Coyote [itsaya' ya] was building a fish-ladder by tearing down the waterfall at Celilo, so that salmon could go upstream for the people to catch. He was busily engaged at this when someone shouted to him, "Why are you bothering with that? All the people are gone; the Monster [itswa' wltsix] has them."
"Well," said Coyote to himself, "then I'll stop doing this, because I was doing it for the people, and now I'll go along too." From there he went along upstream, by the way of the Salmon River country. Going along he stepped on the leg of a Meadowlark [qotsqo' tsna] and broke it.
The Meadowlark shouted in a temper, " Lima , Lima , Lima [distress call of the bird]; what a chance of Finding the people you have, going along!
Coyote then asked, "My aunt, please inform me. Afterwards I will make a leg of brushwood for you."
So the Meadowlark told him, "Already all the people have been swallowed by the Monster."
Coyote then replied, "That is where I, too, must go." From there he traveled on. Along the way he took a good bath, saying to himself, "Lest I make myself repulsive to his taste;" and then he dressed himself all up, "Lest he will vomit me up or spit me out." Next he tied himself with rope to three mountains. From there he came along up and over ridges.
Suddenly behold, he saw a great head. He quickly hid himself in the grass and gazed at it. Never before in his life had he seen anything like it; never such a large thing -- away off somewhere melting into the horizon was its gigantic body. Now then, Coyote shouted to him, "Oh Monster, we are going to inhale each other!"
The big eyes of the Monster roved around, looking all over for Coyote, but did not find him, because Coyote's body was painted with clay to achieve a perfect protective coloring in the grass. Coyote had on his back a pack consisting of five stone knives, some pure pitch, and a flint fire making ext. Presently, Coyote shook the grass to and fro and shouted again, "Monster, we are going to inhale each other!"
Suddenly, the Monster saw the swaying grass and replied, "Oh, you Coyote, you swallow me first then; you inhale first." Now Coyote tried. Powerfully and noisily he drew in his breath, and the great Monster just swayed and quivered.
Then Coyote said, "Now you inhale me, for already you have swallowed all the people; so swallow me too lest I become lonely." Now the Monster inhaled like a mighty wind. He carried Coyote along just like that. But as Coyote went, he left along the way great numbers of camas roots and serviceberry bushes, saying, "Here the people will find them and will be glad, for only a short time away is the coming of the human race." There he almost go caught on one of the ropes, but he quickly cut it with his knife. Thus he dashed right into the Monster's mouth.
From there he walked along down the throat of the Monster. Along the way he saw bones scatter about, and he thought to himself, "It is obvious that many people have been dying." As he went along he saw some boys, and he said to them, "Where is his heart? Come along and show me!" Then, as they were all going along, Bear [Xa' xats] rushed out furiously at him. "So! Coyote said to him, "You make yourself ferocious only to me," and he kicked the bear on the nose. As they were going along Rattlesnake [waxpu' sna] bristled at him in fury. "So! Only towards me are you vicious - we are nothing but dung." Then he kicked the rattlesnake on the head and flattened it out for him.
Going on he met the Brown Bear [ya' ka' na] who greeted him, "I see he [the Monster] selected you for the last."
"So! I'd like to see you save your people [derogatory diatribe]." But, all along the people hailed him and stopped him. He told the boys, "Pick up some wood."
Here his erstwhile friend, Fox [tili' ptsxi'], hailed him from the side. "Such a dangerous fellow [the Monster]! What are you going to do to him?"
"So!" replied Coyote. "You too hurry along and look for wood." Presently Coyote arrived at the heart, and he cut off slabs of fat and threw them to the people. "Imagine you being hungry under such circumstances -- grease your mouths with this." And now Coyote started a fire with his flint, and shortly smoke drifted up through the Monster's nose, ears, eyes, and anus.
Now the Monster said, "Oh, you Coyote, let me cast you out."
And Coyote replied, "Yes, and later let it be said, -He who was cast out is officiating in the distribution of salmon.
"Well then, go out through the nose."
Coyote replied, "And will not they say the same?"
And the Monster said, "Well then, go out through the ears."
To this Coyote replied, "And let it be said, 'Here is ear-wax officiating in the I distribution of food.' "
"Hn, hn, hn, oh you Coyote! This is why I feared you; then go out through the anus."
Coyote replied, "And let people say, -Feces are officiating in the distribution of food. ' "
There was his fire still burning near the heart, and now the Monster began to writhe in pain. Coyote began cutting away on the heart, whereupon very shortly he broke the stone knife. Immediately he took another, and in a short time this one also broke and Coyote said ; to all the people, "Gather up all the bones and carry them to the eyes, ears, mouth and anus; pile them up, and when he falls dead kick all the bones outside." Then again with another knife he began cutting away at the heart. The third knife he broke and the fourth leaving only one more. He told the people, "All right, get yourselves ready because as soon as he falls dead each one will go out of the opening most convenient. Take the old women and old men close to the openings so that they may get out easily."
Now the heart hung by only a very small piece of muscle, and Coyote was cutting away on it with his last stone knife. The Monster's heart was still barely hanging when his last knife broke, whereupon Coyote threw himself on the heart and hung on just barely tearing it loose with his hands. In his death convulsions the Monster opened all the openings of his body, and now the people kicked the bones outside and went on out. Coyote, too, went on out.
Now the Monster fell dead, and now the anus began to close. But there was Muskrat [pa ptits] still inside. Just as the anus closed he squeezed out, barely getting his body through. But alas! His tail was caught. He pulled, and it was bare when he pulled it out; all the tail-hair had been peeled right off. Coyote scolded him, "Now what were you doing? You had to think up something to do at the last moment. You're always behind in everything." Then he told the people, "Gather up all the bones and arrange them well."
They did this whereupon Coyote added, "Now we are going to carve the Monster."
Coyote then smeared blood on his hands, sprinkled this blood on the bones, and suddenly there came to life again all those who had died while inside the Monster. They carved the great Monster, and now Coyote began dealing out portions of the body to various parts of the country all over the land-toward the sunrise, toward the sunset, toward the warmth, toward the cold-and by that act destining and fore naming the various peoples: Coeur d'Alene, Cayuse, Pend Oreilles, Flathead, Blackfeet, Crow, Sioux, et al. He consumed the entire body of the Monster in this distribution to various lands far and wide. Nothing more remained of the great Monster.
And now Fox came up and said to Coyote, "What is the meaning of this, Coyote? You have distributed all of the body to far-away lands but have given yourself nothing for this immediate locality."
"Well," snorted Coyote, "and did you tell me that before? Why didn't you tell me that awhile ago before it was too late? I was engrossed to the exclusion of thinking. You should have told me that in the first place." And he turned to the people and said, "Bring me some water with which to wash my hands."
They brought him water, and he washed his hands. And with the bloody wash water he sprinkled the local regions saying, "You may be little people, but you will be powerful. Even though you will be little people because I have deprived you, nevertheless you will be very, very manly. Only a short time away is the coming of the human race."
Taken from Tales of the Nez Perce by Donald M. Hines, Ye Galleon Press; Fairfield , Washington , 1999 [gathered from other source books dated between 1912 and 1949]
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