First Day Of School by Jerry Imotichey

The late Jerry Imotichey (1938-2016) shares a story from his childhood. This story talks about the sighting of a Lho̱faꞌ, or Bigfoot. Jerry was a long-time collaborator with the Chickasaw Language Revitalization Program. He was a skilled teacher of the language, as well as being a prodigious translator, working on many projects including language publications for the Chickasaw Press.
Transcriptions: If what was said cannot be heard well enough, it is marked as being (inaudible). In some instances, a speaker may go back and correct themselves, and these are marked like \this\, to indicate that \this\ replaces the previous word or phrase. Sometimes we are unsure what the speaker was saying but we give a best guess using a star*. If a speaker is shortening a word, we give the fuller form in (parentheses) next to it.
Translations: The English translations were done with guidance from native speakers. Sometimes, some clarifying words were added in [brackets], although this information is not part of what was actually said in Chikashshanompaꞌ.
Recording: This audio was recorded on May 15, 2013, as part of a Documenting Endangered Languages / National Science Foundation grant (BCS-1263699 and BCS-1263698). This work was supported in part by an American Rescue Plan grant, #90XN0047.
Image: Photograph by Ryan RedCorn (Osage).
www.chickasawlanguage.com
www.chickasaw.tv/language
www.chickasaw.net
Keywords: Chickasaw, Chickasaw language, Native language, Indigenous Language, Traditional Narratives, American Indian, Native American, First American, National Science Foundation

[@chickasawnationcultureandh9224]

