Cherokee

I have a Cherokee language CD and booklet so I can teach myself a little bit of the language. I've been trying to find someone who speaks it to tell me the proper pronunciation for my Cherokee name. I was named in a ceremony when I was very young, at a powwow open to the public. I remember getting separated from my parents (again... they knew I could take care of myself if I got lost) and wandering into a circle of elders around a fire. One asked me to sit beside him on the log. I don't remember much about the dance, but I was told it was a naming ceremony, because I was Cherokee and needed a name. I don't know how they knew I was part Charokee, being blond and blue-eyed, but they were tribal elders, after all. They danced, and asked my spirit guide to show itself, and for inspiration. The old man beside me looked into my eyes and said I had the heart of a wolf. Not a large wolf, not the alpha of the pack, but the small wolf that has to fight for its place in the pack, for food, for everything in its life, because it is small. He introduced me to the rest of the elders as Little Wolf.
Oo-sdee wah-hi-yah, according to my book. Wolf, wah-hi-yah, sounds right. I don't remember the rest. I wish I did.

The elder was right, though... I've had to fight my way through a lot in my life. Maybe not more than other people, but it started a lot earlier than most.