This is a story written by qwulisultun | Travis George from Quw’utsun’ with help from pul-qwuletse’ | Wayne Charlie, stqeeye’paal’t-hw | Lawrence George,  and sp’aqw’um’ultunat | Donna Gerdts for our new stories project in February 2026. Thanks to Wayne Charlie for the Hul’q’umi’num’ recording.

kwutst ni’ yu tsetsul’ulhtun’ ni’ ’u tthu sta’luw’ |Fishing by the River 

by Travis George and translated by Wayne Charlie

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1. ’een’thu qwulisultun, ni’ tsun ’uw’ tun’ni’ ’utl’ quw’utsun’.
   I’m Travis George and I’m from Quw’utsun’.
2. qwul’qwul’ nilh kwthunu shhw’aqw’a’ ’i’ tu ’een’thu.
   This is a story about my brother and me. 
3. ni’ tst yu hunum’ ’u tthu sta’luw’ tsetsul’ulhtun’.
   We were fishing down by the river.
4. kwutst yu ’i’mush ’u tthu qwlhey’ ni’ qixuthelum nu suw’ hwu slhelhuq’.
   We were walking on some logs and I slipped and fell down.
5. ni’ siwul tthunu shhw’aqw’a’, ’i’ wulh, “he! ni’ ch a’lu hwi’ xwtsel?”
   And my brother noticed, “Hey, where did you go?”
6. ’uwu niis lumnelum kwunus ni’ hilum.
   He did not see me fall.
7. xwum ’ul’ kwunus ni’ lhxilush st’e ’uw’ niis ’uwu te’ ni’ nu tstamut, ni’ nilhulh ’uw’ yu lumnelum.
   I jumped up quickly like nothing happened, but he had seen me.
8. nu suw’ ptem’ut tthunu shhw’aqw’a’, “’uwu ch niihw hwi’ yu lumnuhw, ’u?
   And I asked him, “You didn’t see, did you?
9. ’uwu ch ni’ hwi’ lumnam’sh ’u tthunu squlqe’lum’, ’u?”
   You didn’t see my accident, did you?”
10. ’uw’ ye’num’ ’ul’ tthunu shhw’aqw’a’.
    My brother started laughing.
11. ’i’ ’uw’ xut’u, “’uwu, ’uwu tsun niin’ le’lum’.
    He said, “No, I wasn’t looking.
12. ’i tsun ’uw’ lumnamu kwus ni’ p’ukwut tun’ni’ ’u tthu qwlhey’.”
    I just saw you popping up from between the logs.”
13. nilh kwu’elh tthunu sqwul’qwul’ ’uw’ ’iyus ’ul’, sqwul’qwul’ kwutst yu t’ut’a’thut tsetsul’ulhtun’.
    That is my short, funny story about when we tried to go fishing.