028 Marvin A - Glacier Bay History - Translation.txt

{Number = 028}
{Type = Translation}
{Title = Sítʼ Ḵaa Ḵáx̱ Kana.áa / Glacier Bay History}
{Author = Ḵooteen / Amy Marvin}
{Clan = Chookaneidí; Tʼaḵdeintaan yádi}
{Source = D&D 1987: 260–291}
{Translator = Nora Dauenhauer}
{Orthography = RP}
{Page = 261}
1	Now this is the way I will begin telling the story
2	today.
3	Now,
4	at the beginning
5	of how things happened to us
6	at Glacier Bay.
7	the way things happened to us there.
8	This little girl was one of us
9	Chookaneidí.
10	It was she
11	who raised
12	the bird.
13	Its name was
14	(she would shorten up the name)
15	tsʼítskw.
16	Tsʼatsʼée was its full name; these
17	tiny ones
18	that swim on the sea.
19	It was when
20	it came
21	out of its egg this little girl saved it.
22	She would say to it
23	as she was letting it go when it got strong,
24	as she was letting it go she would say to it,
{Page = 263}
25	"Don't go too far.
26	Don't go too far; you might blow away.
27	We are Chookaneidí.
28	We are Chookaneidí; I might lose you
29	So come back right away,
30	right away."
31	Maybe it was "Chookaneidí" that stuck in the mind of the bird.
32	Here it would
33	come back to her then.
34	This was how it got used to her.
35	It was this bird
36	that multiplied
37	there.
38	They multiply one generation after another ever there.
39	It was then
40	they would say
41	"Choooeo-
42	kaneidí."
43	When they saw a boat they would say "Choooo-
44	kaneidí."
45	They're fun to listen to.
46	They say this even now.
47	Peeple don't believe us when we tell this either.
48	The name of this little girl was Shkwáx̱ʼ.
49	Shkwáx̱ʼ
50	was her name.
51	She is the one who raised the bird.
52	Well,
53	from there
54	look at what's been happening to us,
55	to where this has led us.
56	Now
57	the time had come
58	for this young woman.
59	Very young
60	newly
61	put in confinement.
62	Today she would be called teenager.
63	This is what this young girl was.
64	Kaasteen.
65	This was when
{Page = 265}
66	they had her sit.
67	Not in the house.
68	But in an extension
69	of the house.
70	A room would be made.
71	It was like the bedrooms of today.
72	Someone who was in this condition would not be allowed inside the main house.
73	They would build a room for her
74	extending trom the main house.
75	At the same time
76	there was a feast.
77	A feast was being held.
78	Everybody was gone,
79	everyone had gone to the feast.
80	But this young girl's mother
81	went to see her.
82	She gave her some sockeye strips.
83	"Here."
84	There was another little girl, a little girl maybe 8 years old.
85	Her mother didn't want to leave her.
86	People didn't take their children out in public
87	in those days
88	because they respected one another.
89	This is how things were.
90	People didn't take children
91	even the babies.
92	This woman didn't want to leave her little girl.
93	She was weaving
94	a basket.
95	She brought her weaving out.
96	She wove.
97	They were all gone! It was deserted.
98	Then the little girl ran in by the one who had become a woman.
99	She sat with her.
100	Kaasteen
101	was eating the dryfish.
102	She broke them.
103	All of a sudden she bent down.
104	This is when she lifted the edge of her wall.
105	They say she held the dryfish out with one hand
{Page = 267}
106	Then she bent down that way.
107	This is how the little girl told it to her mother.
108	"Hey,
109	glacier!
110	Here, here, here, here, here.
111	Hey,
112	glacier!
113	Here, here, here, here, here, here."
114	Hey,
115	glacier!
116	here, here, here, here, here.
117	Then she lowered the wall.
118	The little girl was surprised by this.
119	That was why she got up; she ran out by her mother.
120	"Mom!
121	Why is she saying this?
122	'Hey,
123	glacier!
124	Here, here, here.'
125	Three times she said this.
126	Mom!
127	Three times she said this."
128	"Don't say that! Go away!
129	You're always saying things,"
130	she said to her little daughter.
131	This woman was the witness.
132	This one who stayed home with her little daughter was the witness
133	about her,
134	about Kaasteen.
135	This is why
136	we tell it the same way.
137	We didn't just
138	toss this story together.
139	This is the way it's told.
140	My grandmother,
141	my mother,
142	my father,
143	were very old when they died.
144	This is why I don't
145	deviate when I tell it; I tell it exactly right.
146	At that time
147	the ice
{Page = 269}
148	didn't begin advancing from the top.
149	It began advancing from the bottom,
150	from the bottom.
