003 Johnson AP - Khaaxh'achgóok - Translation.txt

{Number = 003}
{Type = Translation}
{Title = Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok}
{Author = Íx̱tʼikʼ Éesh / A.P. Johnson}
{Clan = Kiks.ádi; Kaagwaantaan yádi}
{Source = D&D 1987:82–107}
{Translator = Ḵeixwnéi / Nora Marks Dauenhauer}
{Page = 83}
1	To those of us Kiks.ádi
2	from Sitka,
3	many things happened.
4	We becarne salmon people,
5	Aakʼwtaatseen.
6	One of us also stayed with Kooshdaa Ḵwáani,
7	Ḵaakáa.
8	And one of us sailed out,
9	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok.
10	People usually wonder who is talking.
11	My father
12	was Takʼx̱oo.
13	He was the nephew of L.aanteech.
14	My grandfather
15	was Ḵaakʼwáji
16	and my great grandfather
17	Ḵaatʼaláa,
18	on my father’s side.
19	I have four names,
20	names given to me.
21	A white man would not use them.
22	Ix̱tʼikʼ Éesh,
23	Woolshooḵ.
24	This one though was given to me by my grandparents.
25	Shaayeexáak
26	and Wasdéik.
27	This story I will tell you
28	is of my mother’s maternal uncles,
29	when Ḵaax̱ʼachgook sailed out.
30	The place named Sitka
31	was a Tlingit village,
32	Sitka.
33	It is the place now called
34	Old Sitka.
35	But that place is not Sitka.
36	They called it G̱ajaahéen.
37	It is the one on this side; on the other side is Walachʼéix̱ʼi.
38	In between Noow Tlein was built by the Russians.
39	Now it is called Old Sitka by the white folks.
40	We only used to travel around in spring.
41	Once in a while
42	we lived there
43	in Chʼalʼg̱eiyita.aan.
44	After this
45	we frequented Shaaseiyi.aan.
47	When spring came
48	fur seals would drift in on the tide.
49	They would be throughout all these islands.
{Comment = Two line 51s, the first should be an indented continuation of 50.}
50	This is what people used to tire out and kill with spears.
51	They used two different kinds of spears.
52	How long
53	were the thongs
54	that were tied to the spear point?
55	They were called at sʼaan.aax̱w dzaas.
56	They were for a deep place.
57	And the thongs that battered the head
58	for a shallow place.
59	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok
60	had two wives.
61	An older woman
62	and a younger woman.
63	He frequentIy went hunting sea mammals.
64	He never lost out.
65	He was a master hunter.
66	Well, I wonder what happened to him.
{Page = 87}
67	When he went out again in the morning,
68	drat! he began missing his target.
69	His arms were tiring.
70	With his sisters’ sons
71	he started for the place where the fur seals were floating in a cluster.
72	He heard the sound of a fur seal pup crying.
73	Among the cries he heard a human voice:
74	“Don’t!
75	Don’t! Hush!
76	This is the place where Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok hunts,
77	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok.”
78	He said to his maternal nephews,
79	“Let’s go in now,
80	let’s go in now!”
81	Then they started going.
82	When they reached the beach of their village,
83	as he stepped out into the water,
84	he was a bow man,
85	one by one he took his spears
86	from the bow; then he broke them one by one.
87	He threw them into the sea.
88	When he had broken them all then
89	he started up.
90	How his young wife
91	loved eating fur seal meat.
92	That was why
93	he worked so hard at tiring fur seals out.
94	One evening people were cooking; they were eating.
95	These things we call cooking pots
96	were baskets,
97	tightly woven baskets.
98	Heated stones were thrown into them; it would boil.
99	People would boil salmon in these; meat was also boiled in them, it’s said.
100	This one woman cooked some; she boiled some seal meat.
101	She spooned it in a dish.
102	The young wife of his, this wife of Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok, slid her dish along side of it.
103	“Couldn’t you spoon some broth on this?”
