a Yakima story

Lucy Lawless in golden moment !!!

PAH'-TO AND THE WHITE EAGLE

I will tell you this Indian story. It is about one mountain the Sho-ya'-poo[white men] call Mount Adams, a nonsense name. The old name is of the Thappanish people. The mountain belonged to them and was called Thap' panish cli-mi Pah'-to. But now this name can be heeded for all the Yakama, made up of many different tribes and bands. Wasco is a mountain in Oregon, now called Mount Hood. There was another mountain. Wak'-soom, one time the summit of the Cascades. Pah'-to stands beyond Wak'-soom, and towards the sunset of the present summit.

These three mountains had one husband, Pos-twa'-nit, the Sun. Every time Sun came driving the darkness, he would strike Wak'-soom first, greet her first. Pah'-to saw all this and became jealous. She made up her mind to destroy Wak'-soom. So Pah'-to came over in the night and killed her, beat her down. She then took all the game---the deer, the elk, the bear, and the salmon---belonging to the dead wife. She took the berries and best roots and left Wak'-soom dead and of but little concern.

After that time, Sun, coming with the morning, struck Pah'-to the first thing. This was good! It was what Pah'-to liked of her husband. Seeing this, Wasco became jealous. She made up her mind to kill Pah'-to. It was just before daylight when Wasco came with a great war club and other weapons of fighting, and there was a big battle. When Sun came up from the far away, Pah'-to was dead, all torn to pieces. I do not know how it happened, but Pah'-to's head was broken off and scattered from there to Fish Lake. to this day that is hard country to travel. Wasco took everything from Pah'-to---game, fish, berries, and roots. She left Pah'-to sitting there headless, with no sort of life. Like Wak'-soom, Pah'-to was now no longer a producer of life. Not growing foods, Pah'-to had lost her usefulness to the world, was no longer of any importance.

The Great Maker was a witness to all this, saw what Pah'-to suffered. He knew that which was coming. He beheld the new people who, yet unborn, were awaiting the final preparation of the land for their reception, and he took pity on them. He restored Pah'-to to life and brought back to her all the game, salmon, berries and roots. These are all found there to this day. He gave to Pah'-to a head to replace the one lost. This head was Quoh Why-am-mah, the great White Eagle sent down from the Land Above.

Pah'-to was now a powerful Law, standing up towards the sky and was for the whole world. Once dead but returned to life, that Law was divine. Coming from the great Giver, that Law was immortal. The wisdom was that of the White Eagle, to watch and guard the entire world. Life was in the white bosom, growing life for all foods that the people to come might eat and have strength. The White Eagle said, "I want two children to sit by me, to watch towards the sunrise. I will send them to every part of the world, to observe how everything is going on. They will bring me word of what they see, of what is being done. I will regulate and control everything in the whole world.

So this was the way that the Great Maker sent White Eagle to be the head of Pah'-to, a Law standing high for all the world. The two children were given, and White Eagle declared, "Whatever the Great Maker has done, I know. Women will bear children. There shall be death; there shall be sorrow everywhere. When the children grow up, there shall be chiefs and rulers in the land. But Quo Why-am-mah; will care for them all. The center of power, the head of the Law is in me. I will send my children all over the world, to take up and report to me what is going on. My power, my Law is stronger than all the people who shall ever live.

Thus it was that Thappanish cli-mi Pah'-to was killed and then restored to life again. The White Eagle-head coming down from Above, holds great spirit power. Life dwells there. Life is in the water flowing down the many-caverned banks.

Facing the sunrise, the two young eagles sit at either side of White Eagle's topmost crown. San-we-tlah, the Speaker, is on the right, towards the Northland. Kay-no-klah, the Overseer or Manager, is at the left, towards the Southland. They are watching everywhere, going everywhere. Flying over all the world, they bring back news of what is being done. Nothing can happen without their seeing. Nothing ever escapes their sharp vision.

This is why we want Pah'-to within our own reservation boundary. That mountain belongs to us. A witness to our treaty with Governor Stevens, White Eagle ever points upward to the Great Maker who heard the promises of that treaty. Standing high among the clouds, White Eagle is always first to be greeted by the Sun. The berries, the game and the fish of the mountain streams, were created for us, who were the first real people of this country.

This is why I do not like to see the Sho-yah'-poo climb Pah'-to. Young Indians used to go to the top, but they made no wrong. All that Pah'-to has, all her foods are free. This is why I always give freely, why I feed the hungry without pay. It is the Law, the White Law, lifted high where it is painted by the Sun and blanketed by the clouds. A gift from the Great Maker, the foods planted for His children must all be free.

Pages 30,31 of "Ghost Voices"