151	That was why no one knew.
152	Not one person knew.
153	All of a sudden it struck
154	the middle of the land that people were living on.
155	Why was the land shaking?
156	Why was it?
157	People thought it was an earthquake; it didn't bother anyone.
158	Then another one,
159	then another one.
160	Why didn't it quit?
161	Here it was the ice crushing against itself and moving in.
162	That was why
163	they finally gathered together.
164	"What's happening?
165	It should happen just once.
166	Why is this?
167	Oh no!
168	It wasn't an earthquake, was it?
169	It's becoming stronger."
170	The people forgot about it again.
171	Then it happened again.
172	Here this woman finally said
173	"Oh dear! It's the one sitting in the room.
174	She called it with dryfish like a dog."
175	Where was the glacier?
176	There wasn't a glacier to be seen.
177	But that was what Kaasteen gave a name to; she named it "sítʼ."
178	What was it she named this?
179	There was a little pieee stuck there.
180	That was what she gave a name to.
181	That was why the people who were wise gathered then.
182	"Oh!
183	I guess she said a bad thing."
184	When a person who is ritually unclean, you see,
185	mistakenly does something,
186	it turns bad.
187	That's the reason,
{Page = 271}
188	that's the reason
189	they gathered together.
190	Oh, she violated a taboo, didn't she?
191	I guess she mistakenly said things about the ice.
192	Oh, no.
193	They kept gathering.
194	They kept gathering.
195	They were really troubled by the way things were turning out on their land; people stayed in their homes.
196	It was becoming troublesome too.
197	But the young girl wasn't bothered by this anymore.
198	Perhaps it was changing her every moment.
199	It was because of her,
200	the glacier was doing this because of her.
201	Because of the way she called it over.
202	Here they said
203	"I guess she broke a taboo, didn't she?
204	Quick!
205	Let's get ready to get out."
206	Things weren't turning out right.
207	The house was already falling over on its side
208	from how strong the ice was getting.
{Comment = D&D87 has “( Slap! )” here.}
209 It was was behaving
210	like it was crushing against itself,
{Comment = D&D87 has “( Slap! )” here.}
211	how strong the ice was.
212	And they knew.
213	It was the ice pushing the people, wasn't it?
214	It was pushing; it was pushing the village along.
215	This was when people said, "Quick! Quick! Quick! Quick!
216	Quick.
217	Let's move the people.
218	Quick!
219	Move the people.
220	It isn't right.
221	It isn't right."
222	This was when they said,
223	"Quick! Let' s pack.
224	Her too.
225	It's ok to take the one who broke the taboo; it's ok.
{Page = 273}
226	Let her come aboard.
227	Let her come aboard."
228	People used to cherish each other, you see.
229	There was no way they could have left her there; she was a young woman
230	a young girl.
231	Yes, like the saying, "they had her sitting for seed."
232	This is when this happened to her.
233	This was when people said,
234	"There's nothing wrong with her coming aboard.
235	Let her come aboard."
236	That was why they asked her, indirectly,
237	"People will be getting ready now.
238	Quick!
239	Fix your clothes.
240	Fix them."
241	"No!
242	I won't go aboard."
243	Oh no!
244	Her words spread quickly.
245	"She said, 'I won't go aboard,' the one who broke the taboo.
246	She said she doesn't want to go aboard."
247	Oh, no.
248	Then it came to the opposite groups.
249	"This paternal aunt of hers should go to her,
250	her father's sister; Quick, quick, quick."
251	On that side of the village people were packing; it was already like a whirlpool.
252	The village was trembling constantly,
253	trembling constantly; it was as if they were expecting disaster.
254	Perhaps it was like the storm we just had.
255	It was very frightening the way things were.
256	They were trying to beat it.
257	"Yes, because it is like this, and because it is this way, my niece,
258	my brother's daughter
259	because things are this way, now,
260	let's go,
261	pack,
262	pack!
{Page = 275}
263	Pity your mother, take pity on your father."
264	They begged her.
265	"No!
266	No!
267	I won't go aboard.
268	I won't go aboard.
269	What I said
270	will stain my face forever."
271	She didn't deny it.
272	What I said will stain my face
273	forever; this is why
274	I won't go aboard; it won't happen.
275	That was why they gave up on her.
276	That was why they said
277	"Let's go!
278	But let's take these things
279	to her.
280	We can't just leave her this way.
281	Yes.
282	Let's go!"
283	It began to happen.
284	They began going to her
285	with things that would keep,
286	her paternal aunts,
287	all of them,
288	with all of us,
289	going to her
290	with things for her food.
291	"For Kaasteen to eat!
292	For Kaasteen to eat!"
293	In this way they brought
294	whatever
295	might keep her warm,
296	the skins
297	of whatever was killed and dried.
