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Authors: Tomson Highway

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Ann-Adele Ghostrider lit a tiny sprig of cedar — after sweet-grass, sage, and tobacco, the fourth sacred herb — and one last puff of smoke rose. Jeremiah stood with his back against the door, his mother biting his restraining hand. For God had finally come for his brother, banging on the door, demanding to be let in. The scream of fire alarms and engines became a woman’s wail, then another, then another, until one hundred voices were wailing the death chant.

And as he moved ever closer, Gabriel Okimasis could decipher the words and the numerals printed across her sash, syllable by syllable, letter by letter: “The Fur Queen, 1987.”

Through the smoke and candle light, the Fur Queen swept into the room. Covering the bed with her cape, she leaned to Gabriel’s cheek.

The creature of unearthly beauty was floating towards him carrying something in her arms, something round and made of silver, carrying the object at waist level, like a sacred vessel, like an organ, a heart perhaps, a lung, a womb? He was the champion of the world. And then the Queen’s lips descended. Down they came, fluttering, like a leaf from an autumn tree, until they came to rest if only for a moment, though he wanted it to last a thousand years, on Gabriel Okimasis’s left cheek. There. She kissed him. And took him by the hand
.

Rising from his body, Gabriel Okimasis and the Fur Queen floated off into the swirling mist, as the little white fox on the collar of the cape turned to Jeremiah. And winked.

G
LOSSARY OF
C
REE
T
ERMS

Anee-i ma-a? — what about those?

Arababoo — stew

Ash! Kagitoo! – Ash! Shut up!

Astum — come here (or) come to me (or) come

Ateek, ateek, astum, astum — caribou, caribou, come to me, come to me

Athweepi — rest (or) relax

Atimootagay — dog’s cunt (common swear word)

Awasis, magawa, tugoosin — child, here he/she is, has arrived

Awiniguk oo-oo? — who (plural) are these (people)?

Awus — go away

Aymeeskweewuk anee-i — they’re holy women (i.e., nuns)

Cha — dogsled term: turn right

Doos — Cree prononciation for “deuce”

Eehee — yes

Eematat — he/she’s fucking her/him

Kaaaa — an elongation (as in “Ohhhh”) of “ka,” meaning “oh.”

Kareewalatic — the backrest of a dogsled from which the handlebar protrudes for the standing driver to hang on to

Katha matoo — don’t cry

Keechigeesigook — heaven

Keegway kaweetamatin — I’ll tell you something

Keeyapitch n’tayamiyan — I still pray

Kigiskisin na? — do you remember?

Kitoochigan — music maker (e.g., record player, piano, guitar, or any instrument that makes music)

Kimoosoom chimasoo, koogoom tapasao, diddle-ee, etc. — Grandpa gets a hard-on, grandma runs away, diddle-ee, etc. (a non-sensical musical rhyme)

Kiweethiwin — your name

K’si mantou — the Great Spirit, i.e., God (also spelled and pronounced “Kitchi mantou” or, in bad Cree “Gitche Manitou”)

Machimantou — Satan

Machipoowamoowin — bad dream power (a very powerful term)

Maggeesees — fox

Mati siwitagan — pass the salt

Mawch — no

Maw keegway — nothing

Maw neetha niweetootan — I’m not going

Migisoo — eagle

Mithoopoowamoowin — good dream power

Miximoo — bark

Mootha nantow — it’s all right

Mush — dogsled term: go (or) go forward

Muskoosis(uk) — little bear(s)

Napeesis awa — it’s a boy

Neee, bailee sleeper chee anima? — sheesh (or “good grief”), isn’t that a ballet slipper?

Neee, nimantoom — sheesh, my God!

Neee, tapwee sa awa aymeegimow — sheesh, the nerve of this priest

Nibeebeem macheeskooteek taytootew! — my baby will go down to hell!

Nigoosis — my son

Nimama — my mother

Nimantoom — my God

Noos’sim — grandson/daughter

Oogimow — Chief

Oogoosisa — the son of

Ooneemeetoo — dancer

Ootee-si — this way

Peechinook’soo — is approaching (i.e., can be seen approaching)

Peeyuk, neesoo — one, two

Peeyatuk — be careful

P’mithagan — airplane

Poowamoowin — dreaming (i.e., the act of dreaming)

Seemak — right away

Sooni-eye-gimow — Indian agent (i.e., Department of Indian Affairs)

Taneegi iga? — why not?

Tansi! — how ya doin’!

Tantee kageegimootee-in anima misti-mineeg’wachigan? — where did you steal the big cup?

Tapwee — really (or) yes, really

U — dogsled term: turn left

Weechee-in — help me

Weeks’chiloowew! — “the wind’s a-changing!” with childish pronunciation (a cry of joy, of boundless elation, as nonsensical yet as expressive of a point as “heavens to Betsy!”)

General Notes on the Cree Language

1) There is no gender, so that, in a sense, we are all he/shes, as is God, one would think …

2) The soft g, as in “George,” does not exist; rather, all gs are hard, as in “gag” or “giggle.”

BOOK: Kiss of the Fur Queen
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