04x10 - Dinjik Dhah/Message in a Bottle

[bunniefuu]

Hey, everyone-- it's me, Molly!

♪ Molly of Denali

Let's go!

♪ She's Molly of Denali

[laughing]: Whooo!

♪ By plane or sled or snowshoe ♪

♪ She is ready to explore

♪ From Kaktovik down to Juneau ♪

♪ Always wanting to learn more ♪

Yeah!

♪ Together with her best friend Tooey ♪

♪ Always by her side And Trini!

♪ Discovering the outdoors

♪ On adventures day and night

♪ Come along with Molly

♪ Molly

♪ Through fields of fireweed

♪ Come along with Molly

♪ Molly

♪ From tundra to the sea

Mahsi'choo-- let's go!

♪ Molly of Denali

Yeah!

♪ She's Molly of Denali

♪ Come on ♪ Let's go!

♪ Molly of Denali

♪ She's Molly of Denali

MOLLY: "Dinjik Dhah."

[computer camera chirps]Hey, everybody!

Guess what?

My Uncle Cliff, Auntie Mary, and cousin Avii

are coming to Qyah today, because...

I get to spend time with Avii's new baby,

my cousin Baby Sa'!

Isn't she cute?

The cutest!

And that's why my Auntie Mary and I are going to make

a teeny-tiny regalia outfit for Baby Sa'.

They're entering her

in a cutest baby regalia contest next month.

Auntie Mary is bringing a tanned moose hide for us to sew.

And-- oh!

They're probably here.

Time to go meet Baby Sa'.

Let's go!

[coos]

Hello, Baby Sa'.

Who's the cutest?[giggles]

You are.

[both laugh]Aw.

How was the trip down,Cliff?

Schroonchyaa!

Saw a couple of moose when we motored in.

Ooh, we should have a look around.

I can't wait to see you in the regalia outfit

Auntie Mary and I are going to make for you.

Oh, Molly, I meant to write you.

Mom couldn't find any moose hide.

Not any?

No.

It's hard to find hides

tanned in the traditional way these days.

I bet Molly and I can find a moose hide for you

on the internet.

Yeah!

You can find anything there.

I can't find anything here.

Really? What'd you search for?

"Moose hide for a baby," but look.

TOOEY:That's not what we need, but it's pretty cute.

What if we try searching

using the shoppingbutton?

[mouse clicks]

Oh.

Just more baby stuff with moose.

What if we cut the word "baby"?

"Moose hides."

Search.[mouse clicks]

These are hides,

but we couldn't use them for regalia.

They don't look like they're

tanned in our traditional way.

BOTH [gasp]: Add "traditional"!

"Moose hide tanned

in the traditional Alaska Native way."

[squeals]

[giggling]: Perfect!

Only look.

They're all sold out.

Oh, well.

Mahsi'choofor looking,you two.

LAYLA: Back in the day,

your grandmother would go out

and tan one herself.

Wait!

I have Grandma Catherine's tanning tools.

We can tan our own moose hide!

Tanning a hide takes weeks.

Auntie Mary may not be able to stay with us that long.

Oh, I think I could.

But...[giggles]

There's still one itty-bitty, teeny-tiny problem.

[giggles]We don't have a moose hide.

GRANDPA NAT: Oh, yes, you do!

[laughs]We had a look around

and were blessed with dinjik.

A moose!

A real beauty.

Whoo-hoo!Yay!

[laughing]

Yeah!

Hear that, Sa'?[giggling]

We're gonna make you some cute regalia after all.

♪

Okay, we are tanningskin.

Cha'ddhaa tr'ahkhii.

BOTH: Ch'addhaa tr'ahkhii.

This is dinjik dhah, moose skin.

BOTH: Dinjik dhah.

Mm-hmm.

The hide has been

in a bag in the sun for a few days

to make it easier to remove the fur.

When we tan hide,

we do it with a good heart

and respect for the animals

and our cultural knowledge.

This is a flesher, a nehtthaa.

BOTH: Nehtthaa.

Hold the nehtthaa like this

and move down the dinjik dhah

in small strokes, like this.

[ nehtthaascrapes]

So you don't cut into the hide.

