OREGON VOICES

Coyote Frees the Salmon

recorded by W.E. Myers

Fishing on the Columbia River was a sacred endeavor for thousands of years, caught up in the sacred stories of all the River People. Below is a well-known story about how Coyote once, in mythic times, foiled a dastardly plot to hoard all the salmon. The story exists in several versions in several Native languages; the version here is based on one recorded by Edward Curtis's assistant, W.E. Myers, at Wishram in about 1909. — Jarold Ramsey
AS HE WENT ON HE HEARD that above him two women had all the salmon penned up. Coming near to the place, he saw the two women in their canoe catching driftwood. Wishing to get in to their place, he formed himself into a piece of alder, slipped into the water, and floated down. As he passed close to the canoe, the younger woman cried, "See that nice piece of alder!" But the other did not wish to secure it. "Here are smaller ones," she said; "let that one go." After passing out of sight, Coyote floated ashore and returned to the point from which he had started. Having studied the matter for a while, he became a piece of cedar, thinking that perhaps they would take that kind of wood, which they could use in making their drying racks. Again he drifted close to the boat, and the younger sister called attention to the cedar log, but the elder did not seem to wish it. The next time he formed himself into a piece of oak, but this, too, the elder woman rejected. A long fir pole was Coyote's next disguise, but even this, which would have been so useful to lay from eaves to eaves and hang dried fish on, did not appeal to the elder sister, and was allowed to float by. Coyote's ingenuity was almost exhausted, and for a long time he sat on the bank meditating before he transformed himself into a little baby, strapped to a board. He floated down the river toward the women, crying lustily. Water began to lap into his mouth, and it seemed to him that he must soon choke, when the younger woman cried excitedly: "Here is a baby! Some one has tipped over and lost it. Quick, let us get it!" The elder said, "No, sister, we do not need a baby," and began to paddle away; but the other seized her own paddle and endeavored to force the canoe toward the drowning infant. They paddled with all their might, and the water fairly boiled with the rapid strokes, but, both being of the same strength, neither could make headway, and all the while the baby was drifting nearer to them. At last it came close to the stern, and the younger woman reached out and took it into the canoe. "It is a boy!" she cried. "Now if we rear it we will have someone to help us." So it was agreed that they take the child and care for it.	1
When they reached home they untied the child and removed it from its wrappings. The younger said to herself: "What are we going to feed this baby? I will give it a piece of dried lamprey to suck." She did so, and the baby eagerly took the lamprey, which was soon eaten. She laced it up on its board, cut off another piece, and when this was about half eaten the baby fell asleep. "Now the baby is sleeping, we can go and get more wood," she said. The elder woman was uneasy since the coming of the infant. She took no interest in it, and did not wish to help care for it. The two went out and began to catch driftwood. When Coyote found it quiet in the house, he opened his eyes. Quickly he unlaced his cover, crept slyly out, and saw the women on the river. Inside he found a great abundance of dried lampreys and other fish, and he hurriedly roasted a quantity on sticks, ate them, and hid the sticks. Then he laced himself to the board, put the half-eaten piece of lamprey in his mouth, and closed his eyes. The women returned and were surprised to find the baby still sleeping. When they retired for the night, the younger sister laid the baby at her side, and Coyote liked that place to sleep, but was all the time thinking how he could let the salmon escape. The next morning the younger sister gave him another piece of fish, and after seeing the child asleep the two went to the river for wood. Again Coyote crawled out and ate, and then went to the pond in which the fish were impounded. After making five oak root-diggers he concealed them and returned to the baby-board. The third day Coyote cooked and ate, then took one of his root-diggers, thrust it into the bank of the river, and pried off a great mass of earth. Again and again he repeated this until the digger was blunt and broken, and then he took a new one. This, and a third, and a fourth were used, when the sisters, happening to look up, saw what was going on. As Coyote began to use his fifth digger they started to paddle ashore in great haste, the elder saying over and over: "You see, I did not want to take that baby. It was Coyote, and we shall lose our fish, and now we shall never live as well as we have lived."	2
The free-flowing Columbia River was photographed by Lily White or Sarah Ladd just upstream from Mosier, Oregon, in about 1903–1906. OHS neg., OrHi 65457
Just as the canoe grounded, and they leaped out, Coyote pried off the last mass of earth, and the water began to rush out of the lake, carrying the salmon with it. He picked up a lump of white clay and ran toward the two sisters. "It is not right for you to have all these fish penned up in one place!" he cried. "Things are going to change. There will be other beings here besides you." He threw the lump of clay; it struck the younger sister on the forehead, leaving a white mark. Then he did the same to the other. "You two are swallows," he said, "and you will be seen only at salmon time." They flew away, but each year, when the salmon come, many of them are seen along the river building their nests in the rocks. SOURCE: Edward Curtis, The North American Indian, vol. 8, pp. 107–109.	3

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