Here is the full transcription of his story. To turn on subtitles in the video, please click the [CC] icon in the lower right corner of the video screen.
Nittak chiikimishshaash,
Long time ago,
hattakat, \hattak sipókniꞌ áyyaꞌshattookat,\ uh,
there were old people there who
nanna pomano̱lihnattook.
used to tell us things.
Haatoko̱, uh shikonnoꞌpaꞌ kani̱hkat aachi.
And then, they really told those animal stories.
Yamma hángloli. Hánglolihnattook.
I listened to those. I used to listen to them all the time.
Haatokoot yammako̱ amalhhiꞌsna (amasiꞌlhna)
So these here asked me and
chaffaꞌ chimo̱nolaꞌchi (chimano̱lilaꞌchi), uh, shikonnoꞌpaꞌ aayimma o̱no̱lit*
nanna sakanihmichittooka̱.
I'm gonna tell you one story about something that happened to me.
Haatoko̱ yamma̱, uh, amanohó̱lika̱ amilhlhahnattook.
So then, when they were telling me these things, I used to be scared.
Haatokoot, uh, holissaapisaꞌ ayalittook.
And then I went to school.
Himonnakaꞌ, nittak chaffaꞌ,
One time, one day,
yammoonit*, uh, aya iksabannookya, uh, sashkiꞌ ankiꞌ táꞌat
I didn't want to go there but my mother and my father
aachihmat "Ishiyyo makíllaꞌchi."
said, "You're gonna have to go".
"Ishiyyakmakoot nanna ishithanaꞌchi."
"If you go, you'll learn things."
Yahmikya iksabanno.
That was so but I didn't want to.
Ookya aaishtasoꞌnana ayalittook, yamma.
But they took me and I went there.
uh, Haatoko̱, hashiꞌ kanalliꞌ iklannaꞌ onaka̱ yamma̱ ántalikat, uh,
And then, I stayed there about half the day and
antakhoꞌbit tahattook.
I got lazy.
Haatokoot "anchokkaꞌ ayalaꞌchi," anhit, \anhilit\ bínniꞌlilitok. Haatoko̱,
So, "I'm gonna go home," I sat around and thought. And so,
anchokkaꞌ aafalamat ayali, akkaano̱wat.
I went back home, on foot.
Nittak chiikihma̱
Back in the day,
akkaano̱wat liitano̱wahnattook. Haatoko̱,
we went around on foot. And so,
akkaano̱wat ayali fala̱ꞌcha anchokkaꞌ yamma̱ má̱ali, hinaꞌ ma̱.
I went back home on foot, going along on that road.
Yamma̱, ofaapili'at, yamma̱,
On that stream,
ofaapi' toklo' abaanabli, mak~ uh, \makíllattooka̱\.
I had to cross two streams.
Haatokoot chaffaꞌ abaꞌ tíngbaꞌ abaanablilikat,
So then the first one I went over,
anoꞌa sakti ma̱ tiyyat má̱ali.
I climbed the banks.
Yánkaka̱ hinaꞌ naksikaꞌ chaffaꞌ,
And on one side of the road,
pisalika̱ ittiꞌ illiꞌat híkkiꞌyattook, yamma̱.
I looked and it was a dead tree standing there.
Pí̱sli, ittiꞌ illiꞌ ma̱.
I saw it, that dead tree.
Pisalika̱ nannahmat, uh, bínni'li ahoobattook, uh,
When I saw it, I thought I saw something sitting there,
uh, ittꞌ apiꞌ ma̱.
on the limb of that tree.
Ombínniꞌna pí̱sli yamma̱ amahoobattook.
It was sitting on there and I thought I saw it.
Haatokoot ano̱wa' pisali, atoklokaka.
And then again I looked at it, twice.
Haatoko̱ pisalika̱, yamma̱ nanna,
And then when I looked, this thing,
ishthooamano̱lootoko̱, yammako̱ pisalihmat Lho̱faꞌ, aachi.
since they had told me about it, when I saw that thing, they say it's a Lho̱fa'.
Haatoko̱ yamma̱ pisalikat, uh, híkkiꞌyat, yamma̱,
And as I stood there looking at that,
amilhlhat ishtaya.
I got scared.
Yahmikya nanno, uh, pisa-kani̱hka̱,
So I saw how it looked,
chokma pisa sabannacha pisalit híkkiꞌyatok. Haatoko̱
and I wanted a good look at it as I was standing there looking at it. So,
Lho̱faꞌ mat naafkaꞌ nanna ikfóyyoꞌkho.
that Lho̱faꞌ didn't have any clothes on it.
Yahkmat, uh, haknipat homma.
And his body was red.
Áncha ipa̱shiꞌ falaa, ahoobattook.
And it looked like his hair was long.
Ingmat, uh, ashtombínniꞌt sapí̱sa.
And so he was sitting up there, watching me.
Yahna bínniꞌt, uh, \híkkiꞌyat\ pí̱sli náncha,
So then while I sat, uh, \stood\ there watching it,
i̱nokshoopat tahlit malit anchokkaꞌ ayali.
I got scared and I went and ran home.
Pílla anoꞌat yaat ishtayyali. Yaahá̱at.
I just started crying. I cried and cried.
Hinaꞌ ma̱ má̱alitokat anchokkaꞌ onali.
I walked on that road and I got home.
Onalika̱ yamma̱ sashkaat yammat, uh, kasbiꞌ ma̱ bínniꞌtok. Haatokoot,
As I got there, my mom was sitting in the yard. So then,
onalika̱ "Katihmit yappa ishtishyá̱a?" aꞌshna
when I got there, "Why are you here crying?" she said and
"Holissaapisaꞌ aya iksabanno."
[I said,] "I don't want to go to school."
"(Haato)koot, falá̱at mintili. Haatokoot minti sabannacha alali. Alali."
"And then I came back. And then I wanted to come and I came here. I'm here".
Yahna ingmat "Falá̱at ishiyyaꞌni."
And so then, "You better go back."
uh, "Falá̱at ishiyyaꞌchi kiꞌyookmat chifammilaꞌchi," aꞌshna
"If you don't go back, I'm gonna whip you," she said and
"Kiꞌyo aya iksabanno," imaashlittook. Yahna Lho̱faꞌ mako̱ anokfí̱llili.
"No, I don't want to go!", I told her. And I was thinking about that Lho̱fa'.
Falá̱at ayalikmat no̱wali makíllaꞌchitokoot ithá̱nalit, uh, amilhlha.
I knew I was going to have to walk back and I was scared.
Ayyá̱lhlhit amilhlhatokoot aya iksabannotokoot
Because I was truly scared, since I didn't want to go back,
"Kiꞌyo, aya, aya iksabanno," imaashlikat, "Kiꞌyo, ishiyyaꞌchi ki'yookmat,
chifammila'chi."
"No, I don't wanna go," I told her and [she said], "No, if you don't go back,
I'm gonna whip you."
Haatoko̱ uh "Falamat issabaa-aya makillaꞌchi, (inaudible) issabaa-ayyana",
So then [I said,] "You're gonna have to go back with me, (inaudable) you go
with me,"
holissaapisaꞌ falá̱at ishtasona. uh,
and she took me back to school.
Nittak yamma, holissaapisa' bínniꞌlili̱ obyattook. Haatokoot,
That day, I was sitting there all afternoon. So then,
yammako̱ tíngbako̱ Lho̱faꞌ aachihma̱ pí̱slittook.
it was there that I first saw what they call Bigfoot.

[@3bkidsoftexas]

Incredible! Loving these stories & hearing our beautiful language! Thank you for this & we look forward to learning more stories from our Nation’s people!

[@iknokchito6932]

Slowing the playback speed can help if you're a learner.

[@aiyahuntacheimumbi236]

Thank you!

[@tippy550storm]

The sad part of this is that the got a good look at bigfoots face and never told what his face looked like. we want to know these things.