Benonie Harrie: "Coyote Pups" (1927)

Primary participants: Benonie Harrie (speaker), Jaime de Angulo (researcher), L.S. Freeland (researcher)
Date: 1927
Location: Northern California
Project identifier: DAF_KT-05a
PDF of published text: http://linguistics.berkeley.edu/~karuk/text-pdfs/DAF_KT-05a.pdf
Additional contributors: Line Mikkelsen (annotator), Michelle Park (annotator), Elizabeth Lieu (annotator), Andrew Baker (annotator), Miranda Guerrero (annotator), Yichuan Yang (annotator)

Note: This text has been retranscribed in current spelling, including wovel shortening in compound words even where de Angulo and Freeland wrote a long vowel.

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

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[1]	yée	ôok	pámit	ni'ákunvarat
	well	here	where.(in.the.near.past)	I.went.hunting

Not long ago I was out hunting.

[2]	kári	xás	máruk	ikúkak	nivátaroovutih
	then	then	uphill	on.a.log	I.am.walking.from.here.upstream

I was in the hills, walking along on a log.

[3]	chí	'axmay	u'árihrishuk	nixúti	vinusuná'anamahich
	soon	suddenly	he.jumps.out	I.am.thinking	bear.cub

Suddenly something ran out. At first I thought it was a little bear cub.

[4]	yánava	pihnêefich'anamahich
	visible	coyote.pup

But it turned out to be a coyote pup.

[5]	ta'ítam	ni’áharamaheen
	so	I.followed.him

I started after him.

[6]	sáruk	niyvúrunih	xás	áavkam	ni'áapish	xás	máruk	upikvíripraa
	downhill	I.chase.him.down	then	ahead	1s(>3)	then	uphill	he.runs.again.up.from.downhill

I followed him down hill at a run. I headed him off and he ran back up hill.

[7]	xáyva	nipáhariithun
	by.luck	I.catch.up

I was lucky enough to catch up with him.

[8]	kári	xás	xuskáamhara	mûuk	nitátararish
	then	then	bow	with.(by.means.of)	I.hold.him.down

I held him down with my gun.

[9]	kári	xás	axvâak	ni'axaychákish	xás	pûuvishak	nisaanámnih
	then	then	by.the.head	I.grab.him	then	in.a.bag	I.put.him.in.it

Then I grabbed him by the head and shoved him into a sack.

[10]	xás	máruk	nipíthváraa
	then	uphill	I.pack.him.back.up

I packed him back up the hill to that log.

[11]	kári	xás	kaan	níkrii	xára
	then	then	there	I.sit	long.time

There I sat down and waited a while.

[12]	xas	sâam	ni'árihfak
	then	little.downhill	I.walk.downhill

I was just starting down again.

[13]	xas	chí'axmay	uxrúunha	xas	nixús	pakéevriikshahan	xas	vúra	hôoyvarihva	vúra
	then	suddenly	it.growls	then	I.think	the.mother	then	Intensive	somewhere.or.other	Intensive

I heard a growl. I thought it must be the mother, but I didn't know where the sound came from.

[14]	yánava	ikuk	káan	utháaniv
	visible	log	there	it.is.lying

Then I saw the log lying there.

[15]	u'ahváraahitih
	it.is.a.hollow.tree

The log was hollow.

[16]	yánava	váa	kaan	su	pa'úxruunhitih
	visible	that	there	inside	that.it.is.growling

And the growling came from inside.

[17]	kári	xas	kúuk	ni'úum
	then	then	to.there	I.go.(there)

Then I went to the log.

[18]	yánava	su	hôoyvarihva	xas	áhup	nikrúkukaa
	visible	inside	somewhere	then	wood	I.poke.it.in

I poked a stick in.

[19]	ipshûunkinichhiruva	pa'áhup
	too.short	the.wood

But it was too short.

[20]	xas	máruk	níkfuukraa	kaan	xas	taskaraxárah	nivúpaksip
	then	uphill	I.climb.uphill	there	then	a.long.pole	I.start.to.cut.it

I climbed up on the hill and there I cut a long pole.

[21]	xas	pasáruk	nipitfákutih	víri	kúna	su	upárihkaa	pihneefích'anamahich
	then	downhill	I.am.looking.away.downhill	so	in.addition	inside	it.runs.inside	coyote.pup

I looked back just in time to see a coyote pup running back into the log.

[22]	kári	xás	ni'ûufak	pataskaná'anamahich	kaan	ni'íipma
	then	to.there	I.bring.it.downhill	the.little.pole	there	I.return.with.it

I took my little pole and climbed down.

[23]	yánava	pananipihneefích'anamahich	tóo	psírheen	íp	pani'íithvutihat
	visible	my.little.coyote	it.has	been.disappearing	PAST	that.I.had.been.packing

And found the little pup I'd been packing had got away already.

[24]	kári	xás	patáaskar	su'	nikrúkukaa
	then	then	the.pole	inside	I.poke.it.in

I stuck my pole into the hole.

[25]	súva	su’	kuníxruunhitih
	listen!	inside	they.are.growling

I could hear them growling.

[26]	xás	ipan	patáaskar	nitáxaxar
	indoors	end	the.pole	I.slash.through.it

Then I split the end of the pole.

[27]	xás	xára	chavúra	apsíik	nitápuchrishuk
	then	long	finally	by.the.leg	I.twist.it.out.

