Coyote's Salmon

Long ago on the Sanpoil River that flows southward into the Columbia River, Old Man and old Woman lived with their tribe, the Sanpoils. They were so stooped that it appeared they were walking on their knees and their elbows. Their very pretty granddaughter lived with them.

One day Coyote came along and saw the old couple with the beautiful girl. Immediately, he decided that he wanted the girl for his wife. But he knew better than to ask for her then. He thought he would wait until evening. So during the day he sat around, becoming better acquainted with the family.

The old couple watched him, noting that his long hair was braided neatly and his forelocks were carefully combed back. They noticed too that he was tall and strong. Old Man and Old Woman talked between themselves about Coyote, wondering if he could be a Chief.

In the late afternoon, Coyote asked Old Man, "What is that thing down in the stream?"


"Why, that is my fish trap," Old Man replied.

"A fish trap? What is that? What do you do with it?" asked Coyote, pretending he did not know.

"Oh, occasionally I catch a few bullheads and sunfish," Old Man said.

"Is that what you eat? I never heard of them. Are they big enough for a meal?" asked Coyote.

"They are not much, but what else can we eat?" replied Old Man.

"I think I will go up the hill and look around," said Coyote. It was then about an hour before sunset.

On top of the hill, Coyote saw some grouse roosting in a tree. He threw some stones at them, killing five. He carried the grouse back to Old Man and said, "Let's eat these for supper."

After removing the feathers, Old Man roasted the game over the fire and when they were done, everyone sat down to eat the wonderful meal. To Old Man and his family, it seemed like a feast.

"Is this the kind of food you eat every day?" the Old Man asked Coyote.

"Sometimes I eat berries, roots, and I catch some real big fish, as long as your arm," Coyote said.

Later, Coyote announced that he would like to stay there if they wanted him, otherwise he would move on.

"What do you mean?" asked Old Man.

"Well, it is like this. I would like to marry your granddaughter," said Coyote.

Old Man and Old Woman looked at each other but said nothing. Coyote went for a little walk to allow the old couple to talk privately.

While Coyote was gone Old Man said to his wife, "What do you think of this fellow? You saw what he did, bringing good food for our supper. If we let him marry our granddaughter, maybe they will stay here and we will have such good food always. Surely our girl will marry someone soon, perhaps some man not as good as this young fellow."

"Well, husband, I'll leave it entirely up to you."

Soon Coyote returned. He decided to let Old Man open the conversation. Old Man held his pipe in one hand and said, "How I wish I had a smoke. My tobacco ran out some time ago."

"Have some of mine," said Coyote, reaching into his jacket pocket. He pulled out a large bunch of tobacco and gave it to Old Man, who filled his pipe, feeling very much surprised that Coyote would have real tobacco.

After a while Old Man spoke, "My wife and I have talked over your proposal and she left the decision up to me. I have decided to let you marry our granddaughter and live here. If you go away, we want you to take her with you. How are we to know that you will do this?"

"You need not worry," said Coyote. "I am tired of travelling. I want to settle down here for the rest of my life, if you wish."

Old Man was pleased with Coyote and believed what he said. So Coyote took the pretty granddaughter for his wife.

Early that evening Coyote stayed with his wife and later said, "I am going out for a few minutes and when I return we will go to bed."

"All right," answered his wife.

Coyote went downstream to where Old Man had his fish trap. He changed it into a basket-type trap, piling rows of rocks to guide fish into the basket. When finished he called out, "Salmon, I want two of you in the basket trap tomorrow morning, one male and one female." Then he returned to his bride.

Next morning Coyote asked Old Man to go to his fish trap early. "I think I heard a noise in the night that sounded like fish caught in a trap," he said.

Old Man went downstream to see his fish trap. Sure enough, he saw two big fish in the trap. Old Man was so excited, he stumbled up the trail toward Coyote.
"You were right, there are two great fish in the trap bigger than I have ever seen," reported Old Man.

"You must be dreaming," said Coyote.

"Come down with me and see for yourself," Old Man said.

When the two reached the trap, Coyote exclaimed, "You are so right. These are salmon, chief among all fish. Let us take them over to that flat place, and I will show you what to do with them."

When they reached the open field, Coyote sent Old Man up the hill to gather sunflower stems and leaves.

"Those are salmon plants," Coyote explained. "Salmon must always be laid on sunflower stems and leaves."

Old Man spread the sunflower plants upon the ground. Coyote placed the salmon on them, and proceeded to show Old Man how to prepare the salmon.

"First, put a stick in the salmon's mouth and bend it back to break off the head. Second, place long sharp poles inside the salmon lengthwise to hold for roasting over your campfire," said Coyote.

"Now remember this," he continued. "The first week go down to the trap and take out the salmon every day. But when fixing it, never use a knife to cut it in any way. Always roast the fish over the fire on sticks, the way I have shown you. Never boil salmon the first week. After the salmon is roasted, open it carefully and take out the backbone without breaking it. Also, save the back part of the head for the sacred bundle-never eat that.

"If you do not do these things as I have told you, either a big storm will come up and you will be drowned, or you will be bitten by a rattlesnake and you will die.

"After you have taken out the salmon's backbone, wrap it and the back of the head carefully in tules, the marsh grasses, to make a sacred bundle, then place it somewhere in a tree, where it will not be bothered. If you do as I tell you, you will always have plenty of salmon in your trap.

"I am telling you these sacred things about the salmon because I am going to die sometime. I want you and your tribe to know of the best way to care for and use your salmon. After this, your men will always place their fish traps up and down the river to catch salmon. The man having the first trap will be Chief of the Salmon, and the others should always do anything he tells them to do.

