iͅiͅdaná'ahá 'there was absolutely nothing in them, it is said'. 'doo-... -da negative; 'iyáa 'anything'; bighe' 'in them'; -á, a reduced form of the pp. -yá; si'iͅiͅ; 'an unknown object lies' [3rd person si- perf. neut. intr.]; -ná'a narrative encl.; -há exclamatory enclitic.

1. dábí [dá- 'just, only' plus the 3rd person independent pronoun] is here translated by the English 'himself'.

2. kaanáideendil 'he poured it out before him'. kaa- 'to him' plus the 3rd person perf. with 3rd person object of ná-di-...[si- perf.]- ndił 'to pour out' [act. tr.] . ná-di- ?; the theme is clearly a continuative form of - ndííł 'to handle several objects'. Note that the text form, a 3rd person si- perfective, does not have the regular form of the si- perfective but lacks the prefix s-. Such irregular 3rd person si- perfectives are of quite common occurrence in Mesc.

3. yeehaidééłbiͅná'a 'he filled it with it'. yee- 'with it' plus the 3rd person perf. with 3rd person object of ha-di-...[? perf.]-ł-biͅ 'to fill' [act. tr.]. The perfective of this verb is irregular: Sg. 1. hadééłbiͅ; Sg. 2. hadénłbiͅ; Sg. 3. haidééłbiͅ; Sg. 3a. hashdééłbiͅ; Du. 1. hadéͅeͅłbiͅ. This paradigm, however, varies with a regular si- perfective paradigm.

1. Note that t'óoná'ch'óͅóͅłt'ohdago 'without smoking' and tóo'iłzénách'iisndiidaná'ahá 'they had not even embraced each other' employ the variant negative affix t'óo-...-da. This form of the negative affix occurs oftener in Mesc. than in Chir.

ké'iláí 'his imitation of him'. A relative in -í of ké'ilá, the 3rd person imp. of 0é-'i-...[? perf.]-lá 'to imitate'. é- 'like, similar to' [?]; 'i- indefinite object [?]; -lá 'to do, make' [act.tr.] [?].