Mary Marshall

Medicine formula to get wealthy (1927)

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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.
    At Pekwtuhl there lived an unmarried woman.
  2. Neeshkuue neemee' nuuewo'm kue we'yon 'o cheenomewes.
    After a while, a young man (her lover) did not see that maiden any longer.
  3. Teno' negeee'nowo'm.
    Always he kept looking for her.
  4. Kwesee' kohchee 'o le's, Kee negeee'nowok'.
    And then one time he thought, I'll go and look for her.
  5. Kwesee' lekwsee 'ee chyuuek'wee'n kue 'ohkween kue we'yon.
    He sat outside the house where that maiden lived.
  6. Kwesee' keemohl 'o ko'moyo'm keet pegahchewo'm 'o 'o'lepeek.
    Sure enough, he heard her moving inside the house.
  7. Keet tue' newor.
    Now it dawned.
  8. Kwesee' 'o newo'm keech nohlpe'y.
    Then he saw her come out of the house.
  9. Keskee neekee sootok'w.
    She went right down towards the river.
  10. Kwesee' heenoo 'o 'orogok'w kue cheenomewes.
    That young man followed after her.
  11. Kwesee' 'o newo'm wee't 'o chyuuek'wee'n kue we'yon.
    He saw that maiden sitting there.
  12. Weeshtue' 'o hooreche'w; 'ekah hole'm.
    That is where she was basket-weaving; she wove a basket-cap.
  13. Kwesee' 'ee kap hlo'm kue 'we-'ekah.
    He went right up and took her cap away from her.
  14. 'O le'm, Kwesee' weet 'ee mehl 'ne-'maayohl?
    He said, Is that why you abandoned me?
  15. Kwesee' pa'aahl 'o loot' kue 'ekah.
    He threw that cap into the water.
  16. Kwesee' heenoo mehl neee'nowo'm kue 'ekah.
    She looked at that cap.
  17. Kye kwen neekee lenek'w kue 'ekah so puel.
    The cap floated away down river.
  18. Kwesee' neeko'l wee't 'o 'we-chyuuek'weenek'.
    She was always sitting there.
  19. 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.
    One year went by, again she sat down there, then she heard some place there was singing.
  20. Kwesee' wohpue 'o so neee'nowo'm.
    She looked towards the water.
  21. 'O newo'm yue' weno'monek'w kue 'ekah.
    She saw that cap floating back.
  22. Kwesee' 'o hlo'm kue 'ekah wo'eeks so neee'nowo'm 'o newo'm k'en 'oohlke's k'ehl nuemee to'm.
    She picked up that cap, looked inside of it, and saw in it there lay something very small.
  23. Kwesee' cheeekcheek wee'.
    It was Indian money.
  24. Kwesee' nue 'o nek' pa'aahl 'o nek' kue cheeek.
    She took the money out and put it into the water.
  25. Wee' 'o pa'a'n kue 'o chyeguuek'wee'n wee' pa'aahl keech 'o 'ok'w kue cheeek.
    That money was there in the water where she was always sitting.
  26. Kwesee' wee'eeet 'ue-koykuue'l wee'.
    Then that was her magic rock.
  27. Kwesee' pechan keech reeekomee' kue cheeek.
    In a little while it was full of Indian money.
  28. Kwesee' hehlkues 'o nek' kue 'ee cheeek 'oolekw 'o soo'n.
    She took that money out of the water and packed it back to the house, up from the river.
  29. Pahtekws 'o nek' kego'r pegechan keech 'o reeekomee' kue cheeek.
    She put it into a storage basket; one by one in a little while they filled up with Indian money.
  30. Hloneetue' kue toomewonee pahtekws keech 'o reeekomee'.
    Finally as many storage baskets as there were had filled up.
  31. Noohl 'o le's, Chuue'hl kee menechook'.
    Then she thought, Now I'll go away.
  32. Kee ko knoksemek' 'o'loolekwo'yohl.
    I'll leave it among human beings.
  33. Kee knoksemek' k'ee 'ne-koykuue'l.
    I'll leave that magic rock.
  34. Mokee kwehl paas ko'mee tene'm weesh komchue'm kee 'n-egoyk', Weeshtue' so'n.
    Nevertheless there will not be many people who know and will tell about me how I did.
  35. Kye kweneesh kee komchuemeen k'ee 'ne-mes neemokwsue wa's'o'y.
    Whoever knows my medicine will never be poor.
  36. Kwesee' neekee 'ue-menechohkwek' Pekwtuehl 'U-Kerrcherh weeshtue' laa'y so wonoye'eek.
    Then right away she left Pekwtuhl Ridge and went to heaven.
  37. Choomee' nue keech ma raayo'ronah noohl cheeekcheek 'o'l ko nee keech me raayo'ronah.
    I ran along so far away, I ran along as far as Dentalium Home.
  38. We'yk'oh keech 'ne-neskwechook'.
    Now I've come back.