Syllabary Texts 110: How Old Man Gun was Blessed by a Bear

pimutat
pimutat
(1)âw, niciwâmis, pêyak kiwî-âcimostâtin.1 pâskisikan kî-isiyîhkâsôw. ê-pipohk mâcîw. wâpahtam wâti. wâpamêw niyânan wâkayôsa. kitâpamik. wâ-wâstinamâk. kitâpamêw.
(1)Now, my young friend, I want to tell you about a certain old man. His name was Gun. He was hunting in the winter. He came upon a den. He saw five bears. They stared at him. They beckoned to him. He looked at them.
(2)pôt-ôhi kîskicihcêyiwa. wîst-âwa kisêyiniw kîskicihcêw okihciniskihk, wîst-âwa wâkayôs okihciniskihk k-êsi-kîskicihcêt, «niyânan tipiskâki nisto kîkway kimiyikawin,» ê-itikot.2
(2)Then he saw that one of them lacked a claw on one paw. Now, this old man, too, lacked a finger on his right hand, just as that bear lacked a claw on its right front paw, and «Five nights from now you shall be given three things,» it said to him.
(3)tâpwê ê-kî-niyânano-tipiskâyik, wâpamâwasoyiwa owîkimâkana.3 nistiyiwa ocawâsimisa, pêyak nâpêsisa êkwa nîso iskwêsisa. tawâyihk awa nâpêsis ayâw. êkosi mitoni napakisiw. êkwa ôki iskwêsisak miyosiwak. êkwa awa nâpêsis nisto-tipiskâw kî-pimâtisiw.4 êkosi ôki iskwêsisak kî-kâ-kîs-ôhpikiwak.
(3)Really, when five nights had passed, his wife bore children. The children were three, a boy and two girls. The boy came between the others. Therefore he was entirely flat. But the girls were handsome. The boy lived three days. But the girls lived and grew to maturity.
(4)êkosi.
(4)That is all.
Footnotes
  1. Instead of this word he read kisêyiniw: “old man.”
  2. He read: wîsta mîna: “he too, also.” In reading he added itêhkê: “on that side.” The last phrase he read: awa wâkayoôs kâ-kîskicihcêt kistêyiniw mîna k-êsi-kîskicihcêt ana. He read: kimiyitin: “I give them to thee.”
  3. He read: ê-kîh-nisto-tipiskâyik: “after three nights.”
  4. He read: nistotipiskwah.