"After the first week of the salmon season, you can boil your salmon or cook it any way you wish. But remember to always take care of the bones, wrapping them in a sacred bundle--never leaving them where they can be stepped upon or stepped over."

For the next few days each time Old Man went down to his fish trap in the morning, he found twice as many salmon as on the day before. Coyote showed him how to dry fish to prepare them for winter use. Before long they had a large scaffold covered with drying fish.

People of the Sanpoil tribe saw the fish and noticed how well Old Man and Old Woman were doing. They went to their hogans and told others about the big red fish called salmon, and about the tall young stranger who taught Old Man about caring for the salmon.

Soon thereafter, all the people came to see for themselves. Old Man and Old Woman invited them to feast on their roasted salmon. The old couple explained how their new grandson-in-law had shown them how to trap the salmon and dry them for winter food.

To this day, the Sanpoils say their tribe harvests the salmon in exactly the way that Coyote taught their ancestors long, long ago.

Brawn of Brancepeth

Some people say the village of Brancepeth was named after the great wild boar that lived in the nearby woods many years ago, `Brawn's path,' though some say it simply means `the path to Brandon,' which is a neighbouring village. No matter which is true, there was indeed a great brawn in the area once, and this is the true story of how it met its end.

The men of Brancepeth had tried all the conventional methods of ridding themselves of the boar, but their arrows barely scratched its skin and the only man who had been brave enough to attack it with a sword had been so badly mauled that no one else was prepared to attempt a similar effort. It was a wily creature, travelling at great speed through the forests and long grass on its way to and from different feeding grounds. Often it would stop and raise its snout to test the air, and if it caught the scent of hunters it would turn quietly about and hurry off in the opposite direction. Like all wild animals, the boar preferred to run away rather than risk confrontation, but if it was caught unawares, he was strong and ferocious enough to elude capture by even the most experienced of woodsmen.

At that time, there lived a man named Roger de Ferry, and he lived at Ferryhill. He decided to make a name for himself by ridding the countryside of the fearsome wild boar. He tried all the methods that others before him had tried, and of course he failed. He thought that if perhaps he were on horseback he could outrun the boar and lance it from above. So he saddled his horse and galloped off into the woods to seek the brawn. After many hours he finally came across it feeding in a copse near the village of Tudhoe, and smiling a broad smile he dug his heels into the horse and lowered his lance. The boar, still some fifty paces distant, looked up at the oncoming charger and, baring its great yellow teeth, let out a spine-chilling squeal. Roger's horse, unfortunately, was not so brave as he, and the sight of the startled boar made it rear up, sending the unfortunate horseman hurtling into the bushes where he landed heavily in a crumpled heap. Both brawn and horse took to their heels. For some days after this hunt, Roger stayed around his house and rubbed his sore bones.

When at last he was ready to try again, he climbed to the top of a hill and looked towards Brandon. Not having any sort of idea, he sat there most of the day just thinking, and he returned the next, and the one after that. It was on the third day of watching the comings and goings of the brawn that he noticed something peculiar, something which he thought might help him in his quest. After the boar stopped in the woods, either to eat or rummage around, it would speed off to the next feeding ground using the same path each time. This habit that the wild boar had formed was to be its downfall, and then and there Roger began make his plan to kill the great brawn.

Roger had noticed that it was always late afternoon by the time the boar reached the woods near Ferryhill, and from there it carried on its way down a path to Mainsforth where there were lots of acorns to be had. This was the place Roger planned to make his move. Early one morning, he set out along this path and dug a pit deep and wide for the boar to fall into. Hard and long he laboured, through the midday sun an early afternoon, until at last he was satisfied with the dimensions of the huge pit in the ground. Still he could not rest, for he had to cover the pit with branches and dry grass and he had to hide all the soil he had removed from the hole. All this accomplished, he sat atop a nearby rock and awaited the arrival of the brawn.

After a while, he saw the boar trotting speedily along the track, unaware and unconcerned, tail erect and eyes looking straight forward. To Roger's delight, it plunged headlong straight into the hole and could not climb the walls to escape. Roger climbed down from the rock and plunged his lanced again and again into the brawn, until it lay quite dead. He had done what all the others had failed to do and the locals were so grateful to be rid of the viscous wild boar that they erected a cross beside the place where he dug the pit. The stone cross has long since vanished, but there is still a tablet built into a wall at Cleve's Cross farm near Ferryhill. It is inscribed:

THE
LARGE
STONE JUST
ABOVE PART OF
CLEVE'S CROSS
MARKS THE
SITE WHERE
BY TRADITION
THE BRAWN OF
BRANSPETH
WAS KILLED BY
ROGER DE FERRY
ABOUT THE
YEAR 1200

The bear tricked by fox

One upon a time it was a fox which saw a cart with fish on the road. It was winter and she laid in the middle of the road pretending she was died. The man took the fox and put her in the cart. The fox take advantage of this situation and was throwing as many fish as she could out of the cart then she jumped down and collected all the fish and went to her home.

The bear smelling the fish came to the fox and asked her for a fish. But the fox told to the bear to go to the lake and to sink his tail in it and to wait in the snow till the sunrise. The bear did this but when the sunrise came he tried to pull his tail but the tail remained caught in the ice. And this is why the bear has a short tail.

Hernando, el Halconero

Vivía Hernando, el Halconero, junto a la torre de Gartéiz. Era uno de los más diestros cazadores con arte de altanería y estaba reputado así entre todos los compañeros como el más entendido en su oficio.

Hernando consiguió enseñar a un halcón, que era su preferido, al que cuidaba con más amor y el que en compensación le traía las mejