The following story was told to me in 1976 by Tom Kau, a Numbami man who was a noted traveler and storyteller nicknamed “Samarai,” because he had once spent time there. Listen to the full story in Numbami here:
Mayaŋgo kole goiya tema.
We saw one elder man.
Iyou iya wamba kikiyama.
He was fishing in the dark.
Ena ase Ŋguwoŋ.
His name was Ŋguwoŋ.
Kate, api, ilu makata e maŋgo, “Numa!”
So then we called him, saying “Come!”
Ipi ima ka eli e iŋgo “Ipaka?”
He came up, like, then he said “What’s up?”
“O, mama. Nombi laisi tatena nuwosa iŋgo noni
“O, we came. Take this rice and go for you to eat
“wa ilu manaambi ditako su kauti
“and we’ll take a little in a cloth
“manawasa mananisi niye wowola;
“we’ll go cook it on the way;
“manani wai, manawasa Opoi.”
“after we eat it, we’ll go to Hopoi.”
“O, indeŋama kote.”
“O, that won’t do.”
Waŋgo “O, indeŋama go nombi.”
I said, “O, it’s okay, so take it.
Biŋa te kote.
“It’s not for discussion.
Ilumandi nomba maki deŋa aiya.”
“It’s our thing we are giving you.”
E iki danke deŋ ilu wai te
After he thanked us,
tako, indosuwa isagawi ena bani indo te
he sat down and was looking after his food,
ilu payama makota tina masakie teulu.
so we went ahead and crossed the river climbed out the other side.
Mapaandalowa ka mapaandalowa ka
We walked and we walked and
malaaa masu koe tiŋgo Tiakiŋ.
we kept going over there they call Tiyakiŋ.
Ilu ma weke wai mala masuwa, mandosuwa nato
After we left we went, we reached, we sat down there
wa ilua mawaluŋu ilumandi yabokole,
and we rolled our tobacco,
mani buwa,
we chewed betelnut,
ilu manisi ilumandi bani iye nato
we cooked our food at that place.
Mani beleya wa mapaandalowa.
We finished eating and walked on.
Tananggo Binga Numbami 