Cree Text

Here is the first part of story told by Marguerite Gamble. You can see many examples of syllable-final [s] as well as some others such as [n] and [t]. In this variety of the script, the <w> dot symbol follows the syllabic character.

kayâs ôma âcimowinis ohci, nôhcâwîs
ê-kî-âcimostawit nîsta. "aya," itwêw,
"nîsta ê-kî-âcimostâkawiyân ôma âcimowinis."

This little story is from a long time ago, my uncle told it to me. "Well," he said, "I, too, had this little story told to me."

pêyakwâw êsa kî-ayâw apisimôsos, mistahi
ê-katawasisit, nawac piko ê-mihkwawêt.

Once there was a deer that was very beautiful, with a reddish coat.

êkwa mâna ôki omâcîwak, itwêw,
ê-mâcîtotawâcik ôhi apisimôsoswa. mêtoni mâna
cîki ê-pê-takosihk awa apisimôsos, ita
ta-wâpamiht êtokwê.

And the hunters would go hunting for this deer, he said. The deer would come really close [to the camp], so that it could be seen, I guess.

aya, itwêw awa nôhcâwîs, ôki mâna
omâcîwak kî-sipwêhtêtwâwi, namôya mâna kâwi
ê-takohtêcik. êkwa awa apisimôsos kîhtwâm
wâpamihci, ayiwâk mâna ê-mihkwawêt.

Well, my uncle said, once the hunters had left, they would not return home. And when the deer was seen again, its coat would be of a deeper red.