Mary Marshall
Medicine formula to get wealthy (1927)
Writing system: no hyphens | hyphens
Display style: paragraph |sentence | look-up
Text identifier: MM5
Speaker: Mary Marshall
Primary documentation: Edward Sapir
Edition: , Howard Berman, "Yurok Texts", Collected Works of Edward Sapir, volume
14, Northwest California Linguistics, ed. by Victor K. Golla and Sean O'Neill,
pp. 1025-1028
Manuscript source: Edward Sapir, Yurok field notebook, American Philosophical
Society
1. |
Pekwtuehl weet 'ok'w we'yon. Neeshkuue neemee' nuuewo'm kue we'yon 'o cheenomewes. Teno' negeee'nowo'm. Kwesee' kohchee 'o le's, Kee negeee'nowok'. Kwesee' lekwsee 'ee chyuuek'wee'n kue 'ohkween kue we'yon. Kwesee' keemohl 'o ko'moyo'm keet pegahchewo'm 'o 'o'lepeek. Keet tue' newor. Kwesee' 'o newo'm keech nohlpe'y. Keskee neekee sootok'w. Kwesee' heenoo 'o 'orogok'w kue cheenomewes. Kwesee' 'o newo'm wee't 'o chyuuek'wee'n kue we'yon. Weeshtue' 'o hooreche'w; 'ekah hole'm. Kwesee' 'ee kap hlo'm kue 'we-'ekah. 'O le'm, Kwesee' weet 'ee mehl 'ne-'maayohl? Kwesee' pa'aahl 'o loot' kue 'ekah. Kwesee' heenoo mehl neee'nowo'm kue 'ekah. Kye kwen neekee lenek'w kue 'ekah so puel. Kwesee' neeko'l wee't 'o 'we-chyuuek'weenek'. Kwesee' keech 'o ko'r nee loksee'hl weeshtue' kem 'o 'o chyuuek'wee'n 'o ko'moyo'm ko'l kye kwen 'o ruerowo'm. Kwesee' wohpue 'o so neee'nowo'm. 'O newo'm yue' weno'monek'w kue 'ekah. Kwesee' 'o hlo'm kue 'ekah wo'eeks so neee'nowo'm 'o newo'm k'en 'oohlke's k'ehl nuemee to'm. Kwesee' cheeekcheek wee'. Kwesee' nue 'o nek' pa'aahl 'o nek' kue cheeek. Wee' 'o pa'a'n kue 'o chyeguuek'wee'n wee' pa'aahl keech 'o 'ok'w kue cheeek. Kwesee' wee'eeet 'ue-koykuue'l wee'. Kwesee' pechan keech reeekomee' kue cheeek. Kwesee' hehlkues 'o nek' kue 'ee cheeek 'oolekw 'o soo'n. Pahtekws 'o nek' kego'r pegechan keech 'o reeekomee' kue cheeek. Hloneetue' kue toomewonee pahtekws keech 'o reeekomee'. Noohl 'o le's, Chuue'hl kee menechook'. Kee ko knoksemek' 'o'loolekwo'yohl. Kee knoksemek' k'ee 'ne-koykuue'l. Mokee kwehl paas ko'mee tene'm weesh komchue'm kee 'n-egoyk', Weeshtue' so'n. Kye kweneesh kee komchuemeen k'ee 'ne-mes neemokwsue wa's'o'y. Kwesee' neekee 'ue-menechohkwek' Pekwtuehl 'U-Kerrcherh weeshtue' laa'y so wonoye'eek. Choomee' nue keech ma raayo'ronah noohl cheeekcheek 'o'l ko nee keech me raayo'ronah. We'yk'oh keech 'ne-neskwechook'. |
At Pekwtuhl there lived an unmarried woman. After a while, a young man (her lover) did not see that maiden any longer. Always he kept looking for her. And then one time he thought, I'll go and look for her. He sat outside the house where that maiden lived. Sure enough, he heard her moving inside the house. Now it dawned. Then he saw her come out of the house. She went right down towards the river. That young man followed after her. He saw that maiden sitting there. That is where she was basket-weaving; she wove a basket-cap. He went right up and took her cap away from her. He said, Is that why you abandoned me? He threw that cap into the water. She looked at that cap. The cap floated away down river. She was always sitting there. One year went by, again she sat down there, then she heard some place there was singing. She looked towards the water. She saw that cap floating back. She picked up that cap, looked inside of it, and saw in it there lay something very small. It was Indian money. She took the money out and put it into the water. That money was there in the water where she was always sitting. Then that was her magic rock. In a little while it was full of Indian money. She took that money out of the water and packed it back to the house, up from the river. She put it into a storage basket; one by one in a little while they filled up with Indian money. Finally as many storage baskets as there were had filled up. Then she thought, Now I'll go away. I'll leave it among human beings. I'll leave that magic rock. Nevertheless there will not be many people who know and will tell about me how I did. Whoever knows my medicine will never be poor. Then right away she left Pekwtuhl Ridge and went to heaven. I ran along so far away, I ran along as far as Dentalium Home. Now I've come back. |