Living Our Language_ Ojibwe Tales & Oral Histories - Anton Treuer [75]
[4] Megwaa biini’aad onow, Bebaamosed—enind Nenabozho—megwaa bimosed a’aw gaa-izhi-waabamaad imaa iniw akiwenziiyan imaa namadabinid. Odaanan dash owiidabimigoon imaa. “Aaniish wenji-namadabiyeg,” ogii-kagwejimaan Nenabozho. Mii dash gaa-izhi-inaabid imaa giishkaabikokaaning imaa chi-waasa imaa enaabid. Mii dash akiwenzii gaa-izhi-inaad Nenabozhon, “Mii awiiya ge-giishkitood ji-azhe-gwaashkwanid, mii awe ge-wiidigemaad onow indaanisan omaa.” Owaabamaan odaanan. “Mii owe ge-izhichigeyaan,” gii-inendam Nenabozho gaa-izhi-wiindamawaad onow akiwenziiyan, “Niin sa go inga-wiidigemaa gidaanis. Inga-azhe-gwaashkwan owe omaa giishkaabikokaaning.”
[5] Mii dash ishkwe gaa-izhi-bimosed, noomag gii-niibawid imaa waabandang giishkaabikokaaning imaa gaa-izhi-chi-bimibatood imaa. Jiigayi’ii imaa gaa-izhi-chi-noogised. Gegaa sa go gii-pangishin imaa biinjayi’ii imaa. Wa hiyaa, gaa-izhi-waabamaad miinawaa odaanan. “Niin sa go inga-wiidigemaa.” Ishkweyaang go gaa-izhi-bimosed naanaagadawendang o’ow ge-izhichiged gaa-izhi-chi-bimibatood imaa miinawaa. Jiigayi’ii gaye gaa-izhi-chi-noogised gayesh. Gegaa go gii-pangishin imaa. “Hiyaa,” ikido Nenabozho, “Niin sa go inga-wiidigemaa gidaanis,” ogii-inaan akiwenziiyan gaa-izhi-azhe-bimibatood. Gii-chi-inendam o’ow. “Inga-izhichige. Gaye niin sa go inga-giishkitoon ahe-gwaashkwaniwaanen,” gii-inendam a’aw Nenabozho.
[6] Jibwaa-ani-bimibatood, gaa-izhi-booniinid ikwe-binewan imaa jiigayi’ii giishkaabikokaaning. Mii gii-inendang a’aw ikwe-bine, “Inga-goshko’aa a’aw Nenabozho jibwaa-ani-gwaashkwanid imaa.”
[7] Mii dash a’aw Nenabozho gaa-izhi-chi-bimibatood imaa. Jiigayi’ii gaa-izhi-chi-noogised; mii dash onow ikwe-binewan gaa-izhi-bazigwiinid, “Papapapa.” Gaa-izhi-goshko’aad onow Nenabozhon. Hay’! Mii sa go. Gii-pangishin imaa biinjayi’ii.
My Name Is Zhaawanoowinini
[1] My name is Zhaawanoowinini, and my clan is the Kingfisher. Where I am from, there at Red Lake, that’s where my parents were from. And my late mother, she was of the Bald Eagle Clan. My grandfather may have been from Canada. He came here. One time he visited this woman there at Ponema. That’s what my parents always said.
[2] And today I’m going to tell legends. It’s still winter today. And that’s how the Indians did things. Indians tell legends while it’s winter, in the midst of the winter.
The First Time an Indian Saw the White Man
[1] Once when the white people first came here, these ones there, the Indians around here, they had never seen white men.
[2] Then one time that man told his wife, “It’s the middle of autumn.” He told his wife, “Dear, I going to go hunting today. I am going to go there towards the west.” “All right,” she says, “When will you come back?” “I’ll be there in the bush for just a little while.”
[3] So that man left to go around hunting. While he was out there, he heard someone approaching. Then, he waited for him to show up—maybe, he thought, a deer. Wa, he stopped to wait for him there, hanging around there for a spell. And then he came there. Ho wa, he was going to see that white man, as that [Indian] guy was shocked by him. He had never seen a white man come there.
[4] “Hey,” that white man yelled, “You see anything today?” Ho wa, and maybe that Indian, perhaps he was afraid of that white man. “Ho, what can I think of to do,” thinks this Indian. “It’s a nice day today, eh,” he told him. Then that white man says, “Jeez, it’s a nice day out.” “Yup,” says that Indian. He saw him holding a gun. He had never seen a gun. “What’s this you’re holding,” this Indian asks him. He asked that white man. “Ya, it’s a good day,” says that white guy. By then, they are really sweating—the Indian and that white guy.
[5] And then that Indian blew his nose there on the