compiled by Ruth Ludwin, University of Washington, Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences
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First Nations and Native American stories that could be about Cascadia megathrust earthquakes
compiled by Ruth Ludwin, University of Washington, Dept. of Earth and Space Sciences |
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| Salish Material |
The Monster Stsinqa (related by a Cowichan) pp. 170
DOWNFALL OF THE THUNDERBIRDS (related by a Twana) pp. 162
The young man who blocked up Steel's Lake told by Joe Bill (Duwamish) who learned it from his step-father, p. 87
Once a boy from this side of the Puyallup river set out on such a journey. He said, "I am going to that lake yonder to find whales." He searched for Steel's Lake and finally found it. "There is the lake." he said. So he stayed by the lake a while and watched, and soon he saw the whales come. There seemed to be an undertow. If the youth cast a stick in the water, the undertow would carry it away.
"I shall go and close up the place," thought the youth, "and whales shall no more come up to this place."
So the youth got cedar bark and poles. With the cedar bark he tied the poles tightly together in the form of a raft. Then taking a piece of wood for a paddle, he propelled the raft to the desired place. After this he took a stone from the shore and leaping with it upon the raft he went down till, with a sound as of a peal of thunder the raft struck the underground gateway and closed it up forever. Thus the channel was closed and the whales came to more to that lake in the hills.
Redondo Creek is so called because in former days it drained out of the lake through an underground channel.
The water followed them down the channel, and thus a new river came into being. We call that river StAx, which means "plowed through." The Whites call it Stuck River. Most of the water in the lake drained out through th new channel. What used to be the main river became just a small creek, Wapato Creek. Where the lake used to be is now a level valley.
Whale carries Ducks
There was a big hole in the head and the people went in the hole. Whale told them that whenever they got out of wind to scratch him and he would come up out of the water. So when the people needed air they scratched Whale and he came above the water for air. Finally when they landed they were at a place now called Union City.
Whale called as he drew near, "All girls and women under forty do not look this way."
While Whale was pulling to shore one young woman who wanted to see looked and as she did so Whale jumped back. This knocked the two men off and they lost their shells. These shells can now be found in the water at Union City. Whale ran away and the men swam to shore.
Ducks are taken to fight the big Animal
Raven came along and said to the men, "You are needed on the other side. There is an animal over there who is killing the people. It is the largest animal ever known. We want you men to kill it."
Raven got Eagle to take the men to the people. One rode on Eagle's neck and the other further back. Eagle flew very high and far and finally flew down and landed the men. They were at the place where Westport is now. The animal which they were to kill came out of a hole and got on the island in the bay. The men went up on a high bluff. All the other people had been killed. The men watched for the animal. Later the animal came out in the moonlight and went on the island. It seemed to get larger and larger but when it was on the island it got smaller and smaller. When it lay down to rest it spread itself over the whole bay. When it lay down its head was upward. It lay there 2 five days and then it seemed to become aware that the men were there to kill it. Its tail was very large and shaped like that of the beaver. When it lifted the tail and hit the water, the bay became dry. That was the way it had drowned the other people so now it tried to drown the two men who had come to kill it.
The animal then began to spread out and spread to where the men were.
One said to the other, "When it gets close to you spear one eye and I will spear the other."
With that he made a jump and hit the animal. The animal turned on its back. The man speared it again and the animal could not turn over. The other man speared it in the throat. The animal tried to draw up smaller and smaller but the men cut and speared it until it was dead. Then they skinned it. The animal was so large it took them five days to skin it. They wanted to find a place to stretch the skin so that it would dry. They carried it around and finally came to the prairie now called Mima. There they stretched the skin. The prairie is called Hashasqunt "the stretching hide."
The animal was the beaver but Honné said "There will be no more animals as large as that. That kind of animal is not needed. The tail of beaver will be used for food. You two men will live out in the bay. You will be ducks."
The Seal Hunter Upper Chehalis, Told by Peter Heck, 1926, pp. 77-81
[RSL Synthesis: There were five sons, each with a different kind of tamanoas.
When Whale was ready, he came to the young men and said, "Well, I'm ready now, but I don't know how you two will manage as I always travel under water." However, he took a knife and cut a hole in himself large enough for them to crawl into. They were afraid but they crawled in and closed the door.
The Dangerous Beaver Being Upper Chehalis, Told by Mary Heck, 1927; interpreted by Peter Heck, pp. 128-131
[RSL Synthesis: Five young men live together. One by one the eldest four take a walk, shoot a pheasant, meet an old man who asks him to help kill a beaver. The old man gives each of them a spear, but the spear breaks and the Beaver kills each of them. The youngest brother has a dream that tells him that the old man has put on the beaver-clothes and killed his brothers. So when the youngest brother comes, he does not shoot the pheasant, and uses his own spear blade. He kills the beaver, opens him to find the old man, and burns the old man up. The ashes turn into harmless beavers.]
