Possum and Wolf, by Pauline Brown

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Pauline Brown shares a shikonno'pa' (a traditional animal story) about Possum and Wolf. She was born in Filmore, Oklahoma, in 1931 and spent her childhood in the country on her mother’s allotment of land, later attending Goodland Indian Orphanage for schooling because her mother had died and her father was rarely home. She used her language in service to her people during her career as a nurse, helping monolingual speakers understand their medical care. She is a member of the Chickasaw Language Committee and contributed greatly to the development of Rosetta Stone Chickasaw.
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 DATE, 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

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Here is the full transcription of her story. To turn on subtitles in the video, please click the [CC] icon in the lower right corner of the video screen.
Himonnakaꞌ,
Once upon a time,
Possum micha Nashoba taꞌat,
Possum and Wolf together,
ii~, uh, hopobat hootánnoꞌwatok.
they both were going along hungry.
Yahna Possumat malilikat má̱atokoot,
So then since Possum was running along,
\Shokhaꞌ Choklhililiꞌat malilikat á̱atokoot\,
since Possum was running along,
abaawiit pisahma̱, Nashobaat á̱atokchaynina,
when he raised and looked, Wolf was going along and,
"Taa! Maꞌsha! Nashobaat á̱a!"
"Well! Look it! There goes Wolf!"
"Sapisakmat, anaꞌako̱ sapa miyaꞌchaꞌm.",
"When he sees me, he will try to eat me."
nittaki hootánnoꞌwatootoko̱.
since they were out so early in the morning.
Yahna,
So then,
áncha malit ishtayakma̱,
and when he [Possum] started running,
Possumat, nanna haklocha abaawaat pisaka̱,
the Possum, he heard something and as he raised up and looked,
Possum yammako̱ malilit á̱atokchaynina,
that Possum was running and,
malit lhiyoht ishtayaka̱,
when he [Wolf] started running and chasing him,
Possumat "kani̱hkma̱ yahmilaꞌchishchi̱?" anhi.
Possum wondered, "what am I going to do?".
Yahna Nashobaat pílla, oshshowá̱sht ,
And so Wolf, as he was sniffing,
nannok á̱ꞌshcha pílla,
he made a sound and,
malilikat lhiyohli!
he begins to chase him [Possum]!
Yahna Possumat ittiꞌ onkofat
And then Possum [he sees] the persimmon tree
osaapaꞌ ishtaalhlhiꞌ ma̱ híkkiꞌya yammako̱, "Onalikmat ittiꞌ ma̱ tiyyalaꞌchaꞌn."
standing at the end of the field, "When I get there I will climb the tree,"
aꞌshcha malit oꞌnacha,
he said and he ran and got there and,
abaꞌ píllaꞌ tiyyacha tákkaꞌli.
he climbed up way up high and he hung there.
Nashobaat malilikat aafalamat kánnohmi ona.
Wolf ran back and forth and finally got there.
Ookya, uh, palli ishtaya.
But it's starting to get hot.
Pallit ishtayatoko̱,
Although it's starting to get hot,
aaissaꞌshcha itta~…
he stopped and...
ittiꞌ akkaꞌ finha biniꞌcha bínniꞌt pisa.
he sat at the bottom of the tree and sat there watching.
Yahna Possumat said, "Pallit ishtayatoko̱ kani̱ht akkwalaꞌhi kiꞌyo,"
And Possum said, "It's starting to get hot, so I cannot come down."
"Asapoba ishtaya."
"I'm starting to get hungry."
Aꞌshcha "Nanna kanihmimilimakoot,"
And he said, "I wonder what I can do,"
"Possum yamma̱ of..of.. \Nashoba\ yamma̱, kanallaꞌchishchi̱,"
"to make that Wolf move,"
aꞌshcha anhihma̱,
he thought and,
Nashobaash... um, impallika̱ pílla,
The Wolf... um, is getting hot now and,
nannok á̱ꞌshcha bínniꞌna Possumat imaachihmat,
he makes a sound and sits and the Possum says to him,
"Nashoba!"
"Wolf!"
"Ishtaloowa'h bíyyiꞌka aꞌshna oklaat aachit áyyaꞌsha."
"They say you can sing."
Nashobaat, "Á̱lhlhi? Nanta aachi?"
The Wolf [says], "Really? What do they say?"
Possumat aachikat,
Possum says,
"Kani̱hka̱ ishtaloowakma̱, oklaꞌ áyyaꞌshakat."
"They say you can really sing."
"Chinonkaꞌ yollichika̱ haklo inchokma, miya."
"They like to hear your voice shake, they say."
"Akhakloꞌ! Ishtaloꞌwana haklolaꞌkaꞌni."
"Let me hear! You sing and I will hear it."
Yahna Nashobaat nanna ishtayoppat,
And the Wolf is happy about it,
pisachi bannootokoot.
because he wants to show them.
um, Taloowa ishtaya.
um, He starts singing.
Possumat haksibisha̱ ilbak nampiꞌsh* aachi, "Haklo!"
The Possum puts his hand on his ear and says, "Listen!"
"Kani̱hka̱ taloowa!"
"Really sing loud!"
"Micha yahmikmat chinonkaꞌ yollichi!"
"And make your voice shake!"
Yahna Nashobaash itiꞌ ma̱ kani̱hka̱ tiwwicha, akkaꞌ ma̱ bínniꞌna,
Then the Wolf really opened his mouth and, he was sitting on the ground and,
Possumat onkof í̱shtoꞌ tákkaꞌna pi̱stokoot í̱ꞌshcha kani̱hka,
the Possum saw the big persimmon hanging there and he grabbed it,
ootkánchihmat anonkakaꞌ fínha issona,
and he threw it down into his throat and,
issot Nashoba ma̱ nokbikichitokoot,
it caused the Wolf to choke,
Nashoba ma̱ pittolat ántana,
and the Wolf began to fall around and,
Possumat akkwaꞌcha malit kaniyatok, aachi!
Possum came down and ran away, so they say!

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