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PureMissa β€” Moster Beaver vs. Coyote

Published: 2010-07-10 23:11:00 +0000 UTC; Views: 4700; Favourites: 32; Downloads: 0
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The story that I had to read and make a picture about. yea! enjoy!!!

Coyote and Wishpoosh
(Chinook)
retold by
S. E. Schlosser

Now Wishpoosh the monster beaver lived in the beautiful Lake Cle-el-lum which was full of fish. Every day, the animal people would come to the lake, wanting to catch some fish, but Wishpoosh the giant beaver drove them away with many threats and great splashing. If they refused to leave, Wishpoosh would kill the animal people by dragging them deep into the lake so that they drowned.

Coyote was very upset at Wishpoosh for the way he treated the animal people. Coyote decided that he would kill the monster beaver and so he went to Lake Cle-el-lum with his spear tied to his wrist and started to fish. As soon as Wishpoosh saw this upstart person invading his territory, the giant beaver attacked. Coyote threw the spear and it pierced the beaver. Immediately, Wishpoosh dove to the bottom of the lake, dragging Coyote with him.

Well, Coyote and Wishpoosh wrestled and tugged and fought each other at the bottom of the lake until the sides gave way and all the water rushed out, pouring out over the mountains and through the canyons until it collected in Kittitas Valley and formed another, larger lake. Coyote and Wishpoosh burst forth into the new lake, shouting and wrestling and fighting each other with renewed vigor until the second lake gave way and the water rushed out, joining in with the waters of several rivers to form a massive lake at Toppenish.

Wishpoosh the monster beaver would not give up the fight. He bit and clawed at Coyote and tried to drown him in the massive lake. Coyote fought back fiercely, and at last the massive lake gave way, the water roared down into the meeting place of the Columbia, the Yakima, and the Snake, where it dammed up into a lake so huge none has ever seen its like before or since.

Coyote and Wishpoosh dragged at each other, pulling and tugging and ripping and biting until the dam gave way and a huge wave of water swept down the Columbia River towards the sea. Coyote and Wishpoosh were tumbled over and over again as they were swept down river in the mighty wave of water. Coyote grabbed bushes and rocks and trees, trying to pull himself out of the massive wave. By these efforts was the Columbia Gorge was formed. But Coyote could not pull himself out of the great wave and so he tumbled after Wishpoosh, all the way to the bitter waters at the mouth of the river.

Wishpoosh was furious. He was determined to beat this upstart Coyote who had driven him from his beautiful lake. The giant beaver swept all the salmon before him and ate them in one gulp to increase his strength. Then he swam out to sea with Coyote in pursuit. The monster beaver threw his great arms around a whale and swallowed it whole.

Coyote was frightened by this demonstration of the monster beaver's strength. But he was the most cunning of all the animals, and he came up with a plan. Turning himself into a tree branch, Coyote drifted among the fish until Wishpoosh swallowed him. Returning to his natural form, Coyote took a knife and cut the sinews inside the giant beaver. Wishpoosh gave a great cry and then perished.

Coyote was tired after his long fight with the monster beaver. He called to his friend Muskrat, who helped drag the body of Wishpoosh to shore. Coyote and Muskrat cut up the giant beaver and threw the pieces up over the land, thus creating the tribes of men. The Nez Perce were created from the head of the giant beaver, to make them great in council. The Cayuses were created from the massive arms of Wishpoosh, in order that they might be strong and powerful with the war club and the bow. From the beaver's ribs, Coyote made the Yakimas and from the belly the Chinooks. To make the Klickitats, Coyote used the beaver's legs, so that they would become famous for their skill in running. With the leftover skin and blood, he made the Snake River Indians who thrived on war and blood.

Thus were the tribes created, and Coyote returned up the mighty Columbia River to rest from his efforts. But in his weariness, Coyote did not notice that the coastal tribes had been created without mouths. The god Ecahni happened along just then and fixed the problem by assembling all of the coastal tribes and cutting mouths for them. Some he made too large and some he made crooked, just as a joke. This is why the mouths of the coastal tribes are not quite perfect.
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Comments: 22

YVTs [2023-04-14 15:50:37 +0000 UTC]

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WhiteWolf2018 [2018-06-05 18:27:36 +0000 UTC]

