Snakes and Ospreys

Fred Tomah and Simon Gabriel

Peter Dana Point, Maine

1977

FT     Àpc wáhte nèqt yèt ĭhík, Tomah Stream, nìt ntotoli-pqonhikéwan ĭyá, not=ŏlu Milligan. Kŏmiwonŏkískot, ma=te ntolukhotihpòn. Àpc=ŏtahk strawol=ŏte yùt pŏmaqèy íywol on the ground, naka yèy lean-to.

[Then one time over by Tomah Stream, we were peeling bark for that Milligan guy. It was rainy weather, so we weren’t working. And there was straw piled up there on the ground, and this lean-to.]

SG    (inaudible)

FT     Nìt=te olŏqiptinéssu Sŏkás nìt olŏqìw. Nìt=te nekòm lóssin, yùt nìl. Sŏláhki yùt=te wèn sakhi-ksáhat, sehpal Raymond kósŏna=al wèn. Ítom, “Mena…” Ítom, “Ipà menakàc qolŏpàp.”

Eli- nìt -qolŏpapì, kinalŏkíttis nìt=al athusòss, nìt=al ’qonatqe… ’qonatqenusínon. Kinalŏkittiyéna, ’qasqalŏkittiyatqenusínon. Nìt=al ’tutatŏkósin.

[Cigars (Philip Sockabasin) had his hand stretched out over here. He was lying there, and I was here. All of a sudden, someone came in—it must have been Raymond (Tomah), or someone. He said, “Slow…” He said, “Listen, look turn around slow and look.” As I looked turned and looked that way, what the devil! There was a snake, stretched out about that long. Holy smokes! It was stretching out longer and longer. It was about that big around.]

SG    Yá?

[Yeah?]

FT     Nìt ’tapqatŏkósin.

[It was stretching out there.]

SG    Elàpŏmosk?

[Was it looking at you?]

FT     Ahà. Tétpi=te npokossinùpon ĭhík…

[Yes. We both crashed at the same time, uh…]

SG    Khàkŏnok.

[On the door.]

FT     …Khákŏnok. Ntahtŏli-nuciyanèn.

[…On the door. We kept on trying to get through.]

SG    Kilŭwàw Sŏkás?

[You and Cigars?]

FT     Ahà.

[Yes.]

SG    …Tèmŏnu knutalŏkittiyépa.

[Then finally you got the hell out of there.]

FT     Níta, ma=te nkotqonihtuwŏnewìn that night. Ntihinéhpon atŏmúpil. E, nuckuwiyanèn. Ay, gee, ma=te=na nkotqonihtuwŏnewìn níta. Athusossuwíhke, you know, nìt.

[Yes. Well, we didn’t stay there that night. I had a car. Eh, we came back here. Well, gee, so we didn’t stay the night there. It was infested with snakes, you know, that place.]

SG    Nìt=ŏlu tàn nekèt etŏlúhkiyoq, ĭhík Tomah Stream. U yá, nìt yá isŏmeqèhs knatsakíhtŭwan wosòss. (laughs)

[Then how about that time when we were working on Tomah Stream. Yeah, and we went to see that osprey’s nest.]

FT     Nìt nìt climb a tree nìt=al twenty feet qŏnéyu. Nìt=al ’tutalŏkittiyáqson yellow birch, ma=te no limbs=te=na. Ma=te limbs yalŏkittiyéwĭyil.

[Climb a tree there about twenty feet high. It was about this damn big around, a yellow birch, but with no limbs. It didn’t have any damn limbs.]

SG    It was right, right, right on the flowage. Yeah, back track.

FT     Yeah. Ntahasíhpon we was goin’ to yèy, kmosŏnánnuk ĭyík, isŏmeqehsísok.

[Yeah. I thought we were going to, you know, get those little ospreys.]

SG    Ahà.

[Yes.]

FT     Wàht petatŭwì nìt nest éyik. Kinalŏkittiyéna. Yùt=te=hc etutalŏkittiyéssit nonĭyákŏnok. Àpc=oc níta. Nmatalŏkittiyénkun.

[I climbed way up to where the nest was. Holy smokes. Here came the damn thing flying right at my head. And then again. It was walloping me.]

SG    I know it. I was havin’ a hell of a good time down below.

FT     Well, I didn’t care. Ma=te=hc nìl…

[Well, I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to…]

SG    Well, nìt=al “Kìl nìt elŏkìmĭyin!” —Fourth of July nìt nekèt.

[Well, then it was, “You told me to do it!” —It was the Fourth of July then.]

FT     Ahà yá.

[Yes it was.]

SG    We was coming, nuckuwiyàpon, nuckuwiyàpon nekèt Tomah Stream, wàht Princeton, naka Fourth of July. Èlŭwe ksiktoliqehtuhúkun, ínit?

[We came down to Tomah Stream at that time, from up in Princeton, and it was the Fourth of July. And (that bird) almost killed you, didn’t it?]