{Page = 89}
104	They pushed her dish to the side.
105	This made
106	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok
107	feel pitiful.
108	As soon as they finished eating he told his wives, “Jaʼ,
109	go to my brothers-in-law.
110	Say to them,
111	‘Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok is in need of spears,
112	in need of spears.’”
113	When his wives came home men were carrying behind them
114	some very  nice spears
115	from his brothers-in-law.
116	At dawn they went aboard.
117	They started going.
118	They came among the fur seals.
119	He speared the one he thought was nice.
120	The point that tangles around the animal was on his spear.
121	But the fur seal didn’t dive down with the spear.
122	It was jumping on the surface heading for the open sea.
123	When they were on the outside of the islands
124	off Chʼalʼg̱eiyita.aan
125	when they were outside of them,
126	it was still jumping on the surface ahead of them.
127	While they were chasing it,
128	a strong wind storm overtook them.
129	Tup!
130	It was as swift as a gun shot.
131	They quickly turned back towards land.
132	“Be brave, my nephews
133	be brave.
134	Push your paddies way down.”
135	Oh, they paddled fast.
136	He would ask them,
137	“Is the boat still moving ahead?”
138	“No!
139	No!” “We’re not moving now.”
140	“Hurry!
141	Hurry! Paddle!”
142	In a while they said to him
{Page = 91}
143	“We’re drifting backward now.” It was toward dusk.
144	The wind still kept on blowing.
145	How tired was his younger
146	nephew.
147	He pulled his paddle into the boat.
148	They usually bought those ground squirrels from Chilkat.
149	Ground squirrel robes
150	were the ones used
151	in those days.
152	He lay back, wrapping the robe around his head.
153	All of them pulled their paddles aboard.
154	They began lying down.
155	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok was the last one
156	to pull his paddle aboard.
157	The wind began to carry them.
158	They could hear the loud sound of the storm wind.
159	Waves.
160	They were deaf
161	to anything else but the wind.
162	When many days went by
163	they were still asleep.
164	They had given up. “Let’s just let it happen,
165	let’s just let it happen to us.”
166	It was in the morning.
167	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok heard the noises.
168	My! Where did all the people come from? How they yelled!
169	They were all yelling that way.
170	Who were they that yelled that way?
171	From around his head he slowly lowered his robe.
172	He looked up.
173	Their boat was floating against the beach.
174	When he looked around he thought, “Isn’t that a big sand island?” It was very large, that big island.
175	Grass was growing on it.
176	It was very dense; bamboo
177	grew on the island.
178	But the voices though,
179	weren’t they
180	fur seal
181	sea lion
182	and sea otter?
183	Many kinds of sea mammals
184	were sitting on it.
185	He woke his nephews.
186	“Wake up!
187	Wake up! We’ve drifted ashore.”
188	Where was it they had drifted?
189	They didn’t recognize it.
190	When they had carried everything up the beach
191	then they brought their canoe up the beach; they brought it up
192	into same bushes.
193	“Remember to take good care
194	of your boat, my maternal nephews.
195	Remember to take good care of it,” Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok
196	instructed.
197	Were they without
198	fire rubbing sticks,
199	the things you start a fire with?
200	They’re rubbed together.
201	They made
202	a big
203	fire.
204	One fur seal was killed,
205	clubbed on the head.
206	They cooked.
207	They were quiet.
208	When they finished eating he told them
209	“Remember to check it frequently.
210	Remember to take care of your boat.
211	Yes.
212	Don’t let anything happen to it
213	or the things for our food either.
214	You’ll tan some
215	of the fur seal skins
216	and other skins.
217	But make the sea lions into thongs.
218	You can cut them in a circular motion
219	so that those thongs
220	can be long.”
221	They worked like he said.
222	Some of them barbecued meat
223	and dried it; they were nearly finished.
224	There was no water
225	on this island.
