Here Is Something New . . . Told by Lucy Parks Blalock

They All Hunted . . . Told by Nora Thompson Dean in 1968

William Penn's Letter to the Pennsylvania Indians . . . Sent from London on October 18, 1681 . . . Translated by Nora Thompson Dean in 1981.

That Is Money . . . Told by Willie Longbone (1867 - 1946) to linguist Carl Voegelin in 1939. Original title was First Money, and it is copied from an old phonograph record. This anecdote was transcribed by Jim Rementer, and re-edited by linguist Ives Goddard.

The Language of the Delawares . . . Told by James C. Webber (1877 - 1950) to anthropologist Frank Speck in 1928. It is copied from an old phonograph record which is in the Library of the American Philosophical Society. It is probably the earliest recording of the Lenape language. This talk was re-edited by linguist Ives Goddard. Where there are skips on the record we use *** to indicate that a word or part of a word is missing.

The Man and His Dog . . . Told by Nora Thompson Dean in 1967

The Hunter Wanted to Go Hunting . . . Told by Lucy Parks Blalock

The Mesinkw

When One Wants to Marry Someone . . . Told by Bessie Snake (1896 - 1999) to Nora Thompson Dean, Bruce Pearson and Jim Rementer in 1978. Bessie was a member of the Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma (now The Delaware Nation).

Give Us a Little Piece of Your Land . . . Told by Bessie Snake (1896 - 1999) to Nora Thompson Dean, Bruce Pearson and Jim Rementer in 1978. Bessie was a member of the Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma (now the Delaware Nation). This is sometimes called the Cutting The Hide story.

You People Leave! . . . Told by Nora Thompson Dean in 1984. A group from American Playhouse contacted Nora because they were doing a docudrama called Roanoak and wanted some lines of dialogue in Lenape which they were told was the closest related Indian language still spoken and they wanted something authentic. Nora received the script with the lines to be translated. She completed the work and made an audiotape of the Lenape for the film.

Long Ago When They Lived in the East This is part of a ceremony done by Nora Thompson Dean at the dedication of the Delaware Room at the Bartlesville Public Library History Room on 20 November 1974. Over 100 people attended the ceremony.

What WhiteEyes Said . . . Translated by Nora Thompson Dean for linguist Bruce Pearson in 1968. Bruce asked Nora to translate a speech supposedly by Capt. WhiteEyes in retort to comments by Capt. Pipe. The speech was found in a book titled Charles Killbuck which was published in 1902.

Light in the Forest . . . Told by Nora Thompson Dean in 1963. In this recording she is reading to her father, James Thompson, who was 95 years old and had poor vision. She was reading from the novel The Light in the Forest written by Conrad Richter in 1953. In 1958 Walt Disney produced a movie based on the book and with the same title. Nora translated the story into Lenape as she read it in English. This is not a line by line translation but rather more in the form of a synopsis of the story. Recorded by Jim Rementer.

A Delaware Name

They Prayed in the Big House Church . . . Told by Nora Thompson Dean to Bruce Pearson and Jim Rementer in 1968. The story says the Delawares had stopped their annual meeting but some events that happened, probably in Indiana, caused them to revive it.

Go Get Your Witch Medicine . . . Told by Nora Thompson Dean to Bruce Pearson and Jim Rementer in 1968. This story tells of one of the lowest points in Lenape history when they had been forced to move to Indiana. People were trying to find who should be blamed and some were accused of using witchcraft. The woman in the story named Kaltas was a Lenape also know as Caritas or Ann Charity (1736 - 1806)

When the White People Arrived . . . Told by Willie Longbone (1867 - 1946) to linguist Carl Voegelin in 1939. It is copied from an old phonograph record. This story was transcribed by linguist Ives Goddard.

Everything Is Difficult In October 1977 Nora Thompson Dean (Touching Leaves) was invited to do a dedication ceremony for the Delaware Indian Resource Center at the Trailside Nature Museum in Cross River, New York. In addition to artifacts the museum also housed recordings and photographs made by Nicholas Shoumatoff and others during trips to Oklahoma to visit the Delawares. The ceremony was attended by about 800 people and others who accompanied Nora to this dedication were her cousin, Lucy Blalock, Nora’s daughter Louise, and nephew Jim Rementer. This is Nora’s talk in Lenape at the beginning of the ceremony.

Here Is Something New I Received. . . A story told by Lucy Blalock to David Oestreicher.

Delaware Corrections and Sayings . . . . Told by Nora Thompson Dean. There are a number of corrections, taboos, and sayings in Lenape. As some are a bit lengthy they are numbered as 1a, 1b, etc. to show that they continue the correction.

Lillie Visits

My Mother-in-Law Hates Me . . . Told by Martha Ellis to Nora Thompson Dean, Bruce Pearson, and Jim Rementer in 1977. Martha was a member of the Delaware Tribe of Western Oklahoma (now the Delaware Nation). The same story was told in English to William Newcomb about 1955 by James H. Thompson.