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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