Coyote's Salmon - Sanpoils

[Okwes]

Coyote's Salmon - Sanpoils

www.indians.org/welker/coyotesa.htm

Long ago on the Sanpoil River that flows southward into the Columbia River, Old Man and old Woman lived with their tribe, the Sanpoils. They were so stooped that it appeared they were walking on their knees and their elbows. Their very pretty granddaughter lived with them.

One day Coyote came along and saw the old couple with the beautiful girl. Immediately, he decided that he wanted the girl for his wife. But he knew better than to ask for her then. He thought he would wait until evening. So during the day he sat around, becoming better acquainted with the family.

The old couple watched him, noting that his long hair was braided neatly and his forelocks were carefully combed back. They noticed too that he was tall and strong. Old Man and Old Woman talked between themselves about Coyote, wondering if he could be a Chief.

In the late afternoon, Coyote asked Old Man, "What is that thing down in the stream?"

"Why, that is my fish trap," Old Man replied.

"A fish trap? What is that? What do you do with it?" asked Coyote, pretending he did not know.

"Oh, occasionally I catch a few bullheads and sunfish," Old Man said.

"Is that what you eat? I never heard of them. Are they big enough for a meal?" asked Coyote.

"They are not much, but what else can we eat?" replied Old Man.

"I think I will go up the hill and look around," said Coyote. It was then about an hour before sunset.

On top of the hill, Coyote saw some grouse roosting in a tree. He threw some stones at them, killing five. He carried the grouse back to Old Man and said, "Let's eat these for supper."

After removing the feathers, Old Man roasted the game over the fire and when they were done, everyone sat down to eat the wonderful meal. To Old Man and his family, it seemed like a feast.

"Is this the kind of food you eat every day?" the Old Man asked Coyote.

"Sometimes I eat berries, roots, and I catch some real big fish, as long as your arm," Coyote said.

Later, Coyote announced that he would like to stay there if they wanted him, otherwise he would move on.

"What do you mean?" asked Old Man.

"Well, it is like this. I would like to marry your granddaughter," said Coyote.

Old Man and Old Woman looked at each other but said nothing. Coyote went for a little walk to allow the old couple to talk privately.

While Coyote was gone Old Man said to his wife, "What do you think of this fellow? You saw what he did, bringing good food for our supper. If we let him marry our granddaughter, maybe they will stay here and we will have such good food always. Surely our girl will marry someone soon, perhaps some man not as good as this young fellow."

"Well, husband, I'll leave it entirely up to you."

Soon Coyote returned. He decided to let Old Man open the conversation. Old Man held his pipe in one hand and said, "How I wish I had a smoke. My tobacco ran out some time ago."

"Have some of mine," said Coyote, reaching into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a large bunch of tobacco and gave it to Old Man, who filled his pipe, feeling very much surprised that Coyote would have real tobacco.

After a while Old Man spoke, "My wife and I have talked over your proposal and she left the decision up to me. I have decided to let you marry our granddaughter and live here. If you go away, we want you to take her with you. How are we to know that you will do this?"

"You need not worry," said Coyote. "I am tired of travelling. I want to settle down here for the rest of my life, if you wish."

Old Man was pleased with Coyote and believed what he said. So Coyote took the pretty granddaughter for his wife.

Early that evening Coyote stayed with his wife and later said, "I am going out for a few minutes and when I return we will go to bed."

"All right," answered his wife.

Coyote went downstream to where Old Man had his fish trap. He changed it into a basket-type trap, piling rows of rocks to guide fish into the basket. When finished he called out, "Salmon, I want two of you in the basket trap tomorrow morning, one male and one female." Then he returned to his bride.

Next morning Coyote asked Old Man to go to his fish trap early. "I think I heard a noise in the night that sounded like fish caught in a trap," he said.

Old Man went downstream to see his fish trap. Sure enough, he saw two big fish in the trap. Old Man was so excited, he stumbled up the trail toward Coyote.

