Lady Louse

This video recording resides at United States National Archives.

The transcription, translation, and morphemic analysis is drawn, with very slight modifications, from Beck and Hess 2015, Tellings from Our Elders, volume I, Snohomish Texts, pages 513-518, as told in two versions by Elizabeth Krise. This note accompanies the transcription:

Recorded by Thom Hess, August 1962, at Tulalip, WA; transcribed by Thom Hess, further redaction by Thom Hess. The story is recorded twice in succession on the tape; a "complete" version of the story was created at a later date for pedagogical purposes largely by amalgamating line 6 of the first version into the second. This version was popularized by Vi Taqʷšəblu Hilbert and published as part of Lady Louse Lived There (Hilbert, 1996, Lushootseed Press).
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Lady Louse
ʔəsɬaɬlil kʷsi bšč’ad ʔal tə hiˑkʷ ʔalʔal
ʔas–ɬaɬlil
kʷsi
bšč’ad
ʔal
tə
hikʷ
ʔalʔal
stat–live
rem:fem
louse
at
nspec
big
house
Louse lives in a big house.
day’ay’
day’–ay’
dstr–uniquely
Alone.
xʷiʔ kʷi gʷəʔiʔiišəds
xʷiʔ
kʷi
gʷə=ʔi–ʔiišəd–s
neg
rem
sbj=rdp–relatives–3po
She has no relatives.
huy kʷədadəxʷ
huy
kʷəda–t=axʷ
sconj
taken–ics=now
And then she takes it.
gʷəl ʔiq’ʷidəxʷ tiʔəʔ hikʷ ʔalʔal
gʷəl
ʔiq’ʷi–t=axʷ
tiʔəʔ
hikʷ
ʔalʔal
sconj
sweep–ics=now
prox
big
house
And she sweeps the big house.
qa sč’iq’ʷil
qa
s=č’iq’ʷ–il
many
nm=dirty–inch
It is really dirty.
x̌ʷul’əxʷ ʔuʔudəgʷiǰiləxʷ ʔal tiʔiɬ ʔalʔal
x̌ʷul’=axʷ
ʔu–ʔudəgʷ•ič–il=axʷ
ʔal
tiʔiɬ
ʔalʔal
only=now
pfv–centre•covering–inch=now
at
dist
house
She gets only to the middle of the house.
huy x̌ʷil’əxʷ
huy
x̌ʷil’=axʷ
sconj
lost=now
She gets lost.
šəbšuˑb bšč’aˑd
šəb–šub
bšč’ad
dstr–disappear
louse
Louse disappears.