Donkey Story, by Hannah Pitman

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Hannah John Pitman tells a story from her youth about a donkey. Hannah grew up in Fillmore, Oklahoma and later relocated under the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Indian Relocation Program to California. She lived there for many years yet never lost her language. She is a long-time language mentor, teacher, and is a member of the Chickasaw Language Committee.
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 August 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

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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.
Himonnahma̱ hopaaki mishshaash,
One time a long time ago,
sahimíntakat í̱'macha holisso-aapisa' ayalika̱,
when I was still young and going to school,
ankana' chaffa'at ántahnattook.
my one friend used to live there.
Ookya anka̱na' aa-ántakat,
But my friend who lived there,
yaakni' alhpisa' tokloofka chihmi hopaakikat ánta.
she lived about two miles away.
Ingma̱, oka', oka' yopit ilooayahnattook, chipota lá̱wakat í̱'ma,
hooáyya'shakat.
And so we all used to go swimming, the many kids that were still there.
Ingma̱ anka̱na'ookano ookya haksibish falaa'at imánta.
And so my friend had a donkey.
Haatoko̱ yamma̱ ombínni'cha
So then she would ride that [donkey] and
yaakni' alhpisa' toklo' yamma̱ nó̱wat o'nacha, anchokka' o'nana
go the two miles to come, to come to my house and
haksibish falaa' ma̱ ombiniilili.
I would get on that donkey.
Oka' yopit iliyyahnattook.
We used to go swimming.
Haatako̱ yamma̱, chipota la̱wahoot yamma pila hooáyya'shahnattook.
So then there used to be a lot of kids there.
Ingmat loomó̱macha loono̱wat oka' yopit ilooayya.
And so all of us would all walk and go swimming.
Ankano'mi' chaffaat uh holhchifoat Donald.
One of my relatives is named Donald.
Ingmat Lieutenant Governor ittibaapishi'.
And he [was] the brother to Lieutenant Governor.
Yammat a̱shaka̱' ma̱ mí̱'ti.
That one was coming along behind [the donkey].
Haatokoot (ik)kalhchi'boka̱,
So then pretty soon,
nannahma̱ kanihmi ilaabikat (ilahobbikat)
he was pretending to do something [joking around] and
haksibish falaa' hatip ma̱ kani̱hka pássakli'shna
he smacked that donkey's behind really hard and
haksibish falaa' yammat mallina
that donkey jumped and
anka̱na' áncha ano' liitawá̱'chat pottolattook.
my friend and I both fell off.
Ingma̱ ano', haksibish falaa' mat tíngbat malit aya.
And then, the donkey took off running.
Yahmina pilla' iloono̱wat ilo'no (ma)kíllattook, yahmikya oka' ilooyopittook!
And so we had to walk the rest of the way, but we went swimming anyway!