So, here goes my attempt at changing up a bit of one of Harry's stories and seeing what it looks like... This is from "To Hell and Back" :
See, he gets the gold that way without working for it, without somebody giving it to him. He gets it for nothing. That's a good way at that time, for him, so he does that. Nobody knows. He kills somebody and then he gets the money, gets the gold, and whoever he kills, he throws them in the Thompson River. "Goodbye!" He does that four times. He kills two white men, and one Indian, and one Chinaman. But this Indian, the one that he kills, he must have come from some different direction, maybe from Bella Coola, or from Lillooet, some place. Strange, because they don't miss him. He knows that. You know, he knows that they were strangers. If he kills them, they will never be missed around here. They might miss them where they came from, but not here.
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This is modification of Harry's "To Hell and Back", the second paragraph.
ReplyDeleteAnd this man was given two Indian names. I don't know. He might have been bapitized, but maybe not in those days. Anyway, he got two Indian names. The called him Ta-POO-low, which means if you turn it into English, "frozen ground harder". The other name they call him his Shil-ka-CHOOT. That's a Thompson word. I don't know what that means. The other word were Thompson word, but I know what it means.
Here is my attempt at changing the writing style from p 269. It is not long, but it was difficult to do... makes for some interesting observations.
ReplyDeleteSo he got the gold
Without working for it
He didn’t trade or borrow
But he stole it like a jerk.
At the time he thought
It was a good way to go
And that’s why he did it
With nobody to know.
To get that gold
He would kill some guy
Then throw him in the Thompson
And say goodbye.
An Indian a Chinaman
And two white gents
He killed four guys
And didn’t give two cents.
These men were maybe from
Bella Coola or Lillooet
So when they were gone
Nobody would fret.
So here's my attempt as well! Page 268 At those days white people, they call it a gold rush at everywhere. They found the kinda often at any place. And lot of 'em gold mine were found along that way. Along spence's Bridge and down the river to Hope and all over the Cariboo and all those places. In those days the white people called it a "Gold Rush". Gold was found everywhere along Spence's Bridge all the way to Hope, mostly all over the Cariboo.
ReplyDeleteWasn't this fun - and enlightnening? I especially like the liberties that you took, Jim, and would suggest that these liberties are likely minor compared to what old-time anthros might have done. And I like it, even if it has touches of your voice in it (big time). Comparing some of these approaches with what you find in the text would make a great paper!
ReplyDeleteThis is so against my interpreter training, but it was so much fun.
ReplyDeleteIt takes so much away from the personal experience that goes along with an oral story.
I must say I prefer to leave things as they are.
Pg. 125 Harry’s Book
Saved By a Grizzly Bear
The story that I am going to tell you is about a man who went into a grizzly bear’s den to spend the winter. That’s the first part of this story. Anyway, at one time, the Okanagan people used to buy their horses from the Blackfoot people. On one occasion however, a group of Okanagan men decided to take a chance and steal the Blackfoot people’s horses instead of buying them. As it happened, when the thieves arrived at the Blackfoot village, they could not immediately steal the horses because there were too many men on watch. Probably to protect the horses, just in case a situation like this was to happen. Some of the Okanagan thieves gave up waiting for a chance to steal the horses, and winter was coming. Only a few of the thieves decided to wait for a chance to steal the horses. After about a week however, more of the men went home. That left only a couple of men to steal the horses. It soon became wintertime, it was in November or December, and the two men were anxious to get the horses and return home. It was a long journey across the mountains from Browning to Nespelem, and it was snowing. The men decided to stay a bit longer, because they knew if they left for home this late in the year they would have to cross the mountains without snowshoes. They decided to stay for awhile longer, but they still did not get a chance to steal the horses. After running out of food and becoming hungry, the two men decided to leave without the horses. They left the Blackfoot area. It is possible that the Blackfoot knew that they were hiding in their territory, who knows. The men climbed to the summit. The story goes something like that. They had no food, so they waited for a deer to come along, but nothing came.
Like Jackie, I did not like messing around with the original, but it was an eye opener for understanding just how difficult it is to interpret and how easily things can get changed.
ReplyDeleteAlso, like Blanca mentioned, it is hard to rewrite another persons works and not have your own "voice" taint the message. Perhaps the day will come when the trend will be to desire an interpretation from others on a certain piece, but I was (am) not comfortable doing it.
I feel that doing my own version was wrong too. I feel a bit guilty for doing that! It felt good that I was able to clear it up a bit though.
ReplyDelete