Orchid Dreams

//Kir Mórn fur Nihalei

The Language of the People of Glarion: Nihalei.

[Nihalei was the first language I made, for one of the characters in "Destiny" called Laren; an Eastern Warrior. It's meant to be a simplistic language, and didn't end up interesting me as much as Mornae. Therefore, I didn't make an extensive vocab like I have with Mornae, and the language hasn't been "finished" as much as Mornae has for me. Keep this in mind when you see how short the dictionary is. ;)]

“One Searched For”- Onida
A- ere
All- lui
And ar
Animals migisi
Bear- Cheyna
Beautiful- Loma*
Because- mar’ara
Berry wikon
Brave/Strong Ainai
But- Ara
Chases Butterflies- Nova
Child- Warrim-jalla.
Coyote Man- Istagi
Day jara
Eagle- Tamaqui
Earth- Syna
Edain- Mun’innan (crow)
Feather- mhurra
Forest Nalele
Friend- Tana
Fur/Coat/Clothing queno
Giving/creating/keeping/spirit- Morra
Grydien- Angeni
Had been miina
Hawk- Birrun
He- ne
Hello- Ayama
Here- Mei.
Home Onila
Horse- Kayba
I E’
In O’
Is/are/am (plus various other meanings)- Sai
Like/as di
Man- Warrim
Many/much enar
Moon Tylan
My/have/has/had- Ama
Nel- Lomasi
Night- argo
Night sky- Kamara
Not/do not- dari
Now arma
Of/for/from- de
One Oma
Peaceful diabi
Present- kirri’ha
Salmon- Tirruk
She- Ene
Sky- Marna
Spear Lokka-lokka*
Special/close- Barri
Story bokka
Thankful/thank you/ grateful- marrimai
The den
There you go/how’s that?- des nah.
They inga
To be able to/ Can inak
To cry Lomar*
To eat pacca
To go/to get marra
To help murrinai
To kill Losar*
To know sani
To Listen/hear- de’arsi
To live/Life- Beo
To love kintosai
To make meinma
To Need forran
To Run/race- jerrani
To sleep/Sleeping- Polom/poloma
To Speak- Edasi
To Stay/rest etc- mahar
To Understand- berringara.
To want bikkai
To watch/to look at weko
To Worry- akai
We- dira
What Pelo
When Pola
Where- Pela
Why Ponto
With Y’
Wolf- Mirruk
Woman- Jalla
Years I’anae
You- ma
Sun Naama
Owl Naa

The Stories:

The Birth. (Naa ta’kamara)
Once the world had no animals or men, but there were trees, lakes, rivers, earth and sky. The sky was all black and no light could get through. Then Naa-who was a woman tree-spirit, took up a shark stone and cut out tiny holes in the night sky which was Kamara, and let them fall to the Earth (which was Syna). As they fell, Naa named each of the pieces and gave them shape. Man she called Warrin, and woman she called Jalla. When a child was born, it was a warrim-jalla. She named the animals that fell- horses were Kayba, wolves were Mirruk, buffalo were Murrun, Bear were Cheyna etc, until all the animals had fallen down to the earth and taken shape. When we die, we return to our brothers in the sky and it shall be as it once was. There we shall find Utopia and one day, when the sky is patched up again, Naa shall return and cut us down and we shall be reborn.

The taming of the Kayba.

Once, horses (Kayba), ran freely, eating crops and grasses and creating tracks through the land. One day, a young warrim-jalla decided he would capture one of these Kayba and keep it for himself. The warrim-jalla found a herd of them grazing by a stream. He walked to the leader of this group and said in quite a loud voice:
“Proud Kayba! I wish to ride you so that I may cover long distances and have a friend to help me hunt. I have very few friends as all the boys of my tribe are much older than I.” The Kayba stopped grazing and looked to the boy.
“Very well, young warrim-jalla. I shall let you ride on my if you place nothing except a blanket on my back and nothing but rope upon my head and that you treat me as well as any of your brothers. If you treat me poorly or drive me where I cannot go, Imai, the horse spirit, shall come for you.’ The boy agreed, and so that is why we do not place pieces of metal in our horses’ mouths and why we ride only with a blanket and never misuse our Kayba, for Imai is powerful and merciless if his kind is treated badly.

