Dream Narrative
Peter Lewis Paul
Indian Township, ME1
August 13, 1976
1. Yùt tŏkèc ketŭwakŏnùtom… Yùt tŏkèc ketŭwakŏnùtom elqahsĭyánpon píhce. Cù=al kis newìnsk cèl olŭwìkŏnok kehsìkŏton. Nekèt=te míyaw psì wèn ’qotŏmakéyin.
[Now I want to tell about… Now I want to tell about a dream I had long ago. It must have been about forty seven years ago. At that time everyone was poor.]
2. On nìt etŏloqsì, sŏlahkì=te ntolqàhs=yaq ntolóssin yùt—qotŏputíyol píhce eliwihtŏmuhtitpónil skicinúwok, ntoliwihtŏmonénnul tŏké péncol. On=ŏte píttókson=ŏte. Yùt=ehta ’kisatŏkossínon wéna. Nìt tehsahqìw etŏli-spoteqsì.
[So then as I was sleeping, at one point I dreamed, as it seemed, that I was lying on this—what the Indians used to call chairs, what we now call benches. It was very long. Here someone could lie stretched out. There on top is where I was napping.]
3. On=ŏte ntolŏqahkŏnáhsin ihik, nomŏcinì khàkŏnok, sŏlahkì-te nwewúloq wèn peci- npahkámok -wŏlóssik. Cihciqéyu=na yùt eq… eqcossìn. Malom=ŏte nwewŏnóma sŏlahkì=te elŏmi-kskomkúwit. Malom=ŏte sŏlahkì=te ntalŭwolátom. Malom=ŏte=na kŏma=te nkisi-macéssiw.
[So I was stretched out uncomfortably over by the door, and suddenly I felt someone come and lie down at my back. And what I was lying on was narrow. Then after a bit I felt someone’s body pushing against on me. After a while I could hardly breathe. Finally I couldn’t move.]
4. Téhpu nkisi-macéhtun npíhtin etŏli- kekèsk -tokŏtòm nkát. Malom=ŏte nit ntuktihìk. Nit tuhkiyày, etutalŏsì. Naka, naka èlŭwe=te nsiktéhkaq wòt wéna peci, peci-wihpémit.
[I could just move my hand so as to tap on my lower leg a little. Finally I woke myself with my tapping. When I woke up, I was sweating profusely. And whoever had come share my bed had nearly suffocated me.]
5. Pòl nìt ntópin sipkìw, nkisi-wtóman. On nìt malom=ŏte sŏlahkì nulossínon. Nit=al=ŏte àpc etŏloqsiyàns. Malom=ŏte àpc sŏlahkìw nùtŏmon sakhi-motehtihíket nkahakŏnúmok eltáqok. On nìt ntolíyan khàkŏnok. Wòt=tahk àpc kótok skicìn kìs yùt uci-maciyútan, cu=al nsìkŏton, yùt íyok eyultíyek.
[After that I sat for some time, and I had a smoke. And then I finally lay back down. I guess I must have gone back to sleep at that point. Finally I heard a sudden loud knocking at my door. So I went to the door. Here was another Indian who had moved away from here some three years before, away from our community.]
6. On=ŏte peci-pawátok tàn=op nkiseltomúwan ’pecíphan mehcinelícil nicánol naka yùt ’toli-spasíhtŭwan níkok. Ntíyan, “Cù=kahk=al=ŏna. Pecip…Ksephàn.
[But he had come to ask whether I would give him permission to bring over his child who had died and have the wake here at my house. I told him, “Of course. Bring him in.”]
7. Nìt ’kósseptùnĭya puskonikŏnóssis, naka=hc ’sikŏtóne=ehta wásis. Malom=ŏte yùt=te míyaw punŏmúhtit puskoníkon yùt etŏli-puwihtŭwánpon. Ntotŏlóqsin yùt yèy ŏpúnsis, kòsŏna=al pénc, eliwihtŏmúhtit tŏké pénc. Nìt=te míyaw púnut yá, wòt ’puwìn. Nìt=te míyaw etŏli-puwihtŭwánpon wòt ĭyá npasici-ksomkákun yùt íyok, ŏpúnok. Ipá, ma=te nmihqitahatŏmúwon yáka kisi-puskontímok eli, elqahsiyánpon.
[Then they brought in the little coffin,
and it turned out to be a three-year-old child. They put the coffin right where
I had had my dream. I had been sleeping there on that bed, or bench, what they
call a bench nowadays. Right there is where they put the body. It was right
there where I had dreamed that someone was lying on me and pushing down on me,
right on that bench. But you see, I didn’t recall what I had dreamed until
after the burial.]
1Peter Lewis Paul (1902–1989) was a Maliseet elder from Woodstock, NB. This story was recorded on one of the many occasions when he came to visit friends at Indian Township.