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 |  | Monday November 23, 2009 2:43 AM |
 | | Native American Myths and Legends | |
Coyote and the Monster of the Columbia
One time on his travels, Coyote learned that a monster was killing the
animal people as they traveled up and down Big River in their canoes.
So many had been killed that some of the animal people were afraid to
go down to the water, even to catch salmon.
"I will help you,"
promised Coyote. "I will stop this monster from killing people."
But what could he do! He had no idea. So he asked his three sisters
who lived in his stomach in the form of huckleberries. They were
very wise. They knew everything. They would tell him what to do.
At first his sisters refused to tell Coyote what to do.
"If we
tell you," they said, "you will say that that was your plan all
the time."
"If you do not tell me," said Coyote sternly, "I will
send rain and hail down upon you."
Of course the berries did not like rain and hail.
"Do not send rain," they begged. "Do not send
rain or hail. We will tell you what to do. Take with you plenty of
dry wood and plenty of pitch, so that you can make a fire. And take
also five sharp knives. It is Nashlah at Wishram that is killing
all the people. He is swallowing the people as they pass in their
canoes. You must let him swallow you."
"Yes, my sisters, that is
what I thought," replied Coyote. "That was my plan all the time."
Coyote followed his sisters' advice. He gathered together some dry
wood and pitch, sharpened his five knives, and went to the deep pool
where Nashlah lived. The monster saw Coyote but did not swallow him,
for he knew that Coyote was a great chief.
Coyote knew that he could
make Nashlah angry by teasing him. So he called out all kinds of mean
names. At last the monster was so angry that he took a big breath and
sucked Coyote in with his breath. Just before entering his mouth,
Coyote grabbed a big armful of sagebrush and took it in also.
Inside
the monster, Coyote found many animal people. All were cold and hungry.
Some were almost dead from hunger, and some were almost dead from cold.
"I will build a fire in here for you," said Coyote. "And I will cook
some food for you. While you get warm and while you eat, I will kill
Nashlah. I have come to help you, my people. You will join your
friends soon."
With the sagebrush and the pitch, Coyote made a big fire under the
heart of the monster. The shivering people gathered around it to get
warm. Then with one of his sharp knives Coyote cut pieces from the
monster's heart and roasted them.
While the people ate, Coyote began
to cut the cord that fastened the monster's heart to his body. He
broke the first knife, but he kept cutting. He broke the second knife,
but he kept cutting. He broke his third and his fourth knives. With
his fifth knife he cut the last thread, and the monster's heart fell
into the fire.
Just as the monster died, he gave one big cough and
coughed all the animal people out on the land.
"I told you I would
save you," said Coyote, as the animal people gathered around him on
the shore of the river. "You will live a long time, and I will give
you names."
Coyote went among them and gave each creature a name.
"You will be Eagle, the best and the bravest bird.
You will be Bear, the strongest animal.
You will be Owl, the big medicine man, with special powers.
You will be Sturgeon, the largest fish in the rivers.
You will be Salmon, the best of all fish for eating."
In the same way
Coyote named Beaver, Cougar, Deer, Woodpecker, Blue Jay, and all the
other animals and birds. Then he named himself. "I am Coyote," he told
them. "I am the wisest and smartest of all the animals."
Then he
turned to the monster and gave him a new law. "You can no longer
kill people as you have been doing. A new race of people are coming,
and they will pass up and down the river. You must not kill all of
them. You may kill one now and then. You may shake the canoes if they
pass over you. For this reason most of the canoes will go round your
pool and not pass over where you live. You will kill very few of the
new people. This is to be the law always. You are no longer the big
man you used to be."
The law that Coyote made still stands.
The monster does not swallow people as he did before Coyote
took away his big power. Sometimes he draws a canoe under and
swallows the people in it. But not often. Usually the Indians
take their canoes out of the water and carry them round the
place where the monster lives. They do not pass over his house.
He still lives deep under the water, but he is no longer powerful.
The first steamboat the white people brought up the river was stopped
by Nashlah. The Indians told the white men to throw food into the
river and then they could go. They did so. They threw overboard
sugar, flour, rice, and other things. Then Nashlah let the boat
loose.
(Inland Northwest)
This is a tale with many variants told throughout the Inland
Northwest. In another variant of this story, the monster of the
Columbia is said
to have lived in the "fishing place above The Dalles," where there
used to be several miles of rapids, falls, and eddies.
The Nashlah of this version was a male monster,
who lived near Celilo Falls.
But sometimes the monster was a female monster, whose
reddish-brown hair hung down to her waist when she appeared above
the water.
from
Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest
, edited by Ella E. Clark,
University of California Press, 1953
Last Updated
December 23, 2004
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