[grunting]

[grunts]

Everybody says tanning is hard, but it's not so bad.

[laughing]: Yeah, piece of cake.

[groans]

[moans]

[groaning]: Tanning is so hard.

[grunts]

My arms feel like rubber.

[laughing]: Okay, that's it for the day.

But...

There's still so muchto do.

We should've kept scraping.

The dinjik dhah will be there tomorrow.

We could rest for a day.

No, we can't!

The cutest baby regalia contest is in four weeks.

If we take any days off,

we won't finish Sa''s regalia in time.

[ball bouncing]

I think I figured out how to take a day off

without taking a day off.

We are tanning skin.

Cha'ddhaa tr'ahkhii.

[chuckling]: Oh, I can't believe they're already

sharing this knowledge with others.

[grunts]

[straining]

[grunts]

Whew!

Anyone want some lunch?

[groans]: My arms are too tired to pick anything up.

Don't hold the nehtthaa too tight.

Makes your neck and arms tense.

Maybe you could show us how it's done, Auntie Midge?

She hasn't tanned hide in a while.

She may not remember how.

[laughs]

Not remember how?

Of course I do!

[exhales]

[ nehtthaascraping, Auntie Midge grunts]

[chuckling]:No.

It should be more like this.

[exhales][laughs]

[huffing]

Ha!

[laughs]

[both laughing]

We made some dinjiksoup.

What's this?

Auntie Midge and Auntie Mary are showing us

the right way to scrape.

Here, may I?

Sure.

[laughs]

[grunting]

I do much longer strokes.

I put more back into it.

[chuckling]

[grunting]

I'll see if Mr. Patak or Maurice has extra tools.

A few more days of scraping like this and we'll be done.

[sighing and groaning]

Whoo-hoo!

Time to make your regalia,

Baby Sa'! [giggles]

As soon as we scrape off the hair.

More scraping?

[giggles]

Now, this is a dehairing tool.

A shrii.

ALL: Shrii.

[scraping]

You can also remove the hair with this tool,

a ch'ik'yaa.

[voice trembling]: Uh, more scraping?

[tools scraping]

♪

♪

This is called ch'ki'khaii, moose brain.

It makes the skin very, very soft

and pliable for sewing.

[squelching]

♪

♪

AUNTIE MARY: The wood smoke will change

the color of the dinjik dhah from cream

to a beautiful, rich brown.

How many more steps are there?

The regalia contest is next week.

[chuckles]: This is the last one.

After the smoking,

we can start sewing!

[flames crackling softly]

The contest is only four days away.

Yes, but with this group of aunties,

we'll get it done.[coos]

♪

Do you like them, Sa'?

[giggles] [coos]

Let's hope the judges do, too.

And the winner is...

[coos]

Baby Sa'!

[audience applauds]

You hear that, Baby Sa'?[giggles]

You won!

[audience applauding]

Ooh!

Mahsi'choofor making all this happen, Molly.

I'm so proud of you.

Mahsi'choofor sharing our traditions with us, Auntie Mary.

And mahsi'choo to ShitsuuCatherine

for gifting me with her tanning tools.

I learned so much!

Mmm.[giggles]

And when you're older,

maybe I can teach you

how to tan dinjik dhah,too.

[giggles][audience applauding]

Hey, everyone!

Molly here to answer your questions about life in Alaska.

Uma from Michigan says,

"I heard you can make things using fish skin.

Is that true?"

It is!

My friends can show you.

Nts'e dit'ae,Molly!

BOY: We are at Ya Ne Dah Ah School in Sutton.

GIRL: We speak Ahtna.

GIRL : Ahtna is Athabascan language.

In Ahtna, salmon is luk'ae.

This is a salmon skin,

and we can make all sorts of things out of it.

GIRL : Today we're making jewelry out of salmon skin.

Our people have been making things out of salmon skin

for a really long time.

It's a value of ours to use every part of the animal.

GIRL : We eat the fish and then use the skin to make things.

GIRL : Salmon skin is waterproof and very strong.

GIRL : This is a Tl'ankaani, which means sewing needle.

I've been working on this for days.