The Boy and the dangerous woman Told by Mary Iley, 1927 pp. 216-217
The boy was very much frightened. For the first two months that he was with the woman, he was frightened all the time. Gradually he became more accustomed to here and finally made her his wife. He spent his time then hunting and fishing. His family learned that he was missing as said, "He must have been eaten up; the dangerous beings got him." Eventually, the boy almost became a dangerous being himself. Whenever he thought, the woman would know what his thoughts were. Then one day, he did not think, but evidently just looked what he felt. (If he had thought, she would have known what he was thinking.) It was early morning, and the woman had just gone away. He jumped up, put his shoes on and went out. He went tot the river and shouted across to his own people to come and get him. When he got to the other side, he told the people that they must dig a hold and get in it. His parents did as he said, but no one else would take his advice. "He stayed so long with that woman, he's crazy himself," they said.
The woman came to the opposite side of the river and shouted, "Come, get me. Give me my husband." She stayed there a half day and wept. All the people died when she wept; the very ground shook. She took their breath away from them, caused the air to become different. The boy and his parents were the only ones saved; they had gone into the hole and covered themselves.
After the woman had gone away the boy said, "You alone have had a real person for a husband. You shall go away forever and never again molest the people." since that time it has been bad luck to hear a dangerous woman weep. At that time the dangerous woman killed people as she wept.
Cougar and Wildcat Upper Chehalis, Told by Peter Heck 1926, p. 60-64
Cougar and Wildcat (or Thunder) Upper Chehalis, Told by Peter Heck 1926, p. 64-67
Cougar and Wildcat Upper Chehalis, Told by Jonas Secena, 1926, pp. 67-69
Cougar and Wildcat Upper Chehalis, Told by Joe Pete, 1926, pp. 69-70
Cougar and his younger Brothers Cowlitz, Told by Sophie Smith 1926, pp. 202-209
Cougar and Mink Cowlitz, Told by Mary Iley 1927, pp. 209-211
The Cougars and their brother Wildcat Humptulip, pp. 310-315
Thunder Humptulip, pp. 315-324
Coyote and the Woodpeckers From Nicola Valley
The people of Astoria used to send their boys and girls, when about fourteen years of age, over to this side [of the Columbia] to the Rocks to get tamanous. there was a boy there about eighteen years old who went to the Rocks to get tamanoas, -- to become a doctor, a good man, or something of the sort. This boy had been after girls already [footnote: A youth must be free from sex experience if he wished to obtain a guardian spirit]. He went to a lake and bathed there and played about. Finally he lay down under a tree. "I wish I had one of my girls here; I would have some company," he thought. He fell asleep and the dangerous woman came. He awoke to find the woman on top of him. Her body was cold. "Oh, the dangerous woman has found me!" he thought. "No, I'm not the dangerous woman; I'm the one you wished for," the woman said. "What shall I do?" he thought. "Nothing, you wished for me. We'll go home; I live near here," the woman said. "The dangerous woman has got me," he thought. "I'm not the dangerous woman," the woman said. She took the boy home and kept him there.
The Moon Upper Chehalis, two versions, Told by Peter Heck, 1926 and Jonas Secena, 1926 pp. 158-177; Moon and Sun Cowlitz, two versions, Told by Mary Iley, 1926 and James Cheholts, 1927, pp. 269-272; The Stolen Boy Cowlitz, Told by Sophie Smith, 1926, pp. 272-274; Moon and Sun Humptulip, pp. 276-283
[RSL Synthesis:
A man creates two daughters from salmon parts, then thinks or acts incestuously toward them (Upper Chehalis/Humptulip) OR
They run away, and steal Moon, a baby whose mother is Earthquake (p. 160, 172, p. 174-175) and grandmother is Swamp (160, 175?, 278,). Earthquake and Swamp purse but the girls get away. A new brother is created from mucus/dirty diaper, and either he or Bluejay goes to find Moon. The searcher comes to a hard-to-cross place, a lever going up and down that cuts his tail (UC 161), or a place where "the earth and sky joined, and .... the earth moved back and forth so quickly that it was almost impossible to go through"(p. UC 175), or "a great opening in the earth that closed for an instant and then opened again [footnote: A variation of the "snapping door" motif] (H p. 279)" or a man who makes a bridge of his legs so that people can cross, but then drowns them (Co. p. 270) . Moon remembers who he is, leaves his wives, and travels the world killing monsters and transforming people into animals.
[RSL Points: Wildcat is Cougar's younger brother. Wildcat steals fire from a dangerous being. Trouble ensues. Then Wildcat foolishly attracts a ravenous being, who they kill by severing his head. The head continues to pursue them. The head of the ravenous being makes cyclones, but the brothers escape.(footnote, p. 62; "The narrator said here, "A long time ago we used to have this kind of wind, but we don't have it now.")Hunting adventures follow.]
