Nänabushu slays Hewer-of-his-Shin
Mii dash awe mindimooye gichi-minwendang waabamaad miinawaa oozhisheyan.
Gaawiin dash wiin igo ogikendanziin bangii nawaj gii-aanji-oskiniigiinid. Mii dash e-naad oozhisan: “Apane awiya ningii-pi’odisigoog; izhi-waad gii-nisigooyan. Miinawaa aanind indigoog, ‘Nookomis, nin-dagwishin,’ onjida bi-izhiwaad,” odinaan oozhisheyan. Mii dash Nenaboozhoo nishkaadizid, mii dash e-naad ookomisan: “Geyaabi giga-naganin. Gaawiin mashi ni-mikawaasii aweneniidog jaagi’aagwen nin-gitiziimag.” “Aa! noozhis,” odinaan, “gigii-kidimaagis. Gaawiin gidaa-kashki’osii ji-izhaayan iwidi ayaad aw gaa-kiiwooshi’ik, [gaa-giiwizi’ig]” odinaan. “Aandish ayaad?” “Mii iwidi ayaamagag naawaya’ii gichi-gichigamiing bezhig minis. Gaawiin dash wiikaa awiya izhaasii iwidi. Mii go aapiisikaad awiya e-zhaajin. Gaawiin dash gikendanziin amanj ji-dagwishinoowaagwen iwidi, gonimaa gaye nwaande-nibowaagwen,” odigoon ookomisan. “Mii dash iwidi ayaad aw manidoo; e-zhinikaazod Gaa-jiigiga’ang-okakwan, mii e-nind mii apane ezhi-jiigiga’ang iw ogakawan, inaa. Giishpin awiya izhaad iwidi ayaabita izhi-aawang mii debwewe’ang ogakwan,” odinaan. “Oo!” odigoon oozhisheyan. Mii dash geget giizhendang Nenaboozhoo, inendam wii-izhaad. Mii dash e-naad ookomisan: “Booch ninga-nandawaabamaa,” odinaan. Mii dash Nenaboozhoo miinawaa gaa-izhi-ozhiitaad miinawaa gii-ozhitood osaawaanan, nisogon minik ji-aabajitood ogii-izhi-ozhitoonan. Mii dash gaa-kiizhitood miinawaa Nenaboozhoo mamadesidood ojiimaanish. Mii dash maajaad Nenaboozhoo gwayak gaa-ininamaagod ookomisan. Ningoding dash giiwenh Nenaboozhoo ani-babimishkaad, zhigwa geget gegoo onoondam gwayak e-zhaad. Ezhi-agwamod nendotang; zhigwa geget onoondaan. “Denh denh,” inidam. Mii e-nendang: “Na! mii iwe nookomis gaa-izhid,” inendam. Mii dash geget maajaad enigok. Nenaboozhoo gomaapii miinawaa nandotam zhigwa miinawaa onoondam. “Dwenh dwenh, dwenh,” (1) initam. Nawaj beshodaagwadini. Miinawaa maajaad enigok. Ningoding igo miinawaa ani-ayinaabid, gego owaabandaan oniigaaniimi; indigo gegoo bemibeshibii’igaadeg; mii dash ayinaabid, “Mii maawiin i’iw zhayiigwa dayebinaagwak minis e-zhaayaan,” inendam. Mii dash geget enigok bimishkaad. Gomaapii dash miinawaa nandotam, mii geyaapi enitang. “Dwiinh dwiinh,” (2) initam. Mii imaa gwayak endanitang bi-midii bi-naagwadinig aki. Mii nangwana geget iw gaa-izhinang. Mii dash miinawaa maajaad, zhayiigwa owaabandaan weweni aki; mii dash miinawaa ezhi-nandotang, mii miinawaa noondang. “Dwiinh dwiinh,” (3) initam. Mii go ezhi-koshkwaagamiseg nibi epiichi-kizhiiweganaandang iw ogakwan aw manidoo. Mii