I designed this.

It's a necklace that I made out of glass beads with salmon skin.

We are going to make an exhibit about salmon skin today.

GIRL : It's for anybody who's visiting Chickaloon

and wants to learn about salmon skin.

This is all the steps to process salmon skin.

We wrote the steps in Ahtna and English.

Our exhibit has lots of different useful information,

like our Ahtna values and how they relate to salmon.

GIRL : Udii'a ludakodo'oniimeans "be respectful at all times."

So we'll respect the luk'aefish skin.

These are historical salmon-skin items.

This is a bag made out of salmon skin

and these are boots.

This display is helpful because

it teaches that salmon skin is useful in many ways.

Aa' Xona,Molly!

Mahsi'choo.

Thanks for asking, and see you next time!

MOLLY: "Message in a Bottle."

♪

All tied off.

Mahsi'choo,Molly.

Now let's fill up this boat with wood,

so I can keep my winter fires nice and hot.

You want us to look for wood and bring it over?

Yep, just drag it onto the beach

and I'll cut it up.

Race you to the woods!

Okay!

[both laughing]

[both grunting]This weighs a ton.

[both groaning]

[straining]: Two tons, at least.

[chain saw buzzing]

[groan, exhale]

Is here okay?[chainsaw stops]

Yesirree!

Phew!

Thanks for the help, kids!

I'll let you know once we're ready to head out.

MOLLY: Let's go![chain saw buzzing]

MOLLY: Remember when we were little

and used to play pirates out here?

[in pirate voice]: Arr, we be lookin'

for treasure...

[both gasp]

[in pirate voice]: Arrr!

You stepped on my boot.

You gotta walk the plank.

Farewell, ya old sea-dog.

Watch out for sharks.

It's into the drink with me, matey.

Into the briny deep I g...

[yelps]

Something tripped me.

Maybe it's buried treasure!

[grunts]

Or...

A bottle.

Aww, I thought it might be something good.

Wait!

There's something inside.

[Tooey grunts]

Got it!

It's old.

Really old.

Maybe it's frompirates.

MOLLY: "Dear whoever finds this," uh...

What's that word?

TOOEY: "Finds this message."

Ooh, it's a message in a bottle, Tooey!

"Hi. I'm ten years old."

[gasps]: That's our age!

"And I hope you can read this because my pen is blotchy.

Do you like basketball?"

Yep, we do, whoever you are.

"I hope so, because I really like it.

"Also, I'm pretty goodat it.

"My teacher says I might be the next TL.

He's going to the CAV next season!"

AUNTIE MIDGE: Kids! Aanajj!

Come help me load up the wood!

Nats'a' ihshyaa!

We can finish this at my house.

Sure!

TOOEY: "Besides trucks and basketball,

my other favorite things are hiking on glaciers and camping."

[gasps]: Me, too!

Me three.

"Okay, so write me back if you find this

"and maybe we'll be friends.

Yours truly..."

[gasps]

Uh, wait, what?

MOLLY: Are you serious?

The name is blurred out?

Name and address.

Which means we can't find out who wrote this.

Which means we can't be friends.

[groaning]: No!

It's so not fair.

Unless...

Maybe we can find this kid from clues here in the note.

What clues?

Well, from the stuff they like.

"I'm saving all my money to buy a truck someday."

And their favorite things

are hiking, camping, and basketball.

About eight zillion kids like those things,

including me and you.

Plus, we don't even know when this was written.

A year ago,

ten years,

a hundred.

Well, how about this clue?

Someone with the initials "TL"

is going to the CAV next season.

TL.

But what's a CAV?

I don't know.

Let's look it up.

Okay.

What is a C-A-V?

LAYLA: Tooey! Your mom just called.

She wants you home for dinner.

[sighs]: Do you have to eat?

I kind of do.

I'll call you right after, though, okay?

Hey, Molly!

Ready to get clue-ing?

On it.

Typing "What is a C-A-V?"

Hm... Hm.

It says here

CAV stands for constant air volume?

That can't be it.

The note says, "TL is going to the CAV,"

and you can't go to constant air volume.

Wasn't CAV in capitals?

