sthuthi’stuhw tun’ shxutsten | Fixing your minds

by

Eugene Harry

Recorded on October 20, 2012
Transcribed and translated by Donna Gerdts

  1. qul’et kwunus yuw’en’ ts’iitaalu ’u tun’ shqwaluwunulup theyt tun’ shxutsten.
    1. I want to thank all of you again for your feelings and fixing your minds.
  2. tl’lim’ ch’uw’ hwiiyune’ ’u tu sqwals tu s’ul’eluhw tstulh.
    1. You are really listening to the words our elders used to carry.
  3. hwiyune’ ’u tun’ shqwaluwun, sutst ’uw’ thuthi’ tse’.
    1. You listen with your minds so you will be proper with it.
  4. tl’lim’ ’uw’ tuni’ ’u tun’ shqwaluwunulup tu sqwal.
    1. All the things that we say will be from our feelings.
  5. ha’ ch ni’ hakwush tun’ shxutsten, ’i’ ’uwu niis stl’ulim’ tun’ shqwaluwun st’e’ ’uw’ niihw yu kwikwun’tul’.
    1. If you use your minds and you are not using it the right way, it will be just like you are fighting with each other.
  6. tl’lim’ ’uw’ tl’uhw kwun’s ’i’ ni’ kwunnuhw ts’umum ’u tu sqwal.
    1. It’s really serious when you take the language in your mouth.
  7. yu st’es tu s’ul’eluhwulh hwun’a’ kwun’s yu xeem ’i ch kwun’et tu sqwal.
    1. How our old people used to be when you first cry (being born), and you have a language.
  8. hwun’a’ kwun’s ’i xeem’ kwan ’i’ ni’ ch kwun’et tu sqwal sutst ’uw’ yu thuthi’.
    1. When you first cry, you already have the proper sounds of your language.
  9. tl’lim’ ch ’uw’ hakwush tun’ shqwaluwun.
    1. You always have your language.
  10. ts’uhwle’ ’i’ sul’sul’ts’ mi’mul’uts’ kwun’s ’i hwiine’ tun’ qw’oon’ ’i’ nuw’ilum ’i’ ni’ ’utl’qul ’i’ ni’ hilum ’ul’.
    1. Sometimes it’s twisted and mixed up when you listen with your ears, and it goes in and then falls out the other (ear).
  11. sisuw’ hakwush tun’ shxutsten ’i’ sqwaluwun.
    1. And you use your mind and your feelings.
  12. sisuw’ yu sthuthi’ tun’ smustimuhw kwun’s ’i yu’i’mush.
    1. That way, you can carry yourself properly.
  13. [In English:] First, I’m gonna thank each and every one of you again for being here, learning, and the older people would say, feeding on some of the words our ancestors used to use. 
  14. Feeding on some of the words our ancestors used to use, cause when you feed on it, it stays with you when you use your emotion. 
  15. And when you hear the words, and you listen with your heart, listen with your emotion, words have lots of meaning and lots of comfort and sometimes, a lot of teaching. 
  16. Even when they’re first born, and they cry, when the child cries, their cry is already tied in with some words, tied in with some words. 
  17. Nobody in this time frame can say how long we were speaking, but our ancestors say we never were animals. 
  18. We were created by the creator, and we already had a heart for each other, and the songs and the cries always related to the words. 
  19. So, the words we use in here, now, we’re feeding on it, and then once we get a mouthful of the words, and we swallow it, it grows inside us, and it’s easier to say as we progress in the days of this class. 
  20. I thank all of you for that good mind, good heart, for wanting to know about our ancestry because I’m caught in the middle, struggling with the words, to bring it in the true fashion our elders used to, where it was so simple. 
  21. It was so simple, and like I say, our ancestors weren’t Christian people. 
  22. It was just a natural thing of having respect for the father sky and earth and for each other, because many, many, many years ago, our ancestors communicated with all animals. 
  23. That’s why they have the clan families: the deer, the four-legged, the feathered, the sea creatures. 
  24. Each little group communicated with those to take care of the people, because nobody really, really separated who was superior. 
  25. Our ancestors said we were the lower class because we have to take care of each other, and the animals took care of themselves. 
  26. And us, we have to help each other. 
  27. So, thank you for being here. 
  28. Thank you for trying to grasp my ancestors’ words, ’cause it’s really, really making me feel they’re always here, and they’re always here. 
  29. And I wished I could have listened to them more when they were here, with their true words and their true values.
  30. But I just let it bypass. 
  31. Now, you’re making me wake up. 
  32. I get lonesome for them, but I feel good when I’m trying to remember, “How would they say it?” 
  33. I thank you for letting me be strong with my ancestry; hay ch q’a.