The Story of Mirruk and his Voice.
Mirruk was once peaceful to all the animals and men and ate like the Cheyna on berries and moss. The King of the Mirruk had a mate called Tylan whose coat changed colour from yellow to white, and Mirruk loved her as his life-partner and they would often be seen walking through the woods together, sometimes stopping by injured animals to see if they could help. A mean hearted warrim-jalla observed them and Tylan’s beautiful coat and decided he would have it for himself. He took the juice of a red berry, putting it on his bare chest, and laid himself on the floor as the Mirruk came. When Tylan stood over him, he pounced and slit her throat with a spear. Mirruk killed the boy, dooming his kind to hunt for flesh. Tylan became the moon and for many days Mirruk cried until his cries became howls. Now, when we heard the Mirruk howling to the moon, we know he is crying for Tylan.

The Story of Tamaqui and Birrun.
Tamaqui and Birrun were once good friends and often soaring and hunting together. Birrun began to become greedy and was jealous of Tamaqui so each night Birrun stole one of the bird’s great feathers and put it in his own skin. Each morning, Tamaqui would wake up and find it harder to soar as gracefully as he once could. That night, Tamaqui stayed awake to see Birrun take another feather. “Birrun, why do you steal my feathers?” Tamaqui asked the hawk.
“Because your feathers are more beautiful than mine and I wished to have some for myself.”
Tamaqui was angry at Birrun and so pecked all his feathers off the hawk and stuck them to his body again before storming out on the Hawk. Now, when we see a hawk being chased by an eagle, it is because Birrun kept and hid some of Tamaqui’s feathers and he is forever searching for them.

The story of Onida and Cheyna.
Cheyna, the bear, used to have a great friend- Onida, and they would run through the grassy valleys and the wooded forests together. She was not a bear but some people say she was a spirit woman, or even a Jalla- our own kind.
One day, Cheyna took Onida to a racing river, where they sat and watched the fish. Cheyna left to go forage for berries while Onida stayed and bathed. A tricky salmon- the Tirruk, lured her further and further away from the river bank.
When Cheyna returned, Onida was gone. He couldn’t find her tracks leading from the river and could only see the salmon.
“Tirruk! Where is Onida!?” he waded into the water, snatching the fish with his claws.
“I do not know, Cheyna- she came here swimming and then vanished!” the salmon was not a very good liar and Cheyna knew when a lie was being told. He became angry at Tirruk and threw him onto the shore and ate him up. Then he ran up and down the river, calling “Onida!” into the air as he poked his nose into bushes and under leaves. He never found his friend and so, when-ever there are salmon in the river, he eats them because he still won’t tell where he put Onida. Now, also, when one of our people get lost, we shall call them “Onida” until they are found. If they are not found, we shall have a great feast of salmon in their honour. But if they /are/ found, we give blessings to Cheyna and Tirruk for retrieving them.

The Story of Istagi (Coyote man) and Nova (butterfly chaser).

Istagi was an angry and old coyote-man, who disliked children very much. He would often tell them that he would frighten or eat them if they came too close. Nova was a young child who loved to chase butterflies in the open fields. She wasn’t afraid of Istagi and this made him very angry because he wanted everyone to be afraid of him.
So, one day as Nova was busy chasing butterflies, Istagi crept up to her and bit her! She got such a fright that she turned into a butterfly. The great spirit didn’t like this it at all, and so turned Istagi into a real coyote!
Now, when-ever the children go out to chase butterflies, the women will scold them and say “Do not chase butterflies or Istagi shall get you!” this is also why, when the children see a coyote, the bravest or cheekiest ones will run after it and try to pull its tail, because if they do, Istagi cannot harm them and Nova might turn back into a girl if they get the old Coyote-man that bit her. We know that Istagi will not get us, but the children do not.

Graphics created from scratch using Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, personal photographs and some brushes created by nice people. If you wish to know which brushes I used specifically, feel free to send a nice e-mail my way.

---> Layout obtained from Appassionato