"You were right, there are two great fish in the trap bigger than I have ever seen," reported Old Man.

"You must be dreaming," said Coyote.

"Come down with me and see for yourself," Old Man said.

When the two reached the trap, Coyote exclaimed, "You are so right. These are salmon, chief among all fish. Let us take them over to that flat place, and I will show you what to do with them."

When they reached the open field, Coyote sent Old Man up the hill to gather sunflower stems and leaves.

"Those are salmon plants," Coyote explained. "Salmon must always be laid on sunflower stems and leaves."

Old Man spread the sunflower plants upon the ground. Coyote placed the salmon on them, and proceeded to show Old Man how to prepare the salmon.

"First, put a stick in the salmon's mouth and bend it back to break off the head. Second, place long sharp poles inside the salmon lengthwise to hold for roasting over your campfire," said Coyote.

"Now remember this," he continued. "The first week go down to the trap and take out the salmon every day. But when fixing it, never use a knife to cut it in any way. Always roast the fish over the fire on sticks, the way I have shown you. Never boil salmon the first week. After the salmon is roasted, open it carefully and take out the backbone without breaking it. Also, save the back part of the head for the sacred bundle-never eat that.

"If you do not do these things as I have told you, either a big storm will come up and you will be drowned, or you will be bitten by a rattlesnake and you will die.

"After you have taken out the salmon's backbone, wrap it and the back of the head carefully in tules, the marsh grasses, to make a sacred bundle, then place it somewhere in a tree, where it will not be bothered. If you do as I tell you, you will always have plenty of salmon in your trap.

"I am telling you these sacred things about the salmon because I am going to die sometime. I want you and your tribe to know of the best way to care for and use your salmon. After this, your men will always place their fish traps up and down the river to catch salmon. The man having the first trap will be Chief of the Salmon, and the others should always do anything he tells them to do.

"After the first week of the salmon season, you can boil your salmon or cook it any way you wish. But remember to always take care of the bones, wrapping them in a sacred bundle--never leaving them where they can be stepped upon or stepped over."

For the next few days each time Old Man went down to his fish trap in the morning, he found twice as many salmon as on the day before. Coyote showed him how to dry fish to prepare them for winter use. Before long they had a large scaffold covered with drying fish.

People of the Sanpoil tribe saw the fish and noticed how well Old Man and Old Woman were doing. They went to their hogans and told others about the big red fish called salmon, and about the tall young stranger who taught Old Man about caring for the salmon.

Soon thereafter, all the people came to see for themselves. Old Man and Old Woman invited them to feast on their roasted salmon. The old couple explained how their new grandson-in-law had shown them how to trap the salmon and dry them for winter food.

To this day, the Sanpoils say their tribe harvests the salmon in exactly the way that Coyote taught their ancestors long, long ago.

[blackcrowheart]

Coyote Spreads Salmon Along The Columbia River

www.corvalliscommunitypages.com/Americas/US/Oregon/OregonNotCorvallis/salmonall.htm

For the interior of Washington, Idaho, and British Columbia, Coyote's adventures did much to make the world as it is today. One of his greatest feats was freeing the salmon from their original owners.

Five sisters lived at the mouth of the river. They ate well because they had their own trap full of a wonderful fish called salmon. In those days, these were the only salmon in the world.

Every meal time, one of the sisters went down to the trap and selected a fish. Grabbing it by the gills, she hauled it out of the water, clubbed it over the head, and carried it up to the fire where the other sisters were cooking. They ate all of the foods that grew around them. Since they were women, they were skilled at digging up roots, picking berries, and plucking fresh green shoots. When they ate all of these plants, salmon was their meat. Most often, all of these foods were served together in a stew.

Whenever they were eating, however, they were most careful to save all of the fish bones. At the end of dinner, these bones were taken back to the trap and placed into the water so that salmon would reappear, alive and well. If any of the bones were missing, then that salmon was crippled in that part and the sisters looked all over until the missing piece was found and that salmon made whole.