dash giiwenh Nenaboozhoo zhayiigwa ani-jegised imaa gwayak endanitang; geget eni-gabaad owaabandaan ondamoninig miikana. Mii dash eni-zhi-kopa’adood [gopii’adood?], owaabandaan wiigiwaamens badakidenig; mii dash giimooj eni-zhi-naazikang; eni-zhi-dapaabandang, owaabamaan akiwenziiyan nenaange-naasamabinid, mii dash dakonaminid gegoo. Mii dash ezhi-waabamaad bakite’aminid ogakwan, dibishkoo jiigiga’igeng mii endoodang. Gagwaanisagakamig dash epiitwewekanaadang. Mii dash wiin Nenaboozhoo, imaa niibawid ganawaabamaad. Gomaapii dash bi-gwekitaawan mii dash e-god: (4) “A-a-a Nenaboozhoo! Gi-bi-nandopanidaw ina?” odigoon. “Aye’,” odinaan Nenaboozhoo. “Awawasa!” Bekish baapikaazod, epiichi-maanimaad Nenaboozhoon; gaawiin giiwaadendanzii ji-shaagooji’aad. Mii dash gaye wiin Nenaboozhoo, “Ahaaw, wewiib!” Mii dash geget biiwanaangiid, bi-pazigwiid gaye; mii dash ezhi-pi-saaga’ang. “Aaniish, giga-onaabandaamin [onaabanjigemi] ge-dazhikotaadiyang,” odigoon. “Ahaaw,” odinaan. Mii dash geget wawenaabandamowaad. “Mii omaa,” ikidowag. Ayinaabi Jaagaga’ang-ogakwan. Dedaataganaabid gaye wiin Nenaboozhoo; gii-owenigaabawi, odashwiiwin dakonam, mitigwaabiin gaye. Wiin dash Jaagaga’ang-ogakwan, odakonaan asiniin bagamaagan. Mii dash zhigwa ganoonidiwaad, “Ahaaw dash!” Geget Nenaboozhoo gaye wiin obimwaan, gaye wiin dash Jaagaga’ang-ogakwan bakitewaan obagamaagan. Mii dash geget gichi-ojaanimii’idiwaad. Nenaboozhoo gegaa go mii eta e-nanokiid dabazid, geget odoo-jaanimii’igoon. Mii dash gaye wiin Nenaboozhoo, bepimojiget. Megwaa dash zhigwa gichi-baapiniikotaadiwaad, gaye wiin Nenaboozhoo zhayiigwa agaasinaadiniwan odasaawaanan. Megwaa sa go Nenaboozhoo awiya onoondawaan biibaagimigod ishpiming inakakeyaa, igod: “E, Nenaboozhoo, ojishkibonwaaning bimo!” initam Nenaboozhoo. Nanaakawezh biibaagi gaye wiin: “Waa!” ikido Nenaboozhoo. “Ojishkibanwaaning bimo!” Mii dash e-god Jaagaga’aminid-ogakwan: “Aaniin, Nenaboozhoo? Awenen genoonad?” odigoon. Nenaboozhoo dash ikido: “E-e-e-ii, agaasiinawag na ni-shiimeyag giizhigong sayaasiidwaabamiwaad?” odinaan. Mii dash geget Nenaboozhoo ezhi-pimwaad iniw Jaagaga’aminid-ogakwan imaa gaa-inind ji-pimwaad, anzapidenig obikwanaang wiinizisan; mii dash ezhi-mizhwaad. Mii dash e-god: “Waa, Nenaboozhoo, mii nangwana giin geget wii-nshiyan?” odigoon. “A-a-a-a-aa!” odinaan. “Mii nange gi-pabaapini’in!” (5) odinaan Nenaboozhoo. Miinawaa bimwaadin ojishkibanwaanining. Mii go miinawaa naasaab e-god: “We [waa?], Nenaboozhoo! mii nangwana giin igo geget wii-nishiyan?” odinaan. “Mii naange kaa!” ikido Nenaboozhoo. “Giin gaa-nisadwaa niigi’igoog,” odinaan, “gaye