Arapaho Historical Traditions

Hinono'einoo3itoono

Alonzo Moss, Sr., Andrew Cowell

• Publisher: University of Manitoba Press
• Year: 2005
• eBook ISBN: 9780887559860
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Languages
• Index: Social Sciences

Told by Paul Moss (1911–1995), a highly respected storyteller and ceremonial leader, these twelve texts introduce us to an immensely rich literature. As works of an oral tradition, they had until now remained beyond the reach of those who do not speak the Arapaho language. Here, for the first time, these outstanding examples of Indigenous North American literature are printed in their original language (in the standard orthography used on the Wind River Reservation) but made accessible to a wider audience through English translation and comprehensive introductions, notes, commentaries and an Arapaho-English glossary. The Arapaho traditions chosen for this anthology tell of hunting, scouting, fighting, horse-stealing, capture and escape, friendly encounters between tribes, diplomacy and war, conflict with the U.S. and battles with its troops. They also include accounts of vision quests and religious rites, the fate of an Arapaho woman captured by Utes, and Arapaho uses of the "Medicine Wheel" in the Bighorn Mountains.

1 Nótkonnhii / The Scout’s Escape

This very short account is also one of the best localized of the group, taking place in central Wyoming in an area now crossed by a major north-south highway, US 287 north of Sweetwater Junction. Alonzo Moss, Sr. says that this event occurred when the Northern Arapahos were staying in the Casper area. This would most likely be during the period after they left the Sioux Agency in western Nebraska around 1868 and before they moved to the Reservation in 1878, though the Arapahos also were in the Casper area earlier in the eighteen fifties and sixties. (Hayden 1863 notes that the Arapaho language data he collected was from Chief Friday’s encampment in the Casper area in the winter of 1859-60.)

The blessing with “earth” might be better understood as a blessing with ceremonial clay, of the type used in painting for ceremonies. The remark about the soldiers having large, slow horses also appears in “The Shade Trees.” More information about scouts appears in the conclusion of “The Scouts.” “The Enemy Trail” features another example of the blessing of a horse to give it special powers.

We have decided to present a very detailed interlinear grammatical analysis of this text since it is fairly short. Such a format would be unwieldy for the entire anthology, but here it offers a perspective on the basic structure of Arapaho narratives. The quite literal translation gives a good sense of the common tendency of Paul Moss to switch back and forth in relatively fast sequences between the perspective of the character in the story and the perspective of those listening to the story - producing an alternating ‘here ... there’ pattern to describe the same event or location, as well as the tendency to change tenses from past to present. We mark long pauses (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 seconds or more) with double slashes (//) to give the reader a sense of the oral rhythm. See the Glossary for abbreviations used in the analysis line.

Nótkonííhii / The Scout’s Escape

[TIME AND PLACE]

1 téécxo’kó3ein-íínihí’innóno’éí,hí’inlong ago old-ADVthatArapahothatLong ago there was that old Arapaho [way],

tih- ‘ ii-bée-be téésibi-3 i ’.//when.PAST-HABIT-REDUP-go on vision quest(Al)-3pthe way it was when [Arapahos] went on vision quests.

hiit3eb-íis-ííhi’,níiyóunúhu’héet-cih-//-cowoúút-e’,here there-towards-ADVhere isthiswhere-to here-ridge(n)-SINGHere, towards there, here is this place where there’s a ridgerunning this way,

hinee Beaver Rim hiisóho’;//thatBeaver Rim this waythat Beaver Rim like this;¹

héetoh-’éntóu-’hí’in nihííhoxtóóno’óún-i’co’oúút-e’.//where-located(ll)-SINGthatwell... cliff(n)-SINGhigh(ll)-SINGthe place where that... well... high cliff was located.²

co’oúút-e’.high(n)-SINGIt was high.

hí’in nenéé’.//that it is it(INAN)That’s it.

[SCOUT DISCOVERED]

2 néhe’ hinén//nóno’éí,// nóno’éí hé’iis-íí3-nihíí -³thismanArapahoArapahoINDEF.PERF-from there well...This Arapaho man, Arapaho, somehow from there well...

notikónini-3i,-notíkoní-3i.//scout(Al)-3 .ITERscout(Al)-3 .ITERwhenever, whenever he scouted.

3eb-noohób-eebeníiinén-nohuut3eb-íis-ííhi’Landerthere-see(TA)-3 soldier-PL.OBV here there-towards-ADV LanderHe saw some soldiers here toward...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Nótkonííhii / The Scout’s Escape
• 2 Hinóno’úsei Tihwowóoníínit / The Woman Captive
• 3 Nii’ehíího’ / The Eagles
• 4 Notkoniihíího’ / The Scouts
• 5 Woowóoníínit / The Apache Captive
• 6 Wóxhoox Nookéíh / White Horse
• 7 Cóó3o’ Tihnóoxéíht / The Enemy
• 8 Híí3einóónotii / The Buffalo Wheel
• 9 Hinóno’éí Honóh’oe ! The Arapaho Boy
• 10 Nóonó’owu’ / The Forks
• 11 Konóúwoo’óé’ / The Shade Trees
• 12 Wóxkoneehíího’ / Bad Dreamers
• Map
• Notes
• Key Terms
• Index
• Bibliography
• Editorial Principles
• Grammatical Sketch
• Arapaho-English Glossary