After poking around a good while, I caught one by the leg and twisted him out of the hole. I put him in the sack.

[28]	xás	pûuvishak	nisaanámni
	then	in.the.bag	I.am.put.it.in

I put him in the sack.

[29]	xás	kúkuum	vura	xára	níhmachiichva
	then	again	Intensive	long.time	I.am.bothering.it

Then I tried quite a while.

(de Angulo and Freeland translates this sentence "Then after trying quite a while." It has been changed here to better reflect the Karuk sentence structure.)

[30]	xás	kúkuum	xáyva	yítha	nitápuchrishuk
	then	again	by.luck	one	I.twist.it.out

I had the luck to catch another and twist him through the hole.

[31]	ta’itam	kúkuum	pûuvishak	nisaanámniheen
	so	again	in.the.bag	I.put.it.in

I put him in the sack too.

[32]	kúkuum	vura	pâanpay	yítha	nitápuchrishuk
	again	Intensive	after.while	one	I.am.twisting.it.out

Later I twisted out a third one.

[33]	kári	xás	kúkuum	pûuvishak	nisaanámni
	then	then	again	in.the.bag	I.am.putting.it.in

And put him in the sack.

[34]	kári	xas	kárivarih	sú'	kuníxruunhitih
	then	then	still	inside	they.are.growling

The rest were growling inside.

[35]

káruma

vúra

tá

neekvúrish

káru

vúra

tá

naxuniháyaachha

xás

panani'akunvarasímsiim

mûuk

nipárupkurih

in.fact

Intensive

PERF

I.am.tired

also

Intensive

PERF

I.am.very.hungry

then

the.my.hunting.knife

with.(by.means.of)

I.chisel.into.it

But I was getting tired and I was hungry besides. I took my hunting knife and began chiselling.

[36]	chavúra	pâanpay	tá	nipáruprin
	finally	after.while	PERF	I.chisel.through.it

Finally I made a hole through.

[37]	yánava	sú'	kári	kunimtaránamhitih
	visible	inside	then	they.are.visible

And I could see more pups inside.

[38]	púyava	kári	xas	kúkuum	kêechich	vúra	nipárupkurih
	you.see	then	then	again	bigger	Intensive	I.chisel.into.it

Good. I kept on and made the hole large enough.

[39]	chavúra	pâanpay	vúra	vaa	kóo	tah	pavaa	káan	nithyúrurupukeesh
	finally	after.while	Intensive	so	as.much.as	already	who.that	there	I.will.drag.it.out

After a while it was big enough that I could pull one out.

(de Angulo and Freeland translates this sentence "So that I could pull one out." It has been changed here to better reflect the Karuk sentence structure.)

[40]	xás	ta'itam	kúkuum	pûuvishak	nisaanámniheen	kúkuum	vúra	yítha	nithyúrurupuk
	then	so	again	in.the.bag	I.put.it.in	again	Intensive	one	I.drag.it.out

I put him in the sack with the rest. Then I dragged out another one.

[41]

yánava

kári

vúra

sú

kári

xas

vaa

kúna

nithyúrurupuk

táma

ikrívki

papihnêefichtunvêechas

visible

then

Intensive

inside

then

then

so

in.addition

I.drag.it.out

then

six

the.little.coyotes

And there was one more still inside. Then I pulled out that one too. There they were, six little coyotes!

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[42]	itha'ithvákaam	u'árihish
	one.large.load	it.becomes

It made a big load.

[43]	tée	kxúrar	xas	ni'ípak
	PERF	evening	then	I.return

It was late evening when I got back.

[44]	kári	xás	iinâak	xás	niknúpishrih
	then	then	indoors	then	I.dump.them.out

Then I dumped them out inside the house.

[45]	kári	xás	itha'îirish	vúra	kunihmáravarayva
	then	then	all.over.the.floor	Intensive	they.run.around

And they ran around all over the floor.

[46]	xás	ahup'ásipak	sú'	nimáhyaan
	then	in.the.box	inside	I.put.them.in

I put them in a big wooden box.

[47]	chavúra	axaksúpaa	kaan	sú'	kun'áraarahitih
	finally	two.days	there	inside	they.are.living

And kept them there two days.

[48]	nixus	áavahar	vúra	niyêeshriihveesh
	I.think	alive	Intensive	I.will.sell.them

I thought I might be able to sell them alive.

[49]	chímiva	púxay	vúraxay	kaneekvárishap
	soon	not.yet	really.not	they.buy.from.me

But it turned out that I couldn't.

[50]	kári	xás	ta'ítam	áhup	mûuk	axvâak	nipakóonaaheen
	then	then	so	wood	with.(by.means.of)	on.the.head	I.clubbed.them

Finally I clubbed them on the head with a stick.

[51]	kári	xás	pamukunaxvâa	kich	kaneekvárish
	then	then	the.their.heads	only	they.buy.from.me

Then they bought just the heads from me.

[52]

itnoopámahich

ník

kana'êeh

xás

váa

káru

vúra

pa'íshpuk

púvaxay

kana'êehap

káruma

chímiheesh

ithakûusrah

véenik

mit

paniykáranaat

five.each

a.little

they.gve.me

then

so

also

Intensive

the.money

not.yet

they.give.me

in.fact

soon.will

one.month

ago

near.past

that.I.killed.them

They would scarcely give me five dollars apiece for them. And even that money they haven't paid me yet, and it's almost a month since I killed them.