Allen Pinkham, Sr.
Alan Pinkham
Alan Pinkham:
There along the Clearwater River, down on the middle section of the Snake River, and over on the Salmon River, and also the Grand Ronde River, there’s a lot of landmarks. There are either stones or land features or rock formations. They have stories attached to them.
Arlie Neskahi:
Our storyteller Allen Pinkham takes us on a journey with coyote, sharing with us the creation story of his people on the Clearwater River.
Alan Pinkham:
Coyote was traveling with his brother Fox. They were coming up the river and then they met some people, animal people. They said, “Oh, the monster’s devouring all our people and you got to do something about this. You should do something about this monster. He’s breathing in and devouring all our people.”
Coyote severs Monster's heart with his flint knife. Illustration from "Nez Perce Coyote Tales: The Myth Cycle." Courtesy Library of Congress: Collection Connections.
So Coyote, he prepares himself. And he, you know, makes a rope. And he makes an old bag with pitch and fire stone. And so he prepares himself. And he goes up, up on a Camas Prairie and he goes over to where Grangeville, Idaho is now. And he hollers and he teases monster. Says, “Oh, you can’t devour me like you did the other people.” Says, “I’m over here.” And he makes a bunch of noise.
And the monster wondering, “Well, what is that?” you know, “Who’s calling me?” So the monster, he raises his head up above the ridge line there from the Clearwater River near Kamiah, Idaho. And he looks over towards Coyote and there’s Coyote. He says, “You can’t devour me like you did these other people.” And Coyote, he ties himself to the mountains behind him. And the monster says, “I can suck you in, just like I did the other animal people.” And he said, “Well, you go ahead.”
And so the Monster, he draws in his breath and Coyote comes and he’s going into the mouth, but the rope stops him before he goes into the Monster’s mouth. “See? I told you,” he says, “You can’t do harm me like you did the other people.” So the Monster, he tries that three times. And on the third time Coyote reaches behind him, and with the flint knife that he made, he cuts the rope and he goes in the mouth of the Monster.
And inside, he sees animal people that have been sucked in, and some of them are dead and some are just bones, you know, laying around. Others are struggling to stay alive. And so he walks around. And he tells the people. He says, “I’ve come here to save you.” But Grizzly Bear, he growls at Coyote. And Coyote says, “Well what are you growling at me for?” He says, “I come here, in here to save you and here, you’re growling at me.” And so Grizzly Bear growls again and so Coyote pushes his nose. And that’s why Grizzly Bear has a flat nose now.
And Coyote walks around some more and Rattlesnake strikes at him. He says, “What are you striking at me for?” He says, “Oh, I’m here to save you. You shouldn’t be rattling and striking at me.” So Coyote steps on his head and flattens Rattlesnake’s head, so that’s why Rattlesnake, he has a flat head now.
And then, Coyote goes around there and he sees the people. He says, “One, I’m going to free you people.” He says, “When this, and I’m going to kill the Monster.” And he says, “You will all go to the holes of this Monster and you’ll wait there. And when the Monster takes the last breath, then you run out of the holes and you’ll be free. And so he tells the people that.
And so he builds a little fire from some of the things inside the Monster, and so he can see. And he reaches up with his… He has five flint knives, and he starts cutting the heart loose. And he cuts and he cuts. He breaks a flint knife and he gets another one. He cuts and he cuts and he breaks another knife. And he’s down to the last knife and the heart is just barely hanging on with one strip of flesh yet.
So Coyote says, “This Monster’s about ready to die. All you people get prepared to run out.” And so he cuts the last bit of flesh and then the heart falls, and all the Animal People get ready. And the Monster takes his last breath. He breathes and all the holes open up in the Monster’s body, you know, like the nose and mouth, and even that little hole underneath the tail, all opens up. And so, when the holes open up, then all the Animal People run out.
And the last one out is Muskrat. And the hole underneath the tail closes on Muskrat’s tail and strips all the hair off of him. So that’s why Muskrat doesn’t have any hair on his tail, because he was the last one out and barely made it. And Coyote comes out. He’s also out too.
And they all gather outside. And then Fox says, “Well, what are you going to do with this Monster’s body now? You’ve got to do something with it.” And Coyote, he thinks awhile. He says, “Well, this place needs human beings. You know, this world, it needs human beings. And so Fox says, “Well, what are you going to do?” He says, “Well, I’ll cut up this Monster and I’ll throw body parts of the Monster in all the directions. And I’ll create tribes in all on this island. And so, Coyote starts cutting up the legs and the arms and the other parts and he starts throwing them in all the directions. And as those parts hit the ground, tribes spring up. Tribes all over the Northwest in what is now called the United States. So all the tribes, like the Blackfeet, the Cheyenne, the Sho-Ban, Paiute, Yakamas and Okanogans, they all become tribal people, and human beings.
And then he’s almost done. And then Fox says, “Well, what are you going to do about people in this valley? It’s one of the most beautiful valleys and a place to live, and it’s a good place to be?” And Coyote thinks awhile and he says, “Oh!” And all he has is just the blood. But it was a liver and the heart left. And he says, “Well, I better create people right here. And, so Fox brings him some water and he washes his hands. And then he raises his hands and he throws the blood and the water down on the ground. And as the drops of blood and water hit the earth, then Nimiipuu people sprang up, Nez Perce people. And that’s who we are.
“And then these people will occupy this valley and all the river valleys in this area. It’s a good place to be. And these people will have good hearts and they will be strong people.” And so that’s how we were created. And then Fox says, “Well, how do you know that this story or this Creation happened?” And Coyote says, “Well, I have the heart and liver here. I’ll leave these here.”
So he takes the heart and he sets it upright and it’s a big stone there. And it looks like a heart standing with a point up in the air. Then over about a hundred yards away, there’s a flat strip of land that looks like a liver. And those are two land features where this Creation happened. And so that’s how we became human beings, Nimiipuu people. And there’s no story that we ever came from some other area – that we migrated or created and came here. We were created right on the Clearwater River. And from there we spread all over the country. So that’s how we got created.