KOYUKON

RIDDLES

adapted by

Richard Dauenhauer

June 1975

Book 7of the

Athabascan Indians of Interior AlaskaSocial Studies Unit

A Production of theAlaska Bilingual Education Center

Alaska Native Education Board4510 International Airport Rd.

Anchorage, Alaska

6-75-500

In the winter, after thehard work of summer and fallwas done, after the winterfood supply had been gatheredand prepared, the Athabascanshad leisure time for enter-tainment. Many of the Atha-bascans used to pose riddles,and riddling is still verypopular among some groups.

Among the Koyukon, rid-dles were asked in the secondhalf of winter, beginning in

_December when the sun beginsto come back and the daysgrow longer and brighter.'The riddles were associatedwith the return of light.

Riddles are like poems.A riddle is an act of imagin-ation -- an act of seeingsomething in terms of some-thing else.

The world of the riddlesee~sdifferent from the every-day world because riddles

turn things upside down andinside out. When the rtddleanswers put things back to-gether again, we see that theriddle world is the same asthe everyday world, but givesus a new or different way ofseeing the everyday world.

The two dozen riddles inthis book have been adaptedfrom the collection of Koyukonriddles published in 1913 byFr. Julius Jette, S.J. They

-will lead you to the world ofthe riddle-imagination, theworld of Athabascan poetry.Why not enter it by making upsome riddles of your own?

Answer )

1. I drag my shovelon the trail.

AnswerJ,

2. At the tip it'sdipping in the ashes.

3. Far away, afire flaring up.

24a. Bare ground

when the snow is melting.

:MOUS UO UMOp pappaqp i au e a)\11 s1 H ·vl

23a. The northern lights.

4. Small dots

fa r away.

"noq!J2J 2 l2

5Ull004S 'MOq AW a xo.r q I

22a. Paddle whirls.

5. It really snowed hard

in opposite directions

on my head.

·Jap~M aLH U!

fiu!6u!s 06 aM ·ZZ [

l

2la. An island.

6. We come upstreamin a red canoe.

- °aw p~ AeMe SJealJaleM a41 oil

° uourres pa'H ° 'E 9

20a. Eating.

7. It sounds like when

we shake a quiver.

°lsel AlleaJaJaLU U! sj u u aUl!1

dwnp aM ua~M °02

°PU1M a~ U1 DU1ddETJ'~~Eqq~~1q DU10UEH °EL

19a. Eating.

8. Like a broom, I'm

sweeping with my body.

°asn04 e oiu]

s>t:>ns Ilew s in d aM ua 4M

° 6 I

°.:ra,:+u1M.U1ss~.:r6 JO sdo:+ a~~ O~8

18a. A stump on which

the snow has fallen.

9. Cache-like,

leaning to the side.

·P~4 ul>lS daa4s e

6UIJeaM aJe aM ·81

l7a. Sled runner tracks.

10. It is like a herd

trailing up the hill.

O_S U oH:>aJ IP aH soddo U 1

fiUl>leaJlS 'JaleM UO uns

a>lll 'a>lll-aseaJ~ °LI

° SUIa:+O:+ tpTM

paA~EJ sauo:+sqUIo:+

'p~BAaAE~6 aqili °EOT

l6a. Sled runners.

II. I make chips.

·IH~Jl alll fiu oj e fieJp aM

a sj ou e lIHM °91

15a. A fire poker.

12. I brace it

with my back.

·re a 4 a 4l 0 lUI

a"IP I '~I

14a. The sunor moon.

13. 1 stick my headin the fire.

·pua aq+ uo ou~u~nqlOOT V ·"EET

• S u !e luno w a LH P U OA a q

4:>eaJ I ·vl