Ararahih'urípih
A Dictionary and Text Corpus of the Karuk Language

Nettie Ruben: "Mockingbird and Swamp Robin" (1957)

Primary participants: Nettie Ruben (speaker), William Bright (researcher)
Date: 1957
Project identifier: WB_KL-43
Publication details: William Bright, The Karok Language (1957), p. 244-245, Text 43
Additional contributor: Matthew Faytak (annotator)


Text display mode: paragraph | sentence | word | word components


[1] túus tóo pvâaram.
Mockingbird went home.

[2] pamu'urútvaap poo'iithvúti á' vúra.
He was carrying his dip-net frame up (in the air).

[3] ee! yánava áchkuun.
Well, he saw Swamp Robin.

[4] xás á' iktít vaa poo'átivutih.
And he was carrying acorn-drying racks in a burden basket, (piled) up (in the air).

[5] púyava xás upiip, " ee! chími núpuunvi."
And he said, "Well, let's rest!"

[6] xás kunípuunva.
So they rested.

[7] xás áchkuun kunipéer, túus upiip, " pamipakuhíram tu'ífikaraha paxuntápan."
And Swamp Robin was told, Mockingbird said, "They're picking the acorns at your acorn-picking grounds."


[8] kári xás upiip, " hûum."
And (Swamp Robin) said, "Is that so?"


[9] xás kári ta'ítam ôok tu'ípak áchkuun.
Then Swamp Robin returned here.

[10] púyava pimnaanihîish áchkuun tóo pvâaram.
Then in the spring, Swamp Robin went back home.

[11] túus máruk xás tóo mah, káan tóo kmárihivrik.
He saw Mockingbird uphill, he went to meet him there.

[12] xás kári áchkuun upiip, " úma pamímvir, ikriróov, tóo páx pa'áama."
And Swamp Robin said, "They've caught the salmon at your fishery, Ikrirôov."


[13] púyava ta'ítam ôok u'ípakaheen túus.
So Mockingbird returned here.

[14] púyava uum túus payêem vúra u'ípakvutih, tupímnaaniharuk.
So now Mockingbird always returns, he comes to spend the summer.

[15] ikrirôov múmvir.
Ikrirôov is his fishery.

[16] túus ukúphaanik.
Mockingbird did it.
(Bright: "This story, if it can actually be called that, is based on the observation that the mockingbird arrives on the Klamath in the summer, at the beginning of salmon season, and leaves in the fall. The swamp robin arrives in the fall, at the beginning of acorn season, and leaves again in the spring.")