An Attack at Tish-Tang-Ah-Ding
told by Verdena Parker
July 25, 2011
Tish-Tang-Ah-Ding, Hoopa Valley, California
Transcribed by Justin Spence
- It has changed quite a bit.
- nikya:w
- big
- ch'e:wilin-ne'in
- a stream was coming out
- ła'
- one
- nikya:w
- big
- ch'e:wilin-ne'ing
- a stream used to come out
- It used to be one big stream coming out.
- But before when this war happened with the Yuroks, that, this man used to come over.
- ch'ine'ina:wh
- he used to come over
- xwiyłq'it
- Redwood Creek
- mił
- from it
- But ch'ingkya:w
- he was big
- hay
- these
- digyung
- here
- xoma:lyo'
- his relatives
- 'a:ya:'unt'e:-ne'ing
- they were
- He was a friend and relative to the people that lived here.
- It was a big sand bar over there, and so he would lay under the tree and then he would put his hand over his eyes like this.
- dahna'utiwh
- he would put it
- hayah
- there
- ch'e'ite'
- hey lay
- ch'ite'e'e'n
- he always watches
- ninis'a:n
- mountain
- ch'ine'ił'e'n
- he always looks at it
- k'iłixun
- deer
- ch'o:'ine'
- he always thinks
- He always think, oh, he's going to see if there's a deer up there.
- mine:jixomił
- after a while
- 'ungya'
- he realizes
- k'iłixun
- deer
- xe'e:nła:t-e:
- he saw it run by
- k'iye:
- again
- xe'e:xo:'awhil
- they are running by
- na:wa:
- there are
- ch'ondehsne'
- he got to thinking
- So he always looks up there, he see a deer run by.
- Pretty soon another one run by.
- And then a couple ran by.
- Then he thought, "There can't be that many deer up there at one time."
- haya:ł
- so
- xo'ji
- really
- ch'ite:ng'e'n
- he started looking
- So he really started looking.
- xe'e:xo:'awh
- they keep running by
- ya:xowht'e'
- their blankets
- xotis
- over them
- dahya:k'is'ut
- they have it draped
- And there was people running by up there and they had their, let's see, they used to wear deer hide wrapped around them.
- But they took it off and put it over them, so they look like a deer when they run by.
- haya:ł
- then
- de:
- you realize
- 'a:ya't'e:n
- they were doing it
- haya:ł
- then
- 'a:ch'ondehsne'
- he thought
- nehe'diwileh
- they're attacking us
- ch'ide:ne'
- he said
- dahna'diwinła:t
- he started running back
- So he started running and he said, "We are, people are declaring war on us." That means nehe'diwileh
- they're attacking us
- 'somebody's declaring war on us'.
- So that's how he notified the people that was down the river.
- And so then they went around the other side and let the people know that were cleaning nets over there.
- And so he survived it, but the people that were here didn't survive, they were all killed.
- So there was a strict law, even back in my time, some of you might be offended by it, but I was told over and over never to marry a Yurok because...
- But my mother married a Yurok.
- But anyway they, I was told that Bald Hill is the gate separating Yuroks and Hupas.
- We should never go down there and live, we should never try to interfere with people down there.
- And they should never come here and live, and they should never interfere with our way of life or anything.
- But that started changing way back in the 1940s, I think, so...
- Anyway, we are a mixture of people, I have grandchildren who are part Yurok and so on, so...
- I guess all these laws have gone by the wayside.
- Okay, anyway, that's what the law was.
- And so when I went to school there were a bunch of Yurok boys going to school, and they always tell me, "Oh, don't talk to the Yurok boys." I never talked to boys anyway, whether they're Hupa or Yurok, I didn't care.
- So, anyway.