Try that.

Capital C-A-V.

Uh... Aww.

Same.

"Constant air volume."

[sighs]

Huh?

Wait!

There's a squiggly thing next to the V.

Maybe it's an S?

"What is a C-A-V-S?"

Found it!

CAVS stand for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

TL's going to a basketball team.

That makes total sense.

Looking up initials TL,

played for Cavaliers.

No way!

Someone named Trajan Langdon from Alaska

joined the Cavaliers in .

So if the message was written in ,

and the kid was ten,

that means they were born in .

TOOEY: That means the kid who wrote the letter

would be in their s today.

A grownup.

Now we're getting somewhere.

Uh-huh!Whoo!

MOLLY: Go us! Ala-i, ala-i!

[both laugh]

Now what?

Uh...

MOLLY: We're letting you in

on our awesome discovery.

Oh, mighty honored.

[chuckles]

TOOEY: 'Cause we're hoping

you can help us figure out

where this bottle got thrown in the river.

It might help us find the person who threw it.

Here's Qyah, where we found it.

So somewhere up here, maybe?

Near Canada?

Where the river starts?

Nah, I'd say more like

here.

But that's Qyah.

I know this river like the back of my hand.

See where it turns at Big Rock Bend?

The bottle couldn't get past that,

so it had to have been launched in Qyah,

then it drifted about a mile downstream

to Birch Island.

How can you be so sure?

Grab yourself a life vest, we're taking a trip.

All right!Whoo-hoo!

[engine stops]AUNTIE MIDGE: Big Rock Bend, kids!

Now we'll test my theory.

Throw your bottle in,

and I'm betting it can't make the turn.

I've got the message.

You can put it in the water.

Mahsi'choo,Molly.

♪

[engine starts]

TOOEY: Whoa!

You were right, Auntie Midge.

[engine stops]

AUNTIE MIDGE: Like I said,

I know this river like the back of my hand.

♪

[engine starts]

So, this means the person who threw the bottle

lived in Qyah.

But do they live here still?

There are hundreds of people who could've thrown this.

People who lived in Qyah, but moved away,

people who live here now.

[sighs]: We need more clues.

AUNTIE MIDGE: You got one,

right in your hand.

I think she means the bottle.

♪

[gasps]

There's some kind of stamp on it!

I think I know someone who can tell us all about this.

MR. ROWLEY: I know exactly what that is.

It's one of our old birch soda bottles.

I used to bottle 'em right here on the premises.

Was there anyone back then who really liked the soda?

Who might've kept some bottles?

Uh, yeah, well, now,

I used to charge a deposit,

so people would bring the bottles back.

They were pretty good about that.

[sighs]

Guess we need to figure something else out.

Except I do recall

there was this one kid who worked for me

who wanted 'em for some reason.

Who? What kid?

Why, your dad, Molly.

[both gasp]

♪

MOLLY: How did I not guess it was Dad?

But how could I have guessed it?

It still feels impossible.

He's the right age,

he loves hiking and glaciers and basketball.

And trucks!

He bought one the minute he turned .

And look!

He still forgets to dot his Is.

See?

That was a clue I missed.[door opens]

[door closes][gasps]: Here he comes.

I'm hungry enough

to eat a moose. [kisses]

Hey, what's that?

♪

[gasps, laughs]: Whole-A!

I wrote this!

Where did you find it?

On Birch Island.

I tripped on the bottle,

and then we saw there was a note inside.

And because your name was blurry,

we had to look for clues.

We went online and found out about TL.

[laughs]: Trajan Langdon.

My hero.

And Auntie Midge showed us

how the bottle had to be thrown from Qyah.

And we looked at a map,

and interviewed Mr. Rowley.

And it look a lot for us to find you.

[sighs]: I often wondered where this ended up.

[chuckles]: I thought it might reach the ocean

and float to Hawaii or, I don't know.

Wow.

I was hoping to find a new friend that way.

Well, you sort of did.

Me.

Me, too.

We thought you sounded really cool.

We wanted to meet you.

It's like we dug up a time capsule,

and you were inside.

Ten-year-old you.

Nice to meet you, Dad.

♪