226	But the water would seep into the sand.
227	Where the wind storm broke the bamboo, the stumps were filled
228	with water, rain water.
229	That’s what they drank.
230	There wasn‘t another drop of water on the island though.
231	They worked all the time every day.
232	Toward evening,
233	toward evening when it was becoming dusk,
234	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok would sit outside.
235	People who were elders
236	routinely
237	sat outside.
238	We used to call it “a.án.”
239	Here they checked
240	the stars,
241	Venus
242	and
243	the Milky
244	Way.
245	They would check where they were now,
246	and where the moon was rising from
247	and where the sun was rising from.
248	They would check.
249	People used this as a map.
250	They used it also to work by.
251	That’s what he would look at toward evening.
252	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok would sit there.
253	When night fell he finally lay back; he’d sleep.
254	It was already
255	more than a year.
256	But Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok
257	didn’t say much.
258	My, they would get lonely.
259	Where was their village?
260	Where was it?
261	They didn’t know.
262	It was like a container
263	with the lid
264	lying on top of them.
{Page = 97}
265	Nobody knew where they were.
266	But Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok
267	had figured it out already.
268	He told them to get bamboo,
269	two,
270	as long as the boat.
271	To the end they tied
272	the stomachs
273	fur seal stomachs; they put sand into them.
274	But the sea lion stomachs they inflated for water containers.
275	And the sea lion whiskers, the very long ones
276	were for under their feet,
277	for under their feet,
278	They began tying them in bundles.
279	My! They were piled high, those tanned skins, the very nice ones.
280	They gathered all their preserved food too.
281	Toward evening Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok said to them,
282	“We will be leaving
283	first thing in the morning.
284	We’ll start out
285	while the handle of the big dipper is still visible.”
286	When it was early morning, while they still couldn’t see, they woke
287	and loaded the boat.
288	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok steered the boat
289	by the stars.
290	Ohhhh
291	did they paddle.
292	They ate while they paddled.
293	The meat they had cooked and the ones they dried
294	they ate.
295	Toward evening they anchored with the things
296	they had made for anchors,
297	bamboos.
298	They had tied the stomachs to the end,
299	the stomachs with the sand inside them.
300	That was what they lowered into the sea,
301	one on one side
302	and another on the other side; down
303	deep they lowered them.
{Page = 99}
304	They didn’t drift away that night
305	while they slept.
306	Each morning they would begin paddling again.
307	Ohhhh!
308	how long they would paddle.
309	They didn’t drink much water.
310	But they had some inside animal stomachs,
311	some water.
312	How many days they had been going
313	on the ocean.
314	One man yelled out
315	“Hey! That’s a seagull there; it’s drifting in front of us.
316	There it is!
317	Steer toward it!
318	Set your bow on it.”
319	It was already nearly fall.
320	Perhaps it was toward winter.
321	The mountains were already dusted with snow.
322	The head of the seagull was beginning to cut
323	through the ocean.
324	Here it was the tip of Mt. Edgecumbe.
325	There was a little snow there.
326	This was what they were calling a seagull.
327	They really didn’t want to call the mountain
328	by its name.
329	After they had recognized it,
330	he said to them, “Steer the boat
331	into the arm.
332	Go!
333	Push your paddles
334	way down.”
335	My! they paddled fast.
336	They forgot about their food
337	and water.
338	They paddled fast.
339	When they reached behind the reefs
340	where kelp grew
341	they pulled some on board at the stern
342	and at the bow.
343	Then they lay down in the bottom of their canoe.
344	They slept inside it.
345	They rested inside the canoe.
{Page = 101}
346	Today it’s still called
347	“canoe rest”
348	because they rested there in this canoe.
349	When they got ashore they unloaded their boat.
350	They brought up their canoe; they cleaned
351	themselves up.
352	They were dressing up.
353	They bathed.
354	When they finished dressing up,
355	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok went up to the face of a rock; there he carved.
356	He carved on the rock
357	what had happened to them.
