baa baa makade-maanishtaanish
Baa, baa, black sheep,
have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir,
three bags full.
One for the master.
One for the dame.
And one for the little boy
who lives down the lane.
My Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe) studies have been going a bit slow of late. I had a wonderful opportunity at attending a language class run by the renowned author Ferguson Plain in Sarnia, Canada. Sadly, I soon found out that it would mean I would have to drive from Grand Rapids, MI to Sarnia (a 6-hour roundtrip journey) every Wednesday. So, as of now, that arrangement has fallen apart.
Still, I am enjoying learning what I can. It opens my world up; gives me new worlds to love. It's like what bell hooks tells us in Outlaw Culture: Resisting Representations (1994): "Be in love, love people, and make connections … the moment we choose to love we begin to move against domination, against oppression. The moment we choose to love we begin to move towards freedom, to act in ways that liberate ourselves and others."
Perhaps learning a nursery rhyme will not liberate me, but it is a start. I recall learning Baa Baa Black Sheep as a small child; it is the same tune as Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. I found this translation in Living Our Language: Ojibwe Tales and Oral Histories, edited by Anton Treuer (St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2001). Enjoy.
Baa Baa Makade-maanishtaanish
awiiya na maanishtaanishibiiwiin gidayaawaa?
Eya'. Eya'. Niso-mashkimod.
Ingod o'ow mashkimod a'aw indoogimaam.
Ingo-mashkimod wiin indoogimaakwen.
Miinawaa ingo-mashkimod a'aw gwiiwizens
iwidi miikanensing gii-ani-danademod.
I want to speak to people very badly — as hooks put it, "If I do not speak in a language that can be understood there is little chance for a dialogue" — and there are so many dialogues outside my native English. So I leave you with this; my language lesson for today. The Anishinaabe root words for "thank you" is "miigwech." Add on the term, "chi," to mean "big" or "great" or "very" and you get "chi-miigwech," "thank you very much." A most useful word to use in an uncertain world.