Nuvendaltun Ht'ana Sukdu'a

Nondalton People's Stories

Written by Albert Wassillie Sr.
Edited and proofread by James Kari
Alaska Native Language Center

Illustrated by Leonard Savage

Adapted by Gary Holton

this is a work-in-progress assembled to demonstrate HTML encoding of Native language texts -- last modified October 2004

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CONTENTS
Nuvendaltun Ht'ana Sukdu'a -- Story of the Nondalton People
..
Kił Ch'naldaggi Veł Yagheli'en -- The Boy Who Liked to Sleep
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Tiqin Ch'q'u Aggeya Sukdu'a -- The Wolf and the Otter
..
Dlin'a Sukdu'a -- The Mouse Story
..
Chulyin Qeshqa N'uyi Ghegh Nu'ighetneq -- Raven Returns the Sun
..
Kunsulya Nda'ich' Dek'una Vegh Qizdlan -- How the Woodpecker Found His Food
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Qunsha Qeneh Nuqulnegen -- Squirrel Camp
..
K'q'uya Vena Sukdu'a -- A Kijik Lake Story
..
Chulyin Vejex Sukdu'a -- The Story of Raven and Caribou
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Shtunyu'en Sukdu'a -- The Story of a Hunter

This material was originally produced in print form by the National Bilingual Materials Development Center in Anchorage, Alaska. The original printing of 300 copies has long since been out of print. It is reproduced here in hopes of making this material available again to those interested in the Dena'ina language. The following acknowledgement and introduction are from the original edition of the book.

Acknowledgement

The National Bilingual Materials Development Center gratefully acknowledges the work done by Albert Wassillie Sr. in the preparation of this book. Without his willingness to record these stories, there would be no book.

Many thanks are also due James Kari of the Alaska Native Language Center for his assistance in the proofreading and editing of the manuscript. Mr. Kari's continued interest in the work of the Center and especially in its activities involving Dena'ina are greatly appreciated. The pictures that illustrate this book were drawn by Leonard Savage, a talented Athabaskan artist. The Center considers itself very fortunate to have Mr. Savage working on the stories of the Dena'ina people. The Center wishes also to thank Mary L. Pope for her work on typesetting and finalizing this work. Without the work of these people, this collection would not be available now. We hope that everyone who has the opportunity to read this book will enjoy it and will want to learn more about the Dena'ina people of Alaska.

Tupou L. Pulu, Director
National Bilingual Materials Development Center

Introduction

Albert Wassillie Sr., from Nondalton, is one of the foremost native language writers in Alaska. Albert has also written a fascinating collection of riddles (K'ich'ighi, NBMDC, 1980), a Dena'ina Junior Dictionary (Dena'ina Qenaga Duch'duldih, NBMDC, 1979) as well as many Dena'ina curriculum materials.

This collection of traditional Nondalton stories were written as Albert remembers hearing them in the past from village elders. This work was done in 1977 through 1950 in Anchorage, Alaska under the sponsorship and direction of the National Bilingual Materials Development Center. Only very rarely has an Alaskan Athabaskan written such a collection of stories from his own region. I feel that the stories in this volume are particularly well told and well written and are a landmark in Alaska native literature.

James Kari

The material on this site is copyrighted. Non-commercial educational use is freely permitted provided original acknowledgements are included in any reproduction. Unauthorized commericial use of this material is strictly prohibited. Copyright © 1980 National Bilingual Materials Development Center and © 2004 Alaska Native Language Center.