Bill Seward: Bill And His Brother As Soldiers

Bill and his Brother as Soldiers

(saay’ kws xiluxs
Preparing for War)

niilh tst ni’ ’u tu’i tsa’luqw thaythut tst kws nem’ tst xilux ’i’ kw’unu shuyulh.
Me and my older brother were up the mountain here training to go to war.

’i’ wulh nem’ tst xilux’, xut’u ’u tun’a kweyulus wulh huye’ tst.
And we were leaving to go to war the next day.

xeem’ kw’unu men, xeem’ lhunu ten, ’uwu stl’i’sus kws nem’ tst.
My father was crying, and my other was crying because they didn’t want us to go.

’i tst wulh kwunnuhw tu steem ni’ hay tu xixul’ux, ni’ hay.
And we got the news that they war was over.

nilh kwu’elh nilh lhunu ten ’i’ kw’unu men nilh ni’ st’e ’u kw’uw’ thuyt tey’.
And it was like my mother and my father had made it happen.

[In the English version Bill quips, “And I told my brother that they heard the Indians were coming so they just quit.”]

 

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Transcribed by Ruby Peter, typed by Sarah Kell, and edited and translated by Donna Gerdts. Thanks to Sean Milliken and Zoey Peterson for video and post-production.