Formula of Medicine for Going Among Rattlesnakes
told by McCann
October, 1902
Hoopa Valley, California
Transcribed by Pliny Earle Goddard
Source: Hupa Texts (UCPAAE vol. 1, no. 2), p. 317
- ch'ixolchwe:-ding
- At Tcexo:ltcweding
- do:-ch'iwehsyo'
- he did not like it.
While at Tcexo:ltcweding Yi:mantu:wingyai felt dissatisfied with something.
- duxwe:di-gya'awh
- "How
- na:nił-ne'
- must they live,"
- ch'ondehsne'
- he thought.
"How will the people live?" he thought.
- ch'itehsyay
- He started out.
- hayah-mił
- And
- yiduqi-q'eh
- along the Klamath
- wha:
- sun
- na:na:'ida:wh
- it went down
- mił
- then
- te'indil
- they flew along
- miłtsah-xosin
- rattlesnakes
- mich'ile'-xole:n
- wings they have.
He started out and walked up along the Klamath. When the sun went down, rattlesnakes which had wings flew about.
- hayah-mił
- And
- ch'ite:we'ing'il
- he looked about as he went along
- hay
- that one
- ch'iqa:l
- walking.
- 'a:ch'ondehsne'
- He thought,
- daydi-gya'awh
- "What kind
- mitł'ow'
- its medicine
- 'iwhchwe:
- shall I make?
He looked about as he went along and thought, "What kind of medicine shall I make?"
- hayah-mił
- And
- 'a:ch'ondehsne'
- he thought
- q'a:xis*
- kaxus
- 'ungya'
- he saw
- k'isxung
- standing.
He saw a bush of Philadephus standing there.
*Philadephus Lewisii.
- hay
- That
- k'iwa'ischwit
- he broke off.
- nulxich
- Rings
- ch'iswchwe'n
- he made.
- hay
- That
- k'itehłtits'
- he used for a cane.
He broke off a shoot, made rings around it, and used it for a cane.
- 'a:ch'ondehsne'
- He thought,
- tł'o:q'-na:sa'un-ding
- "Prairie it lies place
- 'a:dina:tse
- ahead of myself
- mił
- with it
- k'ite:sehłtsahs-te:
- I will whip,"
- ch'ondehsne'
- he thought.
"When I come to Lo:knasaunding, that lies ahead of me," he thought, "I will whip the air with it."
- hayah-mił
- And
- tł'o:q'-na:sa'un-ding
- prairie it lies place
- yisin-ch'in
- toward the west
- ch'e'ningyay
- he came out
- mił
- then
- 'a:dina:tse
- ahead of himself
- k'itehłtsa:s
- he whipped.
When he came out into the prairie at Lo:knasaunding he whipped about himself with the cane.
- hayi-q'
- "This way
- 'a:winehł-te:
- it will happen,"
- ch'ondehsne'
- he thought,
- hay-de:t
- "this
- whe:
- my
- whitits'e'
- cane
- ch'itehstun-de'
- if he takes along.
"This is the way it will happen," he thought, "if any one takes my cane along.
- xoh
- Even if
- me:tsah-xosin-ding
- dangerous places
- ch'itehsya:-te
- he goes
- hay-de:t
- this
- whe:
- my
- whitits'e'
- cane
- ch'itehstun-de'
- if he takes along,
- do:-xoling ch'iłtsis
- he will not see
- miłtsah-xosin
- rattlesnakes.
He will go through dangerous places if he carries my cane, and he will not see rattlesnakes."