These sisters looked and acted like women, but they were really more like shorebirds, living along the bank between land and water. During these ancient days, animals, spirits, humans, and other people shifted between outer forms. They looked more like humans, but they acted and felt more like the animal, plant, place, or thing that they became when the world changed into the way it is today.

Just as modern shore birds wander along looking for food, so did these sisters. Every morning they scattered to pick, pluck, and pull up plants. In the fall, they went upland to gather berries. Their lodge was full of food, and their trap was teeming with salmon. They were very content, and well fed. But they got plenty of exercise, so they were lean and trim.

During these early days of the world, there were not many people, and most of them were women. One of the few men, or man-like beings, of this time was a person called Coyote, who was not just one thing. He was a mix-up of many feelings, actions, intentions, and desires. Mostly he was desires, and few of them were good ones. Whenever people hear any mention of Coyote, they know that they will be learning about what not to do, how not to behave, and, certainly, who not to be like. Coyote was mostly a bad example. But because he thought for himself at a time when everything was unsettled and in flux, he managed to stand out from that time onward.

Coyote was always getting in trouble because he would hear about things and then rush off in search of them without taking the time or effort to grasp any dangers that might be involved. He was greedy, selfish, stupid, and very, very wise, sometimes. He also had help, when he called on them. These were his little sisters who lived inside his belly and came out when he was desperate or confused. Then they would tell him what to do, he would ignore them, and he would say that he knew all along what to do and then would do exactly what they had already told him to do.

And so it was that a rumor reached Coyote that he could not resist. It mentioned beautiful women and tasty food. Trying not to show his excitement, Coyote asked where this combination could be found. "At the mouth of the big river," he was told. And so he went. He had been warned that these women would not share what they had. While we know today that it is bad not to share, in those days almost everyone was selfish with whatever they had. It was one of Coyote's greatest gifts that he made everything available to everyone, that he enabled people to share.

As Coyote got near to the sister's lodge, he could feel unwelcome. He slowed, and then stopped to consider. He was baffled. He called upon his little sisters and he squatted down. Soon they were there, and he asked them what to do. They delayed giving an answer because they already knew that their advice would not be credited. While they paused, Coyote began to mumble loudly about calling the rain to pound down and wash away his little sisters. Finally, they relented and said that Coyote would have to take on some disguise. They told him to look innocent, defenseless, and weak. They told him to become a baby. They told him to appeal to the maternal instincts of the women.

Coyote sniffed and told his little sisters to get back inside. Then he pondered aloud what he would do. He would have to appeal to the women and he would have to look harmless. He decided to be a baby, as if this was a new idea out of the blue. The little sisters inside only sighed.

Coyote changed himself into a baby. In those days, just as today, native babies are carried around laced up into supports with wooden backs and high arching tops. Such a cradleboard protects the baby. In the case of Coyote, it also floated him down the river. He had the body of a baby, but the mind of a schemer. He floated down the river, and began to whimper. But none of the women paid attention. As he got nearer to the fish trap, he began to wail. He cried just like a very unhappy baby. But no one responded because the sisters were away gathering foods.

Coyote floated and thought. He did not want to waste energy unless he could get attention. After a time, the oldest sister came near the trap and Coyote sensed that it was time to act. He cried out, turning bright red. The woman came close, and her heart went out to the baby. She waded in and rescued the mite. She felt all warm inside. She took the baby home, changed him, and again laced up the cradleboard in time for her other sisters to return. She showed them this cute and happy infant. Most of the sisters welcomed him, but the youngest looked into his eyes and stepped back. She said, "Those are not the eyes of a baby, they are the eyes of someone devious like Coyote. Do we know where he is? At some time he will surely come for out salmon. We had best take care. Maybe it is some monster that will kill us all." But the other sisters called her hard hearted and cooed over their new child. They took turns holding him. Coyote snuggled up to their breasts.