giin dash giwii-nisin!” odinaan. Bekish Nenaboozhoo a’iin danwewetoo gaye babimojiged. Mii dash zhayiigwa gawinawaad. Mii dash e-god miinawaa: “Mii, Nenaboozhoo, izhi-pooni’ishin! Meshkod gegoo giga-miinin.” “Wewiib miishin!” odinaan. “Wiindamawishin gaye aaniindi gaa-doodawadwaa noos ninga gaye gakina gaye bemaadisiwaapan!” odinaan. Mii dash geget e-god: “Gi-waabandaan na owe noongom endazhikotaadiyang minis? Ingiw idash mitigoog wayaabamadwa bedakizowaad mii igiw bemaadiziwaapan. Mii dash iwe gaa-izhi’agwaa ji-mitigoowiwaad,” odigoon. “Giishpin dash booni’yan, giga-miinin ged-aabajitooyan ji-aabijiibaa’awaa,” odigoon. “Wewiib wiindamawishin aaniin ge-doodamaan ji-aabijiibaa’iweyaan.” “Imaa izhaan biindig gaa-pi-onji-pazigwiiyaan, giga-waabandaan imaa mitigoo-makakoons; biidoon dash omaa.” Mii dash geget Nenaboozhoo naazikang; gaawiin gaye opagidinaasiin omitigwaabiin. Mii dash e-god: “Gi-waabandaan o’ow ateg omaa makakoonsing, mitigoo-makakoonsing; mii omaa eteg ge-onji-aabijiibaa’ad goos giga gaye,” odinaan, “miinawaa aanind bakaan. Mii dash ge-doodaman: giga-baazagwaakowaa aw mitig biinish ji-waabamad mitigoowid; mii dash mitigoons gedizhi-jekinaman o’ow omaa makakoonsing eteg; mii dash ged-izhi-shishoo’aman imaa gii-paazkaanagekowad aw mitig,” odinaan. “Oo! mii na gakina?” odinaan. “Mii sa gakina.” Mii dash miinawaa ezhi-pimwaad ojishkibanwaanining, mii dash nisaad. “Owa!” odinaan. “Aaniin (6) giin apane waa-ishkaatooyan aki! Noongom idash giga-dishi’in ji-onji-pimaadag aki,” odinaan. Mii dash gaa-izhi-maajitaad gii-pi-giishkizhwaad. Mii dash ezhi-saswewebinaad, bebakaan gakina ezhi-ayapaginaad; dash waawiinaad gedaawinidi, bebaamiba’idiwaad akiing aya’awashensag, gaye bebaamisejig, gichi-awesiiyag gaye. Mii dash miinawaa Nenaboozhoo gaa-ishoo-daapinang iw omakakoons, gii-izhichiged gaa-igod. Bijiinag igo bezhig gaa-toodawaad mitigoon, baabige gii-niibawi imaa inini. Mii dash miinawaa bezhig gii-toodawaad. Miinawaa niibiwa gii-izhichige. Ningoding idash igo mii gii-mikawaad oosan ogiin gaye, osayenyan gaye Nenapaadaman. Mii dash Nenaboozhoo e-god osayenyan, baabige go omaa miigizomigoon baapiwaad: “Gigii-noondaw ina gii-ganooninaan?” Nenaboozhoo dash odinaan: “Aaniindi?” odinaan. “Gegaa gi-mamaazhi’ig aw akiwenzii.” Mii nangwana aw Nenaboozhoo gaa-biibaagimigoogobanen megwaa gii-paapishiwe’idiwaad Jaagaga’aminid-ogakwan. Mii dash Nenaboozhoo geyaabi aapiji ondamitaad aabijiibaa’aad mitigoon; nangwana anindoowiwaad bemaadiziwaagobanen. Wawiinge mooskinemagad iw minis. |
Thereupon the old woman was very happy to see her grandson once more.
