XVI. A Lovers' Quarrel

Yana Texts, by Edward Sapir, [1910], at sacred-texts.com

XVI. A LOVERS' QUARREL.

p. 185

"S*uwā! May I dream of him! Would that you might come. You thought that you would not love any one." (Her lover has come and says to her,) "I love you very much, that is why I have come." "Perhaps you do not love me." "I have loved you for a long time, and I shall always do so. I shall always come to see you. Pray come to our house, and I shall do likewise. After a while we shall be married." "Pray let me grow. I am not yet grown up." "My mother already knows about it, and I shall stay with you, and you shall do likewise to me." (She said,) "I am afraid that you might abandon me. They say that you are a bad fellow, and I did not know about it. You shall go off to hunt." "You talk too much to me, and it is I that speak rightly. I do not know what I shall do. You are not, it seems, a sensible person. I shall be good to you, I shall give you good clothes. Do not be afraid of me! Why, pray, do you speak thus? You should have told it to me long ago. Perchance you think that you are the only one. There are many women, and I shall take any one. Do you think about me, 'He will cry'? Perchance you say, 'I am very pretty.' Indeed, I have abandoned a pretty one. What, pray, should I do if you do not love me? I shall try another woman. Perchance you think about me, 'He will not find any women.' You do not know what I have in mind. I have many brothers and sisters who would help me ²⁹¹ if I go anywheres to woo. Many are the nephews and nieces, my sister's children."

Footnotes

185:291 With the payment for a bride.