The Whiteman and the Indian

by Leonard Yelloweagle

1) vé'ho'e  naa xaevo'êstane é'éenéšeohtsésesto 
   Whiteman and Indian were  going along together.

2) naa hetóéva        éxhonótovôsesto šè'xo  ho'êstáva 
   And in the evening they roasted    a duck in the fire.
   
3) naa tsé'éšeéxâho'hetsêse     é'áhto'hohnóvôsesto páéva 
   And when it was done cooking they buried it      in the ashes.

4) naa mósto'seovêšenâhevóhe 
   And they were going to lie down.

5) naa nêhe'še vé'ho'e      éhnêhetósesto tsé'tóhe xaevo'êstanóho 
   And then    the whiteman told          this     Indian, 

tsépêhéveováxêstse  hétsetseha taa'eva  tsetamèvo tsé'tóhe šè'xo 
"He who dreams well now        at night will eat  this     duck," 

éxhesêstse
he said.

6) naa tsé'tóhe xaevo'êstane é'amâhtovósesto tsé'tóhe vé'hó'e 
   And this     Indian       agreed with     this     whiteman.

7) naa nêhe'še é'ovêšenásesto 
   And then    they lay down.

8) naa tséhvóona'otse      vé'ho'e      é'oseeméoto'esêstse 
   And when it was morning the whiteman got up really early. 

9) naa tsé'tóhe xaevo'êstane é'éšeáahtse'totóešenasêstse 
   And this     Indian       was already lying with his eyes open. 

10) naa vé'ho'e      é'oseehóhta'hanetanosêstse 
    And the whiteman really wanted to tell his story. 

11) éhnêhetósesto tsé'tóhe xaevo'êstanóho nátavovóehósésta 
    He told       this     Indian,       "Let me be first to tell 

naováxestôtse éxhetósesto 
my dream!"    he told him.

12) naa tsé'tóhe xaevo'êstane éhpêhévátsêstánôse 
    And this     Indian       thought well of that.

13) naa néhe vé'ho'e é'asêstóhta'hanesêstse 
    And that whiteman started telling his story. 

13b) éhnêhetósesto tsé'tóhe xaevo'êstanóho 
     He told       this     Indian, 

14) tsé'ováxenáto  vé'ho'á'eo'o tséhetsénoonese éhne'anôheéséna
   "When I dreamed white women  who had wings   were coming down. 

15)  naa tsêhéóhe tsé'éšêho'oésenávôse e'evonôhó'o éhne'anôheneeotse 
   "And here     where they were      a ladder    came down," 

éxhesêstse
he said.

16) naa nêhe'še nátaasee'eohtse
   "And then    I started to go up," 

17) éxhetóhta'hanesêstse          tsé'tóhe vé'ho'e 
    that's how he told the story, this     whiteman. 

18) naa nêhéóhe tséstaéšêho'óhta'hanêse                tsé'tóhe 
    And there   when he got to that point in the story this 

xaevo'êstane éhnêhetósesto tsé'tóhe vé'hó'e
Indian       told          this     whiteman, 

19) hee  hápó'e   náto'êstó'nêheto'ováxe 
   "Hee, likewise I dreamed about the same 

20) tséheto'ováxenáto   éxhesêstse
    the way I dreamed," he said. 

21) naa hápó'e   vétséóhe tó'nêhe'xóvéva 
   "And likewise then     at exactly the same time 

mónáováxenâhéhe       éxhesêstse tsé'tóhe xaevo'êstane
I must have dreamed," said       this     Indian. 

22) hénêhéóhe nétavóomâtse e'evonôhó'óne
   "There     I saw you    on the ladder. 

23) nétaamee'eohtse     éxhetósesto
    You were going up," he told him. 

24) naa tsenêsáa'évâho'eanôheohtséhe néhóovêhesétamâtse 
  "'And he won't come back down,'    I mistakenly thought about you," 

éxhetósesto
he told him. 

25) tsé'tóhe šè'xo náhestano námévo éxhetósesto
   "This     duck  I took it, I ate it," he told him. 

26) hená'hanehe
    That's it.
This story was first published in the book Cheyenne Texts: An Introduction to Cheyenne Literature, copyright 1980, used here by permission.

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