From Chief Billy Joe Laboucan, with thanks:
“My mom would say to us as we were growing up:
namôya katâc kakî-tâwatinâwâw tâpiskôc piyêsîsak ta-asamikawiyêk
ᓇᒨᔭ ᑲᑖᐨ ᑲᑮ ᑖᐘᑎᓈᐚᐤ ᑖᐱᐢᑰᐨ ᐱᔦᓰᓴᐠ ᑕ ᐊᓴᒥᑲᐏᔦᐠ
“You can’t be like a baby bird to just open your mouths to be fed…”
In other words, we had to work for our living …
Thanks to Solomon Ratt for his image and for providing audio. And for agreeing with me that we can consider this another Cree idiom.
To see more of our growing collection, click on the magnifying glass, and type idiom to search. This post includes quite a few: https://creeliteracy.org/2024/04/01/beginning-a-collection-of-cree-idioms/.