298	They were made into robes.
299	These, "For Kaasteen!"
300	("For Kaasteen!")
301	"For Kaasteen to eat!"
302	("For Kaasteen to eat!")
303	"For Kaasteen!"
304	In this way
305	they turned then and left her.
{Page = 277}
306	Now,
307	this is the reason it became a saying,
308	it will be a saying forever, for whomever is mourned, people relinquish
309	the ownership of things in their memory.
310	Only after this do we feel stronger.
311	And "for her to eat," is also said.
312	Only if the food which is given is eaten with another clan
313	can it go to her.
314	This is when she will have some,
315	the relative who is mourned.
316	When the opposite clan takes a bite she will also eat some.
317	This is the reason we call it "invitation to feast."
318	A feast is offered
319	to remove our grief.
320	Only when we give to the opposite clan
321	whatever we offer,
322	only when we know it went to her; only when this is done does it become a balm for our spirits.
323	Because of her,
324	Kaasteen.
325	And whatever we relinquish our ownership to,
326	for Kaasteen,
327	when we give them to the opposite clan,
328	only after this do our spirits become strong.
329	It's medicine, spiritual medicine.
330	Because of the things that happened to Kaasteen; this is what informed us.
331	When all the things were piled on her.
332	Yes.
333	Now.
334	They were gone.
335	They were all aboard the canoes.
336	That was when Shaawatséek’ got angry.
337	Yes.
338	She was already old.
339	She was already older than me at the time.
340	"Isn't it a shame," she said.
341	She started going there.
342	Yes.
{Page = 279}
343	The relatives who were going to leave her were standing by Kaasteen
344	in the house they were leaving her in.
345	This was when Shaawatséek’ pushed the door open.
346	Yes.
347	"Am I going to bring your next generation,
348	my brothers?
349	But take Kaasteen aboard.
350	Take her aboard.
351	I will take her place.
352	I'm expecting death
353	at any moment.
354	So I will take her place.
355	Yes.
356	Let her go aboard.
357	Let her go aboard."
358	This was when Kaasteen spoke, in aloud voice
359	"I will not go aboard.
360	I said, I will not go aboard.
361	I'm staying here."
362	That was it.
363	Shaawatséek’ couldn't persuade her either.
364	Now,
365	no more.
366	They gave up on her.
367	This was the last try
368	when Shaawatséek’ came for her.
369	This was why
370	they left her.
371	There was enough.
372	It measured up.
373	The food
374	from her paternal aunts,
375	from her paternal uncles,
376	from her mother's people
377	was piled high.
378	They were leaving her with almost enough to fill the house.
379	This is when they all finally
380	went aboard.
381	Yes.
382	They didn't padddle away just then.
383	When they were all seated in the canoes
{Page = 281}
384	they just drifted.
385	While they were packing, I guess, this song kept flashing on the mind of Ḵaanax̱duwóos’.
386	It kept flashing on his mind.
387	He knew too
388	when they went to get her.
389	My!
390	No, she didn't want to leave the house.
391	Only when they were drifting out
392	they saw.
393	The house was rolling over.
394	And it popped out of their mouths
395	"It's rolling over!"
396	It fell over sideways,
397	and she with the house.
398	Yes.
399	That's when her mother screamed.
400	She screamed.
401	Kaasteen's mother screamed.
402	Yes.
403	The other women also
404	screamed with her.
405	While they couldn't believe it, it was sliding downward,
406	the house she sat in,
407	downward.
408	Their voices
409	could be heard from far away,
410	crying.
411	They had no more strength.
412	Today
413	death is not like that.
414	It's like something dropping.
415	At that time though,
416	if anything happened to even an infant, the grief would leave us weak.
417	The way we didn't want to loose each other.
418	The way things were.
419	Yes, this was why he stood up in the canoe.
420	The voices were still loud.
421	They were still crying.
{Page = 283}
422	She was dying before their eyes
423	as the house slid downward.
424	This was when he began singing, then.
{Comment = D&D1987 breaks from the original line numbering during each of the two songs in this text, and continues with the original numbering after the end of each song. However, in the corpus, the line numbering simply continues through each song, treating them as lines of data. Thus, there is a discrepancy of 22 lines between D&D1987 and the corpus starting at the end of the first song.}
{Comment = First song, vocables.}
425	Ahaa haa hei hei
426	ahaa haaa hei heiiiiy
427	ahaa haa hei heiiiiy
428	aa haa hei hei
429	ahaa haa hei hi.aa
{Comment = First song, first verse.}
430	Won't my house
431	be pitiful
432	won't my house
433	be pitiful
434	when I leave on foot?