This is oral history remembered in mythological guise. Over time, History becomes legend and legend becomes myth. Many myths have a basis in real events of long ago. This is the story of a catastrophic Bretzian flood of the Columbia River Basin as told and retold across the generations. This story contains so many aspects that fit the mechanism and effects of the floods, as worked out by modern day geologists quite unaware of native legends, that it cannot be mere coincidence. Such floods occurred between 18,000 and 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, when ice dams retaining huges lakes of meltwater suddenly gave way. Warming and melting did not happen in a regular way ; cold periods between the warming up ones allowed the ice sheets to grow again and the ice dams to be rebuilt. During the period concerned, such floods happened on average once in every two or three human generations. Not all episodes were as destructive as some others. The fight between Spillyay the Coyote and Wishpoosh the giant beaver could be the echo of one particularly catastrophic outburst or the merged remembrance of those times. The most spectacular floods were those that created the huge and very deep temporary Lake Lewis in the Tri-Cities area, when the Columbia Gorge was blocked by debris. I have heard other recountings of the "myth" that mentioning the transport of huge stones (still scattered about the region where the were dropped) and the carrying far out to sea of the flood debris. There is a huge fan of coarse sediments and flood flotsam issuing from the mouth of the Columbia that extends out under the sea surface into the Pacific over a great distance - the site of the last fight between Spillyay and Wishpoosh. Another meaningful detail of the myth concerns the tribes issued from the scattered organs of the Beaver. The human camps along the Columbia River valley and its affluents (where the flood waters surged upstream before draining down again) would have been wiped out, with only rare survivors that happened to be on heights at the time the wall of water up to several hundreds meters tall came racing down the valley. The old ethnic groups were no more; their survivors rgrouped to form new communities, the seeds of present day Native nations. Significantly, the only one mentioned in the myth are those that ethnologists say were already present in the region as far back as 12,000 years ago. Other tribal groups, such as the Salish, Spokans, Sinkiuse and Okanagan, are not mentioned -- and ethnologists estimate their migration into the area to have taken place only 6 or 8000 years ago (I I dont remember off hand it is is 6 or 8000 yrs) - which still makes therm more anciently settled in their country than modern-day Europeans have been living in Europe.
The myth of Spillyay and Wishpoosh is at least 12,000 years old, and more likely 14 to 16,000 years old. I believe this to be a record, although there is another legend from the same area, that of Laliik, that remembers Lake Lewis, and there are some similar legends of Natives East of the Rockies that could be as old. In comparison, the flooding of the Black Sea that probably gave rise to he Biblical Flood myth occurred 7,500 years ago and the oldest European legend, the Trojan War, has its historical roots a mere 3,250 years ago (if not less).

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AnthonyDisneyArtist [2018-05-16 21:02:18 +0000 UTC]

wooow i making illustration toΒ 

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Thalarctusmaritimus [2014-06-05 15:47:02 +0000 UTC]

Melissa, I hope you don't mind that I use your image in a presentation I am doing for my mythology class - it is hard to go up in front of a bunch of college kids and explain how a giant beaver should be scary...
Also, thanks for watermarking your image, it reminded me to ask you for permission!

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NixKat [2014-04-19 18:09:44 +0000 UTC]

Cool.

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Islander-60 [2014-01-15 15:40:36 +0000 UTC]

A wonderful story... Old Coyote never did manage to get things quite right!

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Leonca [2013-03-25 04:04:40 +0000 UTC]

I like the crazed look on Coyote’s face. Lets you know he means business.

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TVsAdamWest [2012-10-29 04:57:44 +0000 UTC]

Finding this while searching for information to write a discussion board post for geology made this ridiculous assignment worth it.

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PureMissa In reply to TVsAdamWest [2013-01-31 23:00:46 +0000 UTC]

I've kept this in my message box for quite a few month now. It still makes me smile! Thank you for commenting

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TVsAdamWest In reply to PureMissa [2013-02-01 07:08:58 +0000 UTC]

I appreciate that and no problem at all.

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GummyBirbs [2011-09-18 22:41:31 +0000 UTC]

So thats what the Were Justin Beiber looks like

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PureMissa In reply to GummyBirbs [2011-09-19 15:24:01 +0000 UTC]

LOL!!!!! the truth has been revealed! now that is an awesome comment!

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GummyBirbs In reply to PureMissa [2011-09-19 19:14:02 +0000 UTC]

I know and your just jelly

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PureMissa In reply to GummyBirbs [2011-09-20 01:54:20 +0000 UTC]

wow. I know I am what I eat but who knew that jelly would win in a PB&J.

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GummyBirbs In reply to PureMissa [2011-09-20 01:56:07 +0000 UTC]

Jelly as in Jealous

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PureMissa In reply to GummyBirbs [2011-09-23 13:51:12 +0000 UTC]

OOOOHHHH... I was having conversations with my hunny trying to figure out what you meant by jelly.
Yes I am Jelly! =^_^=

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GummyBirbs In reply to PureMissa [2011-09-23 19:15:39 +0000 UTC]

Ok I forgot what we were talking about

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PureMissa In reply to GummyBirbs [2011-09-24 04:07:23 +0000 UTC]

Beber... however his name is spelled

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springheel [2010-08-24 03:29:56 +0000 UTC]

I told him not to eat those trees marked: "Property of Gamma Base"!

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JynxMerlin [2010-07-12 00:34:25 +0000 UTC]

Amazingggg~ and a good legend too ^_^

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elygrl [2010-07-11 05:08:21 +0000 UTC]

ooohhhh yeah i like it!!!!

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yiptrip [2010-07-10 23:13:43 +0000 UTC]

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH -Chomp chomp chomp- ARRROOO

-Pokes eye with stick-


xDD Nice

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