|
 |  | Monday November 23, 2009 3:01 AM |
 | | Native American Myths and Legends | |
how the Spokane River was formed
Ages ago the land was devastated by a monstrous dragon of fetid,
reeking breath and claws that uprooted in a single stroke the
largest pine trees. The people everywhere stood in constant
dread and awe of it.
An Indian girl, who was gathering berries
on a summer day, discovered the monster sleeping in the sunshine
on a hillside near the present mouth of the Spokane. Slipping
away, she ran to the village of her tribe and reported the scene
that had burst upon her astonished vision.
Instantly the chief
assembled his warriors, and gathering every cord and thong in
the village, they stole upon the sleeping dragon and stealthily
bound it to many an adjacent tree and crag. This accomplished,
the tribe fell upon the drowsy mammoth with all their implements
of chase and war.
Under this rude reveille the dragon bestirred
himself, and by a single mighty lunge broke all his bonds, and
vanished like the wind, tearing as he went a deep gorge and
channel to Lake Coeur d' Alene.
The imprisoned waters of the lake rolled down the dragons course, and ever since the pleasant
Spokane has gone fretting to the sea.
(Inland Northwest - Spokane)
from History of the City of Spokane and Spokane Country,
Washington,
by N.W. Durham, Vol. 1, p. 645
from Children of the Sun - A History of the Spokane Indians
by David C. Wynecoop, Wellpinit, Washington © 1969
Last Updated
December 23, 2004
|
