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Interlinear Nawat texts

1)	NE	TZIKAT	WAN	NE	TZILINTUK
	THE	ANT	AND	THE	CICADA

Ne	ichan	ne	tzikat	tentuk	iwan	takwal.
the	his-home	the	ant	full	with	food

Yaja	tesu	keman	musewia	kitemua	takwal.
he	not	when	rests	seeks	food

Yaja	kitemua	iswat	ipal	ne	kwajkwawit.
he	seeks	leaf	of	the	trees

Ne	tzikat	kan	nemi	ukse	takwalmet	ka	weli
the	ant	when	is	other	animals	that	can

kikwa,	kunij	tesu	kisa	kitemua	itakwal;
eats-him,	then	not	goes-out	seeks	his-food

kunij	kichia	ma	tayuakisa
then	waits	SUBJUNCTIVE	gets-dark

pal	pewat	kisat	kitemuat	itakwal.
for	they-start	they-go-out	they-seek	their-food

Ne	tzikat	techmachtia	ken	muchiwa
the	ant	teaches-us	how	is-done

pal	te	tikseliat	mayan.
for	not	we-suffer	hunger

Yejemet	ashta	ne	mas	chikitik
they	even	the	more	small

ashta	ne	mas	tumak	tekitit.
even	the	more	big	they-work

Né	tesu	nemi	kaj	kintuktia,	muchi	tekitit.
there	not	is	who	commands,	all	they-work

An	tikitakan	ne	tzilintuk.
now	let’s-see-him	the	cicada.

Yaja	panu	muchi	ne	tunalku	takwika.
he	passes	all	the	dry-season	he-sings

Yajika	kwak	witz	ne	shupan
therefore	when	comes	the	rainy-season

miki	ipal	sesek	wan	mayan.
dies	of	cold	and	hunger

Kiunij	panu	iwan	miak	takamet	wan	siwatket.
so	passes	with	many	men	and	women.

Ki|seliat	mayan	ka	tesu	kinekit	tekitit.
they-suffer	hunger	because	not	they-want	they-work

THE ANT AND THE CICADA (Genaro Ramírez, Witzapan)

Genaro Ramírez

The ant’s home is full of food. It never stops looking for food. It looks for leaves of trees. The ant, when there other animals that can eat it, does not go out to look for food. It waits until nightfall to start going out to look for food. The ant teaches us what we should do in order not to go hungry. From the smallest to the largest, they work. There is nobody there to give orders, they all work. Now let’s look at the cicada. It spends the whole dry season singing. So when the rainy season comes along, it dies of cold and hunger. Thus it is with many men and women. They go hungry because they don’t want to work.

2)	NE	TUTUT
	THE	BIRD

Muchi	tikmatit	ka	se	tutut	patani.
all	we-know	that	one	bird	flies

Pero	ken	kichiwa	pal	weya	tesu	akaj	kimati.
but	how	he-does-it	for	he-grows	not	anybody	knows

U	su	kimatit	ka	nesi	ipal	se	teksisti,
or	if	they-know	that	it-is-born	of	an	egg

kaj	kitakwaltia?	Tay	mumati,	ka	inan	takwaltia.
who	feeds-it	what	is-known	that	its-mother	feeds-it

Pero	achtu	ne	tutut	tapishua	ne	teksisti,
but	first	the	bird	lays	the	egg

nemanha	kipachua	ashta	ma	puni,
afterwards	it-sits-on-it	until	SUBJUNCTIVE	it-hatches

wan	puntuk	kenhayuk	kipachua,
and	hatched	still	it-sits-on-it

wan	pewa	kitakwaltia	ne	shulut	tutut
and	starts	feeds-it	the	young	bird

ne	nan	ipal	ne	tutuchin	ashta	ma	weya,
the	mother	of	the	little-bird	until	SUBJUNCTIVE	it-grows

pal	kitzkia	ujmiyu	wan	weli	patani
for	it-gets-it	feather	and	it-can	it-flies

pal	kitemua	takwal.
for	it-seeks-it	food.

Yajika	inan	achtu	kitakwaltia,	wan	kwak	kita
therefore	its-mother	first	it-feeds-it	and	when	it-sees

ka	ne	tutuchin	welia	patani,	kunij	kichiwa
that	the	little-bird	it-can-already	it-flies	then	it-makes-it

ma	kiselia	mayan,	pal	pewa	patani.
SUBJUNCTIVE	it-suffers	hunger	for	it-begins	it-flies

Ka	su	te	kichiwa	kiunij,	ne	tutuchin	tekeman
because	if	not	it-makes-it	so	the	little-bird	never

patani,	maya	kichia	ne	takwal	tik	ishumul.
it-flies	only	it-waits-for-it	the	food	in	its-nest

Tay	techajkawa	ne	tutut,
what	it-leaves-us	the	bird

ma	tejemet	tikchiwakan	iwan	tupijpilawan.
SUBJUNCTIVE	we	let’s-do-it	with	our-children

Ne	tutut,	yaja	se	tamachtiani,
the	bird	it	one	teacher

ka	techmachtia	ken	weli	mupewa	tiktemuat
because	it-teaches-us	how	it-can	it-is-begun	we-seek-it

ne	tutakwal	pal	te	tikseliat	mayan.
the	our-food	for	not	we-suffer-it	hunger

THE BIRD (Genaro Ramírez, Witzapan)

We all know that a bird flies. But what it does to grow up, nobody knows. Or if they know that it comes from an egg, who feeds it? What is known is that its mother feeds it. But first the bird lays the egg, then it sits on it until it hatches, and once it is hatched the mother of the baby bird continues to sit on it and starts to feed the young bird until it grows big so that it grows feathers and can fly to look for food. So first its mother feeds it, and when it sees that the baby bird is already able to fly, it makes it go hungry so that it will start to fly. Because if it doesn’t do that, the baby bird will never fly, it will just wait for food in its nest. What the bird shows us, let us do with our children. The bird is indeed a teacher, for it teaches us how we should start looking for our own food in order not to go hungry.

This text © 2004 Genaro Ramírez Vázquez; may be reproduced with permission if source is acknowledged.

© 2004 Alan R. King, Monica Ward and IRIN.