And not at all did she realize that she had been made younger. So then she said to her grandson: “All the time some creatures came to me here; they told me that you were slain. Again by some would I be told, ‘O my grandmother! I have come home.’ With some design they came speaking thus to me,” she said to her grandson. Thereupon Nänabushu was angry, and he said to his grandmother: “Again shall I leave you. Not yet have I found the probable ones that must have slain all my relatives.” “Alas! my grandson,” she said to him, “you are to be pitied. You may not be able to go there where abides the one who made you an orphan,” she said to him. “And where is it?” “At yonder place in the centre of the great sea is an island. And never has any one gone there. And he goes for good whoever goes there. I don’t know whether they have ever arrived at the place, or if they died on the way,” he was (thus) told by his grandmother. “And over there is a manitou; he is called Hews-upon-his-Shin, for it is said of him that ever is he hewing upon his shin. It is said of him that if any one should go thither, then at half way to the place would one hear the sound he makes upon his shin,” she said to him. “Really!” was she told by her grandson. Thereupon in truth did Nänabushu make up his mind, he thought that he would go. And so he said to his grandmother: “Determined am I to go look for him,” he said to her. Thereupon Nänabushu again made ready by making spear-pointed arrows, enough to last him three days was the number he made. And so after he had finished them, then again Nänabushu put his canoe in order. And then away went Nänabushu straight towards where it had been pointed out to him by his grandmother. Now, by and by, they say, as Nänabushuwent paddling along (in his canoe), presently something he truly heard straight (on the way) whither he was going. He let his canoe go floating quietly along upon the water while he listened to the sound; presently he clearly heard a sound. “Tän, tän,” (such) was the sound he heard. Thereupon he thought: “Hark! that is what my grandmother told me,” he thought. And so truly he hurried on. Nänabushu later on again listened for the sound, presently again he heard it. “Twän, twän, twän,” (1) was what he heard. Nearer it now sounded. Again he hastened on. Another time, as he was looking about, he saw something in the way ahead of him; it was an object like a line drawn across his course; and then, as he looked, “Perhaps that is which is now coming into view is the island for which I am bound,” he thought. Thereupon he truly hastened on with his canoe. Farther on he listened again for the sound, and he heard it the same as before. “Twin, twin,” (2) was the sound he heard. Straight from the yonder place where the land was coming into view he heard the sound. It turned out truly to be (the island) that he had seen. And now, as he continued on, he presently saw the land in plain sight; thereupon again he listened, and then again he heard the sound. “Twin, twin,” (3) was what he heard. And then the water trembled, so loud was the manitou hewing upon his shin. Thereupon it is said that Nänabushu now drove his canoe straight for the place in the shore from whence he heard the sound come; truly as he went ashore he saw a path leading away somewhere. And as he followed it up from the shore, he saw a small wigwam standing; and so secretly went he up to it; as he peeped in, he saw an old man seated in a squatting pose, facing him, and he had hold of something in his hand. And as he watched him striking upon his shin, it was like hewing upon a log, such was his manner of doing it. And frightful was the sound that he made when he struck. And as for Nänabushu, there he stood observing him. After a while the other then turned about, and said: (4) “Aha, aha, aha, Nänabushu! Have you some to make war upon me?” he was told. “Yes,” to him said Nänabushu. “Very well, then!” At the same time he made a pretence at laughing, so deep was his contempt of Nänabushu; he had no doubt but that he would prevail over him. And as for Nänabushu, too, “Come, make haste!” And so, in truth, up he slowly rose from his couch, and up he rose to his feet; and then he came out of doors. “Well, let us pick out a place where we are to fight each other,” (Nänabushu) was told. “All right,” he said to him. Thereupon they truly sought for a place. “Here is a place,” they said. Round about looked Hewer-of-his-Shin. And up into the air looked Nänabushu; he stood in his place, his shield he barried [carried?], so too his bow and arrows. And as for Hewer-of-his-shin, he held in his hand a war-club of stone. Thereupon they now addressed each other, saying: “Ready!” And truly Nänabushu