[Note: Simon Gabriel, Sr., was born on November 11, 1903, and spent his early years at St. Mary’s First Nation in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He spent much of his adult life, however, at Pleasant Point and Peter Dana Point in Passamaquoddy country in Maine. He died on November 16, 1998, at Oromocto First Nation in New Brunswick.]
Sqewtómuhs
Simon Gabriel, Sr.
Peter Dana Point, ME
August, 1977
1. Mecimi=te eci iyá, eci- éhpit -koti-nicánit, on=oc ’taltáqsin nòt Sqewtómuhs.
[Whenever a woman is going to have a child, then that Swamp Woman will go around wailing.]
2. Nìt=kahk=ŏlu itŏmúhtit.
[At least that’s what they say.]
3. On nìt eci- éhpit -koti-nicánit, ’tìywan wasísol, naka nicàn kotŏkíhi ’koti-kcicíyan tàn wètŏnat yúhtol wasísol kòtŏkil, ’tiyà, “Sqewtómuhs npeciptakúnol, npetakúnol welaqìk.”
[So then when a woman is going to have a child, (and) she has the child, and her other children want to know where she got this other child from, she tells them, “Swamp Woman carried him here to me, brought him to me last night.”]
4. Mèc=yaq=ŏte altáqsu Sqewtómuhs, cèl=ŏte nìl mèsq nomiyàw kòsŏna nutŭwàw.
[Swamp Woman still goes around wailing, they say, but I have never seen her or heard her.]
5. Tàn=al=lu níta léyu kòsŏna=al tàn, ma=te nkocicihtúwon.
[Whether that is true or not, I don’t know.]
6. Kénuk=ŏlu nìt, kénuk=ŏlu nìt itŏmúhtit.
[But that’s, but that’s what they say.]
7. Itŏmúhtit eli- iyèy wòt -altáqsit Sqewtómuhs, naka=yaq wèn koti-nicanìw, on=oc nìt iyèy, wásis nemihqosìt, éhpit ’títŏmon, “Sqewtómuhs yúhtol npetakúnol.”
[They say that this Swamp Woman goes around wailing, and someone is going to have a baby, and then when the baby is born, the woman says, “Swamp Woman brought this one to me.”]
8. Ma=te ’koti-yaháwon eli, eli tahalu=hp, eli-nomihqosílit.
[She doesn’t want to tell them how, how, like, how he was born.]
9. Kénuk tŏkèc ’kocicihtùniya, eli-nomihqósit wásis.
[But nowadays they know how a child is born.]
10. Etuceyossultíhtit peskúwok tŏké.
[Some of them are so young now.]
11. Ma=te nipŭwultìwiyik, pesqon=ŏte nicanultíhtit.
[They are not married, but they have children just the same.]
12. Póssaq=al ktanaqsúwok sqewtomúhsok, kéhsit wásis nemihqósit tŏké.
[There must be a great many swamp women, so many children are born nowadays.]
13. Elináqsit wasísok.
[There are a lot of children.]
14. Mecimúhse=kal=ŏte nòt Sqewtómuhs.
[That Swamp Woman must always be walking.]
15. Nìt=te=kahk=ŏte.
[That’s about it.]
16. Nìt=te=kahk=ŏte nìl kehsi-kcicíyuk, far as I know, Sqewtómuhs.
[That’s about as much as I know about her, far as I know, Sqewtómuhs.]