Tjitji Pakara Yankutja

Tjitji Pakara Yankutja
The Baby Got Up and Went
Written by Narelle Kanpatja Holland
Illustrated by Marian Broad
© Ngaanyatjarra Bible Project 
Alice Springs 
1997

Wati minyma pirni-ya purtikutu yanu. Nyangka ngunytjulunku tjitji mimi nintiranytja.

Palunyalu warntu pataralpi tjitji kunkunpa ngarritjunu mirrka palyarnu.

Pakara wantirra yanukutjupa-kutjupa mantjira pitjakitja.

Pitjalayirnu marlaku pitjangu nyangu, "Nyawa. Wamtukutju ngarala."
Palunyatjanu purtu kulirnu.

Nyangka wati kutjarralu-pula nyangu, "Tjina ngaanya paltjura mapitjangu."

Wanarayirnu-ya lurrtjurringkula pirnilurtu mirtura wanarnu.

Ngulartu-ya nyangu tjitji palunyanya kunkunpa ngarrirranyangka purnu wiltja purlkanyangka. Nyangka ngunytjulunku yampura ngurraku marlakulu katingu.

The Baby Got up and Went
Some men and women went out bush. And a mother was giving breast milk to her baby.
Then she spread out a blanket, put the sleeping baby down and fixed some food.
She then left him and went away to get various things and return.
She came along (got those things), came back and saw, "Oh look. There's only a blanket (and no baby)." Then she didn't know what to do.
Then two men saw, "Here are the tracks where (the baby) walked and went off."
Everyone joined in and having seen the tracks, they kept following them.
Later they saw the baby lying asleep in the shade of a big tree. Then the mother picked her baby up and took him back home.

Yini waarrku nyakula lurrtjunma.
mimi		blanket
warntu		footprints
purti		picked the child up
mirturnu	breast milk
tjina 		shade
yampurnu	out bush
kunkunpa	saw tracks
wiltja		asleep

Ngurrila wangka tjukarurru palunyalu tjurra.
	mirrka	ngarala	mimi
	marlaku	kunkunpa yanu
Nyangka ngunytjulunku tjitji____________ nintiranytja. Palunyalu warntu pataralpi tjitji __________________ ngarritjunu________________ palyarnu. Pakara wantirra______________kutjupa-kutjupa mantjira pitjakitja. Pitjayirnu ___________pitjangu nyangu, "Nyawa. Warntukutju__________."	

Murtuny-murtunypa nyakulalpi tjurra wangka tjukarurru ngaratjaku.
	tja ma nya pa
miny.....	.....rlaku
wil...... 	.....wa
kunkun...... 	......tarnu
purlka 	palu.........lu
pitjaki........ 	pi.......ngu
palunya......... 	.......ntjira
........kara          ..........lyarnu

POSTFACE
Tjitji Pakara Yankutja, "The Baby Got Up and Went" is an imaginative story written in Ngaanyatjarra by Narelle Kanpatja Holland of Blackstone.
Ngaanyatjarra is spoken by approximately 1,200 Aborigines living in the central desert area of Western Australia.
The illustrations are by Marian Broad of the Summer Institute of Linguistics.
There is an English translation on page 16.