then shot at him, and then in turn Hewer-of-his-shin struck him with his war-club. Thereupon exceedingly hard at work they truly kept each other. Nänabushu nearly all the while was occupied in dodging the blows, truly was he kept stirring by the other. And so for Nänabushu, he too was active with his shooting. While they now were in the thick of their fight with each other, then the supply of Nänabushu’s pointed arrows began to run low. And in the midst (of the fighting) Nänabushu heard the sound of some one calling out to him from above, saying: “Hey, Nänabushu! at the scalp-lock shoot him!” was the sound Nänabushu heard. Though busily engaged, out he also cried: “What!” said Nänabushu. “At his scalp-lock shoot him!” Whereupon he was told by Hewer-of-his-Shin: “What (is the matter), Nänabushu? With whom are you speaking?” he was asked. Nänabushu then said: “Ah, few do you think are my little brothers of the sky who protect me?” he said to him. Thereupon truly Nänabushu shot the Hewer-of-his-Shin there where he was told to shoot him, there were his hair was tied in a bunch at the back; whereupon he hit him (with the arrow). And then he was told: “Alas, O Nänabushu! is it true that now you really intend to kill me?” he was told. “Ah!” he said to him. “You surely do not think that I am simply trifling with you!” (5) to him said Nänabushu. Once more he shot him in the crown of the head. Whereupon again the same thing he was told: “Alas, O Nänabushu! is it true that surely now you mean to slay me?” he said to him. “Of course!” said Nänabushu. “You who slew my parents,” he said to him, “you too shall I slay!” he said to him. At the same time that Nänabushu was talking, he was all the while shooting. And then presently he brought him down with his shooting. Thereupon he was told again: “Now, O Nänabushu, do leave me alone! In return something will I give you.” “Hurry and give it to me!” he said to him. “Tell me, too, what you did to my father and mother and to all those who used to live in times past!” he said to him. Whereupon truly he was told: “Do you see this island where now we have fought each other? Those trees that you see standing are the same as they who used to live in times gone by. Such is the form I have made them, that they be as trees,” he was told. “Now, if you leave me alone, I will give you something to use to make them come back to life again,” he was told. “Make haste and tell me what I shall do to bring them back to life!” “Go yonder inside to the place from whence I rose to my feet, and you will see there a small wooden pail; and bring it here to me.” Thereupon Nänabushu truly went to fetch it; but he did not lay aside his bows and arrows. And then he was told: “You see what is here contained in this small pail, in this small wooden pail; there is contained here the means by which you are to bring back to life your father and your mother,” he said to him, “and all the others. Now, this you shall do: you shall scratch the bark from the tree until you see the part in the wood; and then a stick shall you dip into this that is contained here in the little wooden pail; and then shall you rub it upon the place where you have scraped the bark from the tree,” he said to him. “Oh! Is that all?” he said to him. “That is all.” Thereupon again he shot him in the crown of the head, whereupon he slew him. “There, now!” he said to him. “Dog (6) that you are, who was ever bent upon destroying the earth! So now I will derive from you the source by which the earth will be replenished,” he said to him. Thereupon he began slicing him into small pieces with a knife. And as he scattered the pieces about, in all the various direction he flung them; then he named them what they were to be, they that run about upon the earth as the little animal-folk, and they that fly about in the air, and also the large animal-folk. And then next after Nänabushu had taken up the little pail, he did what he had been commanded. As soon as he had done it to one tree, straightaway there stood in the place a man. And so to another he did it. Again to many he did (it). And then by and by he found his father and his mother, and his elder brother Nänā`pādam. And then Nänabushu was told by his elder brother, for immediately was he here teased by him while the people laughed: “Did you hear me when I spoke to you?” Whereupon Nänabushu said to him: “Where?” he said to him. “When the old man was about to prevail over you.” And so it was by him that Nänabushu was called upon while he and Hewer-of-his-Shin were fighting. And now Nänabushu was yet very busy bringing the trees back to life; truly it was they that used to live in a former time. To its full capacity was the island crowded. |