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Horace Axtell tells of an account of the Coyote and Monster, and the origin of Hells Canyon and Seven Devils mountains, Part 1 Item Info

The monster that was here, he used to roam this land. This was before there were human beings. The life that was on the earth then was all animals, different kinds of nature animals, birds and stuff. He called these things Waqiswíitme. Letíitelwit is human beings. This is before human beings. This is the story about how he created human beings and different tribes. He used to roam around the land and he used to swallow all these living things, living people they called them then. They all lived inside of this monsters belly, stomach. One day coyote was close by and he heard them hollering from inside, “Can somebody come and help us? We want to get out of here.” He went and he heard them and their concern. Their concern was can somebody kill this monster so we can get out. Coyote went and gathered up all the other people, the other animals that were still not swallowed. He got them and they had a council. He wanted to find out, get some ideas on how to do this. They decided they would try to find some way lure this monster over so they could kill him. That is where coyote started this project of his own. He went and started digging. He dug what they call súula a big canyon. He started digging. It was long and deep. He got to thinking I wonder if I can get this monster to come down through here. So then he decided to dig a little more so he kept digging. All the dirt and rocks that he threw out into different piles as he went along, he threw all these out in different piles and this became the Seven Devils, the Seven Devil Mountains. This canal or whatever they called it then, súula was long and deep and that became Hells Canyon. After he got this all done he decided, he started thinking again I got to have some kind of weapon. He decided to make a long bowstring they call it tiwíiwas. He made this out of all the growth along the rivers and all the creeks, like willows. He made a strong cord out of it and he strung it across both sides and tied it onto big rocks and he stretched it tight. So then about that time he heard the monster coming down the canyon. He got all ready and put an arrow in his bow, he stretched it back and shot the monster and killed him.

Title:
Horace Axtell tells of an account of the Coyote and Monster, and the origin of Hells Canyon and Seven Devils mountains, Part 1
Date Created:
2002-03
Description:
Horace Axtell tells of an account of the Coyote and Monster, and the origin of Hells Canyon and Seven Devils mountains, Part 1. (Interviewed by Josiah Pinkham March 2002)
Source
Preferred Citation:
"Horace Axtell tells of an account of the Coyote and Monster, and the origin of Hells Canyon and Seven Devils mountains, Part 1", Nimíipuu L3, Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning (CDIL)
Reference Link:
https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/nimiipuu-l3/items/nimiipuu-l3-187.html
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