Mamie Offield: "The Greedy Father" (1957)

Primary participants: Mamie Offield (speaker), William Bright (researcher)
Date: 1957
Project identifier: WB_KL-24
Publication details: William Bright, The Karok Language (1957), pp. 218-219, Text 24
Additional contributor: Olga Pipko (annotator)

---

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

---

[1]	pathufkírik	muhrôoha	xákaan	kun'íinanik
	the.great.horned.owl	his.wife	both	they.lived

Owl and his wife lived together.

[2]	xás	táay	pamukuntúnviiv
	then	much	their.children

And they had many children.

[3]	tóo	tkaanvar	pa'ávansa	kookamáh'iit	vúra	tóo	tkaanvar
	he.has	spear.fish	the.man	every.morning	Intensive	he.has	spear.fish

The man went to spear fish, every morning he went to spear fish.

[4]	púyava	patée	kxurárahaak	yiimúsich	vúra	tóo	kpêehva	patu'ípak
	you.see	when	when.it.was.evening	little.ways.off	Intensive	he.has	shout	when.he.has.returned

When it was evening, he would shout a little ways off as he returned.

[5]	xás	tóo	piip	axichapipúniishich
	then	he.has	say	children-tail

He would say, "Little children-tail."

[6]	púyava	tá	kun'aachíchhiivrik
	you.see	PERF	they.were.happy.to.see.him

Then they were glad to see him.

[7]	púyava	vaa	tá	kunxúriha	páaxiich
	you.see	so	PERF	they.were.hungry	the.children

The children were hungry.

[8]	kúkuum	vúra	tu'ípak	vaa	tóo	piip	axichapipúniishich
	again	Intensive	he.has.returned	so	he.has	say	children-tail

The next time he returned, he would say, "Little children-tail."

(Bright: "From (basic) axiicha 'child' plus pipúniishich, a distorted double diminutive of ípun 'salmon tail.' Cf. footnote to sentence 21 of text WB_KL-23")

---

[9]

kári

xás

uxús

pamukúntaat

hûut

áta

kúth

pa'ípun

vúra

kích

tu'avíkvuti

patu'ípakahaak

then

then

she.thought

their.mother

how

maybe

because.of

the.salmon.tails

Intensive

only

he.has.been.carrying

when.he.returns

And (the children's) mother thought, "Why, I wonder, is he carrying only the tail when he returns?"

[10]	kári	xás	uxús	chími	kanmáhi
	then	then	she.thought	soon	let.me.watch.him

And she thought, "Let me watch him."

[11]	tuthaxústay
	she.has.suspected.him

She suspected him.

[12]	kári	xás	tu'asimáchishrihvunaa	páaxiich
	then	then	she.has.put.them.to.sleep	the.children

So she put the children to bed.

[13]	kári	xás	uum	u'áasish	ahinámtiimich
	then	then	3.SG	she.went.to.bed	the.very.edge.of.the.fireplace

And she went to bed, at the edge of the fire.

[14]	kári	xás	vúra	pu'ikviit-hára	káruma	kúnish	úkviit-hitih
	then	then	Intensive	she.didn't.sleep	in.fact	sort.of	she.was.sleeping

But she didn't sleep, the truth was she sort of slept (in pretense).

---

[15]	kári	xás	axmáy	upvôonfuruk	pathufkírik
	then	then	suddenly	he.came.in.again	the.great.horned.owl

And suddenly Owl came in again.

[16]	kári	xás	yôoram	upikrîish
	then	then	to.one.side	he.sat.down.again

And he sat down in the rear of the house.

[17]	kári	xás	vúra	vaa	káan	úkrii
	then	then	Intensive	so	there	he.sat

And he sat there like that.

[18]	kári	xás	uxús	áta	úkviit-hitih
	then	then	he.thought	maybe	she.is.sleeping

And he thought, "I guess she's asleep."

[19]	kári	xás	áak	úkuukirih
	then	then	in.the.fire	he.stuck.it.into.fire

And he stuck a stick in the fire.

[20]	kári	xás	úyuunka	pamuhrôoha
	then	then	he.poked.her.with.a.long.object	his.wife

And he poked his wife (with it).

[21]	kári	xás	vúra	pu'itxâarihvara
	then	then	Intensive	she.didn't.wake.up

And she didn't wake up.

[22]	kári	xás	uxús	miník	áta	tóo	kviit-ha
	then	then	he.thought	of.course	maybe	she.has	sleep

So he thought, "I guess she's asleep, all right."

[23]	kári	xás	kíxumnipaak	kúuk	u'uum	pasípaam	uthaanêerak
	then	then	corner.of.house.pit	to	he.went	where.the.grinding.slab	where.it.lay

And he went to the corner, where the grinding slab lay.

[24]	kári	xás	u'êechip
	then	then	he.picked.it.up

And he picked it up.

[25]	kári	xás	usaníshukva	pa'áama
	then	then	he.took.it.out	the.salmon

And he took out the salmon (from underneath).

[26]	kári	xás	ta'ítam	u'ávaheen
	then	then	so	he.ate.it

So then he ate it.

