Introductory Notes
Native American (Indian) folklore. The indigenous peoples of America have a very rich and special folklore tradition, with their own names, means of presenting the supernatural, sacred formulas and motives. In many ways, the Indian folk tale resembles the European, but in general it contains more archaic and tribal features.
Many Indian stories begin with the time formulas of "long, long ago" or "wheji the world was young (or new)," or "in the times before our times;" another type of the time formula is "in the days of the animal people" or "in the days of our grandfathers' grandfathers." A special motif for the time formula is "when the people had not come out yet (had not emerged from underground)." These formulas are very unusual for the European traditions of folklore but may be found in the myths and legends of the peoples of Siberia. To translate them into Russian different ways may be chosen: в давние времена; давным-давно; во времена наших предков; в те времена, когда мир был еще юным и свежим; когда мир населяли только звери и птицы; когда человека на земле еще не было; в прежние времена; and the like.
Very special was the idea of many worlds before this world. Many Indian peoples believed that at least three or, according to some traditions, four worlds had existed before our world, and each of them had been destroyed either by water or fire, or explosion. Thus, many Indian stories of the past begin with the formula "in the world before this world," or "in the time of the first (second, third) world" and so on. When translated, such formulas
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become rather awkward in Russian: «5 мире, который существовал до нашего мира» or «во времена первого мира.» There is, though, prorably a solution that preserves the idea of multiple times while not specifying any exact number: «в одном из предыдущих миров.»
Unlike many European traditions, including the Russian, American Indians have a large number of folk tales that in many features have retained the initial myths of creation, of the end, of the world, of cultural quest and totemic ancestors. The Creator of the World may be ubiquitous; with different tribes he may have different earthly forms and substitutes, such as Coyote, Gluscap (Great Frog), Monobozho (Great, or White Hare), Hummingbird, Old Man Above, Spider Woman, etc. What makes such tales quite unusual is the idea that when there were no people, animals were people on the earth and could speak, hunt and marry. Since those times, human beings have replaced them as people, but there is a widespread belief that one day animals will come back to live in peace and friendship with people. This animal motif is very strong in the stories, where one can meet such characters as Chief White Bear, Great Father Beaver, White Buffalo Woman or Big Brother Wolf
Translating their names is a problem in some cases, for White may not necessarily mean the white colour but rather a sacred formula of belonging to the other world. Thus, White Buffalo Woman may change her colour to white, brown or black, while White is her sacred title rather than a true colour. In translation, we can find such Russian forms of her name as Белая Бизониха, Белая Женщина-бизон, Священная Бизониха, or even Божественная Корова. Even more various are the names used in translation for Spider Woman: Паучиха, Матушка Паучиха, Женщина-паук, Бабушка Паучиха, Священная Паучиха, etc.
Another special feature of Indian myths and tales is the animation of natural forces and objects such as rocks, stones,
mountains, lakes and rivers, trees and herbs, rainbow and water,
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Практикумпо художественному переводу
sun and moon, stars and winds. They can move and speak, cheat and be cheated, struggle and weep, marry and give birth to children, hunt and grieve like human beings but with some supernatural power. Old Man Coyote may cry and appeal to the Creator that Mount Sheep fights and pursues him, while Mountain Sheep may come along, cheat Coyote, laugh and run away to his hiding place.
In the stories and beliefs of the southern Indians, such as the Hopi, Zuni or Navajo, mostly agricultural tribes, Mother Corn or Corn Maiden appears very often in different images. The name is also translated in different manner into Russian; she may become Матушка Кукуруза, Кукурузная Матушка, Маисовая Дева, Дух Кукурузы, Мать-Кукуруза, etc. Most often by the context and the guise assumed the Corn Spirit prompts this or that Russian name for the mythical personage.
Quite often in such cases the translator faces a gender problem. In an ordinary, say, geographical text, "Mountain Sheep" may be translated more or less easily, though in at least two ways: «гора Шип» and «Овечья гора»; the former sounds more English, whereas the latter is closer to the Russian tradition of naming mountains and hills. But in the context where Mountain Sheep is a living being, like the one who the insulted Coyote, it becomes he, a warrior, a hunter, and behaves very much like a man. In translation "mountain" becomes «гора», which is feminine in Russian, and it sounds quite unnatural to say «гора Шип засмеялся и убежал». It is more appropriate to choose a substitute for «гора» but of a masculine gender. It might be, for instance, something like Овечий Пик, though "Sheep" is probably a real surname.
Special, and different from European traditions too, are formulas of the sacred. These may include an ability to transform, to come back to life, change colour or size, wear some special clothes or do unusual deeds. One such formula is to have a great medicine about oneself. The idea of medicine is rather complicated, first of all due to the difference of folk traditions, and also due 272