[RSL Points: Cougar and Wildcat are brothers. Wildcat foolishly attracts a ravenous being whose severed head pursues them. Thunder saves them by canoeing them across the river, then making a bridge of his legs, and drowning the pursuer who tries to cross. It is in Grays Harbour country, where it predicts the weather. Wildcat marries Thunder's daughter. Thunder tests him, but Wildcat bests him in every test.]
[RSL Points: Cougar and Wildcat are brothers. Wildcat foolishly attracts a ravenous being, but Cougar kills him and they run away. Wildcat steals fire from a dangerous being, who fights Cougar. Then the brothers are pursued by the head of the ravenous being. Thunder helps them to cross Grays Harbor (or some other bay) by lying down across the bay. Thunder lets the head of the ravenous being falls in the water when it tries to cross. The head is still roaring in the ocean. Cougar repays Thunder by magically carrying poles for him.]
[RSL Points: Cougar and Wildcat are brothers. Wildcat foolishly attracts a ra
venous being, they kill him, sever his head, and flee. The head chases them to Westport where an old man helps them to cross by making a bridge of his legs. Then the old man drowns the head when it tries to cross, and it drifts down to the ocean where it gives sign of good or bad weather.]
[RSL Points: Cougar's younger brother is Wildcat. Wilcat foolishly attracts a ravenous dangerous being. They sever his head and flee. The head pursues them, making noises like a wind storm, and breaking trees along the way. Finally they escape. Wildcat steals fire from a dangerous being, and trouble ensues. Later, Cougar parts from Wildcat and meets Mink, another of his younger brothers. Mink causes a hailstorm by repeating the real name of a Creek. Mink and Cougar go to the house of Cougar's father-in-law, who is angry and tries to kill them in various ways, but they overcome them. One of the tests for Mink is to bring the two Lightnings from the beach. When he does this they tear the house to pieces and kill everyone there.]
[Last paragraph of Abstract given in Adamson (1934),p. 404: A second brief Cowlitz version includes Mink's visit with Cougar to Cougar's wife, Grizzly Bear and her father Thunder; Mink's cry of alarm at night, when Thunder is about to murder Cougar; Cougar's killing with Lark's aid of his wife, Grizzly; and Mink's fetching of Thunder's two playthings, White Agate and Blue Rock. The two rocks tear Thunder's house to pieces, Thunder flies into a cloud in the form of a bird, and his slaves ... turn into birds. Cougar leaves Mink at a creek. The one becomes a cougar, the other a mink, which henceforth mate each with his own kind.]
[RSL Points: Wildcat is the younger brother of the four Cougars. They lived at James' Rock. Wildcat leaves the fire untended and it goes out. He crosses the bay at low tide and steals fire from a dangerous being on the other side, and ties it to his tail. The dangerous being pursues him, and throws ropes in the water which turn to sand-spits. Wildcat's tail is burnt short, and he moves the fire to his forehead. His brother Cougar swims out to resuce him. In their house, the door changes into a rock, and when the dangerous being tries to crawl in, the drop the rock and she is crushed. They leave home and start toward the sea. They jump creeks and rivers, and finally leave Wildcat behind when he cannot keep up. The Cougar brothers split up, two go out to sea, after promising to send sea-lions seals and blackfish to the beach for Wildcat to eat. Two others go to the woods, and promise game.]
[RSL Synthesis: The youngest of five brothers foolishly attracts a voracious
dangerous beings who
eats up all kinds of fatal things but survives. The brothers flee, and their dog
s lie down and change into mountains. Nonetheless, the dangerous being catches a
nd swallows all but the youngest brother. At Westport, an old man, Thunder, stre
tches his legs across the mouth of the river, and the youngest brother is saved.
The dangerous being falls into the water and becomes the roaring of the ocean s
torms. The young man goes to Thunder's house and marries Thunder's daughter. The
y have children, who grow up. Thunder does not like his grand children to watch
him hunt whales. He teaches them to hunt porpoises first, then whales. Thunder t
ests his son-in-law, who gets the better of him in every test. In the last test
the son-in-law steals the lightning hoop from the Tamanoas. Thunderbird and his
wife and grandsons urinate to put out the torches of the pursuers.]
Interior Salish
Teit, James A., 1917, Thompson Tales, IN Folk-Tales of the Salishan Tribes, Franz Boas, ed., Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society, Volume XI
Coyote was caught n a cave, and called on all animals and birds for aid. They tried to release him, but failed. Finally he called on the Woodpeckers. One of them struck the rock and cracked it; the second widened the crack; the third one widened it still more; and finally the Red-Headed Woodpecer split it open so that Coyote was able to get out. Some people say that Coyote was stuck in a hollow tree, and that the Woodpeckers pecked a hole and took him out. Some add that they pulled him out by the tail.