But then one of the women noticed that their baby had teeth. He did not seem old enough to have teeth. They had planned to feed him salmon broth, but they decided to try bits of cooked fish instead. He ate slowly. His eyes got big like he enjoyed the salmon, he even gurgled with pleasure. The women were delighted. They left him in the cradleboard and went to sleep. Coyote debated whether or not to join them, but he decided that getting to eat a whole salmon by himself was worth the wait. But the next morning, he would begin his efforts to free the salmon.

After a cold breakfast, the women changed and cleaned the baby. They left him rocking in the breeze high in a tree and went off to gather food. As soon as they were out of sight, Coyote debated whether to nap or to start working. He napped. At noon, the women returned to check on the baby and have lunch. They found him sleeping, and took him down. By being lazy, he fooled them. After lunch, the women went back to getting food.

Then Coyote changed back into his man form. He found dense round stones and heavy sticks. He set about making five stone bowls and five prybars to use to dismantle the trap. He worked in a secluded place away from the lodge. By the end of the day, he had roughed out only one bowl.

The next day, Coyote napped all day, and the women suspected nothing. For several days, Coyote only napped. Then he decided to take action. Every morning and afternoon he worked on a bowl or a pick. When he heard his five mothers coming, he turned back into a smiling baby. After ten days, he had five bowl and five prybars. He was ready.

But that night the youngest sister changed his diaper and shouted that their baby now seemed to have developed muscles. She became very suspicious, and again warned her sisters to be on guard.

The next morning, Coyote waited anxiously for the women to leave. But the youngest sister did not intend to go far. Coyote gathered up his bowls and picks. He went down to the trap and began to pry it apart. But he was working quickly and made too much noise. The younger sister heard him, yelled to her sisters, and rushed down to the trap. She saw a man that looked like Coyote destroying their trap to free their salmon. She raised her digging stick to pound on him, but he was wearing a helmet made from a stone bowl over his head. After striking many times, the stone crumbled. Each sister attacked him in turn, and each shattered one of the bowls. His picks also broke as he worked, but, finally, at the last possible moment, the trap fell apart and the salmon swam upriver. Coyote left these women and told the fish to follow him upstream.

He was very proud. Now people would know him to be a leader, not a fool. When he got hungry, he called a salmon to jump onto a beach, where he cleaned and cooked it. He put the bones back into the river and the fish became whole again.

But because he was Coyote, he did not know how to be kind and generous. At every village at the mouth of every side river, he swaggered into the center and boasted that he brought a wonderful new food. The catch was, he would determine the quality and size of the fish that would return to that river according to the beauty of the maiden that the village gave him as a wife. Another story explains how salmon came to die, drift downriver, and return from the sea as his wife Mourning Dove sobs along the shore.

The respectable village at Chelan sent him away, but discovered that a waterfall suddenly blocked off their river. Some places tried to compromise and received moderate fish. Kettle Falls, however, far upriver, found a lovely wife for him and so welcomed huge salmon every year until concrete dams blocked off the Columbia River. People hope and pray, even now, that Coyote will return and bust up these dams as he once did the only fish trap to contain salmon at the beginning of the world.

Today, salmon are in danger of extinction, but natives still tell these stories and celebrate their return in rituals and songs addressed to their spirit. Once, in ancient times, the larger order of things was regulated by the arrival and use of the salmon. The Quileute, whose language is unique, found only on the Washington coast, explain why traps were never again built at their river mouth. Selfish men had kept a trap there, preventing salmon from going upstream. People would come down and destroy the trap, but it was always rebuilt. Finally, a sorcerer made a large salmon out of obnoxious creatures. Its stripes were snakes, its eggs were lizards, its liver was frogs, its eyes were toads, its fat was shark oil, and its heart was salamanders. When the greedy men caught, cooked, and ate this salmon, they died in agony. Their wives, however, were spared since they were out digging roots.

Thus, when times were bad and people were awful, only a greater evil could set things right. Most importantly, people learned a lesson from this and never again blocked the upward run of salmon.