435	hee hee aahaaa
436	hee hee aaa
437	ahaa, haaa hei hei hi.aa haa
{Comment = Note says "repeat first verse and vocables".}
{Comment = First song, second verse.}
438	Won't my land
439	be pitiful
440	won't my land
441	be pitiful
442	when I leave by boat?
443	hee hee aahaaa
444	hee hee aaa
445	ahaa, haa, hei, hei, hi, aaa
{Comment = Note says "repeat second verse and vocables".}
446	hooooo, hoo, hoo.
{Comment = End of first song. 22-line discrepancy from D&D1987 begins here.}
447	Now this is what happened to them.
448	This is how they were.
449	Now.
450	This is the song from there.
451	when they left Kaasteen.
452	This house became like her coffin,
{Page = 285}
453	this Chookaneidí house.
454	It went with her to the bottom of the sea before their eyes.
455	This is why the words are of the house,
456	when he first sang
457	this song
458	"Pity my house,"
459	he said.
460	Yes.
461	And when they left her, "pity my land."
462	Yes.
463	I guess they didn't put the comparison together
464	at first.
465	When one who was precious,
466	their relative,
467	this woman,
468	died befere their eyes,
469	yes, no one else thought of songs.
470	They were just afraid.
471	They just trembled to go where they could be saved
472	because it was too much the way the land was shaking.
473	It wasn't letting up.
474	This was why they were afraid.
475	Even with all this he thought of the song.
476	Yes.
477	This is the reason it's everlasting, also for the generations coming after me.
478	I'm recording for them
479	so that they will know why this song came into being.
480	But no man volunteered
481	to stay with her.
482	But recently someone said that one did.
483	No!
484	No!
485	Well,
486	I will come to it,
487	the part of the story
488	why people were saying this.
489	After this
490	I guess it was
491	out from Pleasant Island.
492	When they were passing it,
{Page = 287}
493	Sdayáat,
494	a Chookaneidí,
495	also our relative,
496	stood up in the canoe.
497	Yes.
498	He also repeated,
499	"Stop for a moment.
500	Stop for a moment."
501	That was why they held those moving canoes motionless; yes.
502	"I too
503	cannot let
504	what I'm thinking
505	pass.
506	Please listen
507	to the way I feel too."
508	They began drifting; all the canoes drifted.
509	This is when he sang the song that flashed on his mind.
510	Yes.
{Comment = See comment after line 424. The second song is also 22 lines long, and thus there is a discrepancy of 44 lines between D&D1987 and the corpus after the second song.}
{Comment = Second song, vocables.}
511	Ahaa haa aaa haa
512	hei hei aaa hei hei
513	ahaa haaa aaa haa
514	yei hei hayoo
515	aaa yei hei
516	aaa haa haa
{Comment = Second song, first verse.}
517	My land,
518	will I ever
519	see it again?
520	shei aanaa haa hayoo
521	aahaa yei hei hei hayoo
522	aanaa aaa haa haa
523	haa haa yei hei hayoo
524	aahaa haa haa haa.
{Page = 289}
{Comment = Note says "repeat first verse and vocables".}
{Comment = Second song, second verse.}
525	My house,
526	will I ever
527	see it again?
528	shei aanaa hayoo
529	aahaa yei hei hei hayoo
530	aahaa aaa haa
{Comment = Note says "repeat second verse and vocables".}
531	a haa haa haa
532	hoooo hoo hoo.
{Comment = End of second song. 44-line discrepancy from D&D1987 begins here.}
533	Now, this is Sdayáat's song.
534	Yes.
535	This is how the two of them composed songs
536	when trouble came.
537	Well,
538	they didn't just abandon her carelessly.
539	Now,
540	not even the Tʼaḵdeintaan
541	searched their minds,
542	or the Kaagwaantaan,
543	or the Wooshkeetaan.
544	They just left.
545	It was only these men who expressed their pain.
546	They didn't just leave her carelessly.
547	Now
548	only then they began leaving.
549	The Wooshkeetaan
550	went to the place
551	called Excursion Inlet today.
552	But the Kaagwaantaan
553	went to Ground Hog Bay.
554	I guess it's called
555	Grouse Fort.
556	This is where they went, the group of Kaagwaantaan.
557	As for us, we continued away from them.
558	There is
559	a river called Laḵoox̱asʼtʼaakhéen.
{Page = 291}
560	It flows there; it's still there today; where Frank Norten made his land,
561	a place like a cove.
562	It was there; we waded ashore.
563	Now
564	you knew how tiring it is to be in a canoe.
565	It was then and there we waded ashore;
566	this is where we prepared a piace to live
567	at Spasski.
568	It's called Laḵoox̱asʼtʼaakhéen.
569	It was there we waded ashore.
570	It was like
571	after a war.
572	There was nothing.
573	This is how it was.