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

Nettie Ruben: "The Pool in Big Rock" (1957)

Primary participants: Nettie Ruben (speaker), William Bright (researcher)
Date: 1957
Project identifier: WB_KL-59
Publication details: William Bright, The Karok Language (1957), pp. 268-271, Text 59
Additional contributor: Nina Gliozzo (annotator)


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


[1] chîinach asiktávaan ukrêenik.
A woman once lived at chîinach (upriver opposite Orleans).

[2] xás vúra uum vikakêemich.
And she was a poor weaver.

[3] vúra pu'ikvarishtihap.
People didn't buy (baskets) from her.

[4] xás uxús " tîi máruk chinach'ásak kánpaathkirihi paninisárum.
And she thought, "Let me throw my pine-roots in the water, uphill at Big Rock.

[5] kíri naa káru íshkiit na'árihish."
Let me become lucky too!"

[6] xás upaathkúrihar.
So she went to throw them in.

[7] káan xás mah'íitnihach upapivankôoti pamusárum ishkêeshak hôoy kích tóo pthívruuhruprav.
Then she went early in the morning to look for her pine-roots there in the river, (she wondered) where they had floated out.

[8] víri îifuti uthívruuhtih.
Sure enough, they were floating (there).

[9] xás uptâatripaa.
So she pulled them out.

[10] púyava pootáyiithharati yíiv vúra tá kun'aramsípriin, kúnikvárishtih, xáat káru vikakêemich.
So when she lashed the base of a basket with them, people came from far away, they bought from her, (though) she might be a poor weaver.

[11] púyava pasárum ánav tu'árihish.
The pine-roots had become medicine.


[12] káru vaa káan ávansa upakxuyvîichvuti pakáan tu'iipkúrih.
And a man is looking for good luck there when he dives in there.

[13] vúra hâari tóosíinvar, hâari tá pupitnúprihvara.
Sometimes he drowns, sometimes he doesn’t come back up.

[14] ithahárinay xás tóo pthívruuhruprihva.
Then in a year he comes back up.

[15] peechkáanviichvaanhanik pa'ávansa.
Once a man was a gambler.

[16] xás kunchífich.
And they beat him.

[17] vúra tá pura fâat thiinátihara, vúra tá kunchifíchfip.
He didn’t have anything, they beat him completely.

[18] xás pooxús, " máruk kanvâarami".
And he thought, “Let me go uphill!”

[19] tu'iipkúrihar, " xáat káru ni'iv".
He went to dive in, (thinking), "I may even die."

[20] tá kunkoohímachva.
(The spirits) took pity on him.

[21] ithahárinay tusínmoo.
He was gone for a year.

[22] pa'ára papivankôotihan kéevniikich.
The person who was going to look for him was an old woman.

[23] uum pa'áraar pápimtihan ithahárinay vúra pumaahtíhap.
She, the person looking for him, didn’t see him for a year.

[24] xás vúra mah'íitnihach pishíich u'imkatáxrahvarak.
And (when she looked) the light was first coming down from upriver, early in the morning.

[25] árus u'átivutih.
She carried a seed-basket.

[26] ithâan kumamáh'iit umá " pachánchaaf yíiv á' vúra úkrii".
One morning she saw the foam was up high.

[27] xás pachánchaaf páy únish, pachánchaaf utaxyásur.
So she did like this to the foam, she separated the foam with her hands.

[28] víriva kumasuruk pa'ávansa upêethruprav.
There she took the man out from underneath it.

[29] pamú'iish uum tá púfaat, utheekvárahitih.
His flesh was all gone by now, he was like a skeleton.

[30] árusak sú' tóo pthaanámnih.
So she put him inside the seed-basket.

[31] xás iinâak tupaatífuruk.
And she carried him back into the house.

[32] víriva ithahárinay pukínmaahtihap.
People didn’t see him for a year.

[33] ithahárinay utháaniv.
He lay (there) for a year.

[34] xás uyvúrukti sakankooréekpat.
And she rubbed deer’s leg-bone marrow on him.

[35] vaa u'íifti pamú'iish.
Thus his flesh grew.

[36] púyava vaa ithahárinay tóo yvúruk péekpat.
So she rubbed marrow on him for a year.

[37] púyava ithahárinay xás tá yav.
So in a year he was all right.

[38] koovura'îin patá kun'áakup, " chí nuthtîiti!"
Everybody challenged him, "Let’s gamble!"

[39] púyava vúra uum yíchaach tóo kyâafip pá'uup.
And he won all their possessions.

[40] tuyaas'áraaraha.
He became rich.