Amiu dialogue on the longest night.

Dialogue between Deborah Groom and wámmíi (Coyote Talks) on 9 fish rain, the longest night.


DG: It is very cold tonight!

w: Yes, it's cold. A cold longest night this year. The people don't want to go outside, even though the moon is nearly facing (i.e., full). It's almost only the doctors who are out on the hill, not very many people watching them.

DG: What are they doing? What is the purpose?

w: They're singing to the moon. The sun is fairly galloping now when he crosses over us, just in high spirits. Then he gets tired and lingers when he crosses the undersea side -- even though he can't see the people down there, he can't see underwater! But the sun is like that, he forgets. He forgets why he called us on the land, so he could see us in the first place, and in the winter he just runs. You heard them telling the children that story, of how we came onto the land. It's a good story for the longest night, because it shows how wild and foolish the sun is. Did you hear it?

( DG: Yes... )

*

This is how I work out a lot of cultural things, by writing a dialogue between a native and an imaginary questioner.

Amiu dialogue on the longest night.

Dialogue between Deborah Groom and wámmíi (Coyote Talks) on 9 fish rain, the longest night.


DG: It is very cold tonight!

w: Yes, it's cold. A cold longest night this year. The people don't want to go outside, even though the moon is nearly facing (i.e., full). It's almost only the doctors who are out on the hill, not very many people watching them.

DG: What are they doing? What is the purpose?

w: They're singing to the moon. The sun is fairly galloping now when he crosses over us, just in high spirits. Then he gets tired and lingers when he crosses the undersea side -- even though he can't see the people down there, he can't see underwater! But the sun is like that, he forgets. He forgets why he called us on the land, so he could see us in the first place, and in the winter he just runs. You heard them telling the children that story, of how we came onto the land. It's a good story for the longest night, because it shows how wild and foolish the sun is. Did you hear it?

( DG: Yes... )

*

This is how I work out a lot of cultural things, by writing a dialogue between a native and an imaginary questioner.