358	It was still there recently, the work of his hands.
359	(This is where we will go sometime.)
360	When they were completely dressed
361	they went aboard again; they began paddling.
362	The boat headed toward Daxéit.
363	It was near fall; the Kiks.ádi would move.
364	Some would move to Ḵunáa
365	to G̱eey Tlein
366	and Daxéit
367	and to the small streams; some of the places
368	were villages
369	where people camped; they would put up
370	their food.
371	The young woman,
372	his wife,
373	had a husband.
374	His nephew was her husband.
375	This woman
376	was missing Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok so very much.
377	This is why she was placed with a young man.
378	She had already recovered.
379	However, he was still lingering on the mind of that older wife of his.
380	The one who sailed
381	away from her
382	was still lingering
383	on her mind.
384	She would sit outside when the sun was setting.
{Comment = Line 386 is broken across a page boundary.}
386	When she had cried until no tears were left, she'd go inside.
{Page = 103}
387	It was while she was sitting there again
388	as her tears
389	flowed down her face
390	that she kept looking
391	at the tip of Yoo Luklihashgi Xʼaa.
392	The canoe came out of there.
393	When my mother’s maternal uncle came toward shore,
394	my grandfather Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok,
395	he would put his paddle in the ocean
396	four times; then he would pull it across the stern
397	with his left hand.
398	He would rest his elbows over his paddle.
399	This is what his wife
400	recognized.
401	When she was sure of what she saw she stood up.
402	She went inside.
403	“Well! The one long dead is coming.“
404	All his mannerisms
405	were still on her mind.
406	But they thought
407	her mind had snapped.
408	That was why they kidded her.
409	After a while someone went out there.
410	“Hey, it’s true,
411	a canoe is coming.”
412	Young men ran down the tide flats; it was low tide.
413	The tide flat extended way out at Daxéit.
414	This was where the men stood
415	all the way down the river.
416	There were many who went there.
417	When they were sure, they yelled out the news from down the river.
418	“Ḵaax̱ʼachgóooooooooook
419	has returrrrrrned!“
420	They could hear the news coming up.
421	When the news reached the village people started to run down; they became like a whirlpool.
422	But his older wife quickly began to cook.
423	Whichever foods
424	he really used to like
425	was what she cooked
426	for her husband to eat.
{Page = 105}
427	But the young wife of his
428	was shame-faced; it was on the face
429	of her husband too.
430	They sat with their heads down.
431	They wondered, what was going to happen to them?
432	Why was she so in a hurry to be married?
433	Now they were pulling up the canoe.
434	They just sat in the canoe.
435	When it was brought
436	up to the village that’s when they finally
437	got off the baat; they brought the things from inside the boat; they were piled up by the door, these skins
438	that were tanned
439	and the
440	sea lion whiskers.
441	When they had finished eating
442	when he finished telling the story
443	when he had finished telling of the things that had happened to them,
444	he told the people,
445	“Will you
446	distribute these to the people this way?
447	Hand the sea lion whiskers
448	out to the people.
449	The skins.”
450	He spoke with his sister’s son.
451	“Thank you, indeed,
452	my nephew, thank you,
453	you wiped the face
454	of your mother’s maternal uncle.
455	Thank you.
456	Surely, you care for each other.
457	Let’s just let it be.
458	Let things remain just the way they are.
459	You too!
460	You too!
461	Will you take good care
462	of my sister’s son,
463	good care.“
464	He handed skins out to all the people.
465	My! It made people happy.
466	Hadn’t he already made up his mind?
{Page = 107}
467	He had already made up his mind
468	about his thoughts
469	and what had happened to him.
470	He started singing
471	his song.
472	This is the one here
473	my mother’s maternal uncle
474	Ḵaax̱ʼachgóok,
475	the way he said it, indeed,
476	the way he said it!
477	But this is the only thing
478	you won’t hear.
479	What they did is now ended.
480	This is why
481	you won’t hear it.