🔊 Click any bold native word in the story panels to see its pronunciation and hear it spoken. The "Hear it" button uses your browser's speech synthesis (synthesized, not a native speaker). For recordings by native speakers, click "Dictionary" — it links to entries with real audio where available.
Setting the Scene
Summer arrives. The tiyóšpaye gathers for a ceremony honoring those who have passed. Wakíŋyaŋ is asked to help prepare the prayer space. He learns that the most important Dakota phrases are not everyday words — they are expressions of relationship, gratitude, and the sacred.
1The Circle Forms
Elders begin to form a circle as the fire is lit. Someone begins a low song. Wakíŋyaŋ sits at the edge and listens. He catches one phrase repeated again and again: Mitákuye oyásʼiŋ
🔊 = synthesized speech · Dictionary = recorded native speaker
does not mean family alone. It means every being — people, animals, plants, sky, water. When you say it, you are saying: I know that I am not alone and never have been.
3The Four Virtues
Grandmother names the four Dakota virtues: wóohola
🔊 = synthesized speech · Dictionary = recorded native speaker
— wisdom. She says: these are not rules. They are a direction for living.
4Prayer and Language
The ceremony begins with words Wakíŋyaŋ does not fully understand, but he understands the tone — careful, slow, grateful. His uncle tells him: prayer in Dakota was never asking for things. Wóčhekiye