Hupa Language Online

HSAC-09

Frog's Love Medicine
told by Minnie Reeves
1963
Hoopa Valley, California
Transcribed by Victor Golla

ch'ixolchwe:-dung'
(In) myth (time) - past,

ta:q'in
three people, a trio

k'ehłtsa:n
(of) girls

siday
lived, stayed somewhere.

In Myth times past, there were three girls living together.

nahnin
Two of them

tin
very

ningxa'-ya'nehwa:n
they were good-looking;

łiwun
one of them

tin
very

ch'inchwe'n
she was ugly

ch'ahl
Frog.

Two of them were very pretty. One was very ugly -- Frog.

xoq'it*-xw*
All over her

k'ijiqon
lumps

silay
lay.

She had lumps all over her.

*Pronounced as if it were {xo-q'oxw}.

haya:ł
Then

'a:ya'de:ne'
they (people) said,

de:-nohoł-yinuq-yiduq*-mił*
"With us here - upstream - uphill from (that direction)

k'ixunay
k'ixunay (spirit-being)

q'un-ch'iwilchwil
young men

ch'iwidił -te:
travel along - (future).

Then people said, "Some young K'ixunay men will be coming along from the east.

*That is, to the east of Hoopa Valley. De: noh-oł "with us here" usually refers to Hoopa Valley. The compound directional term yinuq yiduq "upstream-uphill" is the traditional way of referring to the direction of the sunrise. The Trinity flows through the valley from the SE towards the NW, hence someone going both upstream (SE) and up away from the river (NE) would be heading due east.

xwa'ut
Wives for themselves

me:ya'de:din
they desire.

They are looking for wives.

'ut-t'e:n
To get married

ch'iwidił -te:
they travel along - (future)."

They'll be coming along to get married."

haya:ł -'ung'
Then - it was

hayah
there

k'iniwh
news came

hay
(of) them.*

They heard news of them coming, there where the three girls lived.

*That is, reports were received of their approach.

haya:ł -'ung'
Then it was

hay -yo:w
those

nahnin
two (girls)

ningxa'-ya'nehwa:n
(who were) good-looking

xona:ya'siwila'
they made fun of

ch'ahl
Frog

The two pretty ones made fun of Frog.

ło'
Laughter

xowinse'n
happened (= they laughed),

'a:ya'de:ne'
they said,

hay -yo:w
"That one

'una:n'-dowh
is undoubtedly the one

xoch'ing'
to whom

ya'widił -te:
they came along - (future)!"

They laughed and said, "She's the one, surely, that they'll come to!"

haya:ł -'ung'
Then it was

ch'ahl
Frog

'a:diwun
for herself

ch'iwinchwiw
she wept.

Frog wept for herself.

ch'ohłts'it
She knew

hay
that

ch'inchwe'n
she was ugly.

She knew she was ugly.

min'day'
OUtside the house

ch'e'ningya:
she went out

hujit
and

ch'iwinchwiw
she wept.

She went outside the house and wept.

haya:ł
Then

hayah-mił
there from

to:-ch'ing'
to the river

xoda'wingyay
she went down.

Then she went down to the river bank.

łich'iwh -q'it
Sand(bar) on

ch'e'ningyay
she went out,

ch'inehsday
she sat down.

She went out on the bar and sat down.

xonin'
Her face

na:wehs'a'
was bent down to the ground,

ch'iwinchwiw
she wept.

She turned her face to the ground and wept.

hay' xona:q'ito:'
tears

na:wehsle'n
flowed down

hay
the

no:xiwh-q'it
beach sand on,

łah-xw
just like

k'ita:ltsit
pits in the sand for leaching acorn flour in

wil'a'
coming to be there

sile'n
it was,

misGe'Gits*
small ones.

As her tears fell onto the sand of the bar, it was as if tiny leaching pits (k'ita:ltsit) were being made.

*The g sounds in this word are pronounced like English g or k, and not like either the g(y) of {k'ige'ji} "strawberry" or the q of {'inahsdiqe'} "he got up". This special g-sound is used only in words for small things, or in "baby-talk".