[27]	kári	xás	yiivári	kúuk	u'íipma	kúkuum	upítkaanvar
	then	then	rather.far	to.there	he.went.away.again	again	he.speared.fish.again

Then he went away again, he went to spear fish again.

---

[28]	kári	xás	pa'asiktâan	uvôonsip
	then	then	the.woman	she.got.up

Then the woman got up.

[29]	kári	xás	úsnak	pasípaam
	then	then	she.pushed.it.aside	the.grinding.slab

And she pushed aside the mortar.

[30]	kári	xás	usaníshukva	pa'áama
	then	then	she.took.it.out	the.salmon

And she took out the salmon.

[31]	kári	xás	ta'ítam	u'ákihvunaaheen	pamutúnviiv
	then	then	so	she.gave.it.to.them	her.children

Then she gave it to her children.

[32]	ta'ítam	kunpáxtiivpunaa	aachíchhar	vúra	kunpihmarápiithva
	so	they.played.again	happy	Intensive	they.ran.around.again

So they played again, they ran around again happily.

---

[33]	kári	xás	yiimúsich	vúra	ukpêehva	axichapipúniishich
	then	then	little.ways.off	Intensive	he.shouted	children-tail

Then he shouted a little ways off, "Little children-tail!"

[34]	kári	xás	pa'ûumukich	u'uum	kári	xás	uxús	hûut	kúth	papukana'aachichhîivriktihara
	then	then	when.close.by	he.arrived	then	then	he.thought	how	because.of	that.they.are.not.happy.to.see.me

Then when he got near, then he thought, "Why aren't they happy to see me?"

[35]	kári	xás	poo'íipma	xás	upvôonfuruk	iinâak
	then	then	when.he.returned	then	he.crawled.indoors.again	indoors

And when he got there, he crawled inside again.

[36]	kári	xás	á'	úkxiiptak	thîivakar
	then	then	above	he.flew.on.top.of.it	drying.rack

And he flew up onto the drying rack.

[37]	kári	xás	úmuusti	pamusípaam
	then	then	he.was.looking.at.it	his.grinding.slab

And he looked at his grinding slab.

[38]	kári	xás	upíip	hûu huhûu	kúnish	nanisípaam	tuyuunhítih
	then	then	he.said	owl's.cry	sort.of	my.grinding.slab	it.is.out.of.position

And he said, "hûu huhûu, my grinding slab is sort of crooked."

---

[39]	kári	xás	upíip	hári	ti'áhachakunaa	pamitúnviiv
	then	then	he.said	sometime	you.have.held.out.on.them	your.children

Then (his wife) said, "You held out on your children at various times.

[40]	koovúra	mímyaahti	vaa	ikupítiheesh	fátaak	á'	ikûuntakoovish
	all	your.life	so	you.will.be.doing	somewhere	above	you.will.sit.on.it

All your life you will be doing that, you will sit on something above.

[41]

víri

payaas'ára

hûutva

tu'íinahaak

víri

payaas'ára

kâarim

tukúphaak

vaa

kári

xás

ík

ichuuphítiheesh

so

the.Humankind

somehow

when.it.exists

so

the.Humankind

bad

when.it.has.done.it

so

then

then

must

you.will.be.speaking

However (long) Mankind exists, when Mankind does bad, then you will have to speak.

[42]	hûutva	kóo	mímyaahti	pati'ívahaak	púra fâat	vúra	îin	aamtíheeshara
	somehow	as.much.as	your.life	when.you.die	nothing	Intensive	TOPIC	it.won't.be.eating.you

All your life, when you die, nothing will eat (you).

(Bright: "Two Karok assertions are involved here: the first, that the owl's cry is a sign that someone has done evil; the second, that no wild animal will eat a dead owl.")

[43]	kúna	naa	naa	káru	paninitúnviiv	páy nanusúruk	kúuk	tá	nupávyiihma
	in.addition	1sg.	1sg.	also	my.children	underground	to	PERF	we.go.back.to

But I, I and my children, we are going underground.

[44]	hûutva	kóo	yaas'ára	u'íinahaak	víri	yaas'araréethvaaykam	nivúrayvutiheesh
	somehow	as.much.as	rich.person	when.it.exists	so	in.front.of.rich.people	I.will.be.going.around

As long as Mankind exists, we will be around in front of rich people.

[45]

víri

vaa

kuthítiimtiheesh

pánaa

kâarim

tá

nixus

peeshviripshúruk

poofyúkutihat

yakún

na

vaa

peeshvírip

so

so

you.will.be.hearing.it

when.I

bad

PERF

I.feel

under.the.pine.trees

when.he.was.going.around

you.see

1sg.

so

the.Jeffrey.pine

You will hear it, when I feel sad, when (someone) goes around under pine trees, because I am Pine."

(Bright: "The reference is to the sad sound made by wind in the pines.")

[46]	xás	pasárum	víri	vaa	pa'ásip	kunvíiktih
	then	the.roots.of.Jeffrey.pine	so	so	the.baskets	they.are.weaving.them

And they weave the baskets of pine roots.

[47]	víri	vaa	yaas'araréethvaaykam	uvúrayvutiheesh
	so	so	in.front.of.rich.people	they.will.be.going.around

They will be around in front of rich people.