Chulyin Vejex Sukdu'a

By Albert Wassillie
Transcribed by James Kari

q-et' gheli łu chulyin gun nudnulzex, nudnulzex
long ago Raven kept flying and flying and he saw a caribou

ch'q'u vejex egh dnalen
he circled the caribou and looked at it

vejex ghini yenghił'an niqa'idenghalen nugheltlet ch'u k'inghildi inghiya
then he landed and started to gather cranberries

k'inghildi ghin kut' daydnalchuq' ch'q'u
he filled his pockets with cranberries

dghiłkuhi gheli vejex ghini yech' tazyu
he then walked over to the biggest caribou

vejex ghini veyghi'an hnuyu vegh niyitjay ch'q'u veł tseghaytgha tlet
when the caribou saw him, it ran over to him and started to fight with him

hnuyu chulyin gunen k'inghildi ghini yiduyinghiłchuq' ch'q'u vejex ghini veghitesha qisen ha dyuq
Raven threw a handful of cranberries into the caribou's mouth

htsast'a vejex ghini veghitesha qilan ha t'ghit'a łu
because of this, the caribou lost his fangs eng the caribou used to have fangs like bears long ago

chulyin ghu iqech' dyiluq k'inghildi yidunghilu hnuyu vejex ghin veghi qisen ha dyuq
however, when Raven threw the cranberries into the caribou's mouth, all the caribou lost their fangs

q'uyehdi chulyin gun t'eyełni łu, "nda int'a dugu nch'u k'izhiłchikda?" yełni łu ex "qut'ana nchan yilggex ghu k'i nch'u k'izhiłchik. q'ukiq'u negh nutgheshdyuł yit," yełni łu
then Raven said to the caribou, "how come you can't smell? when men get in your wind, you can't smell them. I will be back," he told the caribou

chulyin gun ndaha taq'aztin qilan yeh htuniyu ch'q'u nichił deghendghazgits'i ch'q'u kut' yuldatl' ch'q'u yech' nutasdyu
Raven went into a forest and started tearing pieces of birch bark eng he put them into his pocket

ey ghu yegh nu'idyu ch'u nichił ghini niłen yighałchet ch'q'u vejex ghin yegh nu'idyu
then he returned to the caribou eng when he got back to the caribou, he rolled up the birch bark and stuffed them up into its nose

ch'q'u nichił ghin nyits'egh ch'q'u yenik' tunyildets ex yek'uch' yach' hch'aniyu

"nchan yitghelggex," yełni łu
after that, Raven started to walk away from the caribou saying to him, "I will go upwind from you"

chulyin gun yegh'uh daghiset gheli vech' danich'ey yechan yighelgguk hnuyu vejex ghini nik'u'itqey ch'q'u hch'a'itjay
he then walked a long way away from him, and walked upwind from him eng while Raven was walking upwind, the caribou reared up all of a sudden and fell backward

vyiłchun
then it started to run

q'uyehdi chulyin gun nudnilen
Raven knew then that the caribou had smelled him eng so Raven flew away

iyiqech'q'u vejex ghini k'iłchix ha dyuq
from that time on, the caribou started to smell and to detect danger

qut'ana nih vechan yi ggex ch'q'u k'iłchix ha dyuq ex dach' hdi łu t'qidyuq
every time a man gets in wind that goes the caribou's way, the caribou is able to smell him