Dāʹ So (then) oʹnĕⁿʻ now (then) diqʹ moreover neʼʹ that neʻʹ the dĕⁿdyatnooⁿʹgwāk, shalt-thou-I-self-love-ever, Iʼʹ we dedyadāⁿʹnondeʼ. thou-I-brother-sister (are). Ĕⁿgoñnooⁿʹgwāk Shall-I-thee-to-love, continue oʹnĕⁿʻ now then nisʹʼăʻ the-thou-(only) Iʼʹkhoʻ I-and ĕⁿsgnooⁿʹgwāk. shall-thou-me-to-love, continue.
Dāʹ So (then) oʹnĕⁿʻ now (then) diqʹ moreover neʻʹ the Iʼʹ I ĕⁿgadowätʹʻhăʼ.” will-I-to-hunt-go.”
Dāʹ So (then) neʼʹ that diqʹ moreover oʹnĕⁿʻ now (then) waādōʹwät; did-he-it-hunt; agwasʹ very hadjinoⁿʼdīʹyo; he-hunter-fine (is); oʼʹwāʼ it (n.) meat neʼʹsʻhoñ that-just hodīʹgoⁿ; they-it-continue-to-eat; awenoñtgädeʼʹsʻhoñ it (n.)-pleasant-just heʹoñweʻ there where deniʼʹdyoⁿʼ. both-they-two-abide. Dāʹ So (then) neʼʹhoʻ there nigagāʹis. so-it-legend-long (is).
137. The Legend of Doädanegeñ and Hotkwisdadegeña
(TWO FEATHERS TOGETHER AND THE TORTURED BOY)
Two male persons lived together in a lodge. The elder was named Doädanegeñ, and the younger, his nephew, was called Hotkwisdadegeña. Uncle and nephew lived by hunting, and they two dwelt in contentment, for they had meat to eat at all times. They thus spent their lives pleasantly. There were no other people dwelling in their neighborhood.
After a long time passed in this kind of life the uncle said to his nephew: “Oh, my nephew! now go yonder to that valley, where you must seat yourself and listen very intently for whatever sounds that are peculiar which you may hear. I do not know what sounds you may hear, but you shall hear something.” So Hotkwisdadegeña set out for the valley, which he was not long in reaching. Having arrived there, he seated himself and kept very quiet. He remained in this attitude for a long time.
Suddenly and without any warning an owl perched in the hollow of a near-by tree hooted Wu, wu, wu, wu-ūʻ. The youth quickly arose, saying: “This is perhaps what my uncle means,” and started on the run homeward. It was not long before he reached the lodge. Then the elder man, Doädanegeñ, his uncle, said: “What did you hear? Come, now, tell it.” “So let it be,” replied Hotkwisdadegeña. But the elder said: “Wait just a moment first. You may commence [[744]]just as soon as my tobacco begins to burn, for I want to be smoking when you relate what you have heard.” So he put tobacco in his pipe and lighted it and immediately drew in the smoke. Then he exclaimed: “Now, relate what you have heard.” “All that I heard,” said the nephew to his uncle, “was the hooting of an owl.” The uncle at once laid aside his pipe, and seizing a bark paddle he arose quickly, and dipping up a paddleful of hot coals and ashes, poured them over his nephew, who was standing not far away. The burning coals fell on the youth’s head. As he did this, the uncle said: “I do not mean that.” The nephew began to cry because of the hot coals on his head, and going to his bunk he sat down, for these two persons occupied each his own side of the fireplace. Finally he stopped his crying and said: “Very miserable, indeed, has become my state, for now my uncle has begun to mistreat me, and he has never done this thing before.” Night came on, and they lay down to sleep, the uncle and his nephew. The next morning they arose, and when they had eaten their morning meal the uncle again said to his nephew: “Come, oh, my nephew! do you again go to listen, and you must again sit in yonder valley where you sat yesterday.”
The nephew soon started, and having arrived at the valley he again sat down to listen for mysterious sounds. He listened very attentively. He was surprised in a short time to hear hard by the place where he sat the cry of some being: Tcĭkĭs, tcĭkĭskĭskĭs. This was a cry made by Tcoktcoñʹkhwĕñ. Again the youth arose with a spring and ran toward the place where stood the lodge occupied by his uncle and himself. On reaching his home the elder man, his uncle, said: “What thing is it you have heard, having just returned home? Now, please tell it.” Then his nephew, Hotkwisdadegeña, replied, “So be it; I shall tell it.” His uncle answered: “Just a little while, first. I will first fill my pipe, and just as soon as the tobacco is lighted you may tell me what you have heard.” So he filled his pipe with tobacco and lighted it, and when he had taken his pipe into his mouth, he said: “Come, now, tell me what you have heard.” Hotkwisdadegeña answered: “So let it be. All I heard were the sounds tcĭkĭskĭskĭs, tcĭkĭskĭskĭs, in whispers.” Then Doädanegeñ, the uncle, suddenly sprang up, and laying his pipe aside, seized a bark paddle and dipped up from the fire burning coals and hot ashes, which he poured on the top of his nephew’s head, who was standing near by. The nephew began to weep, and the uncle exclaimed: “That is not what I meant.” The nephew then went away to his own bunk on his side of the fire and there sat down. He stopped his crying and said: “Indeed, I am in a miserable state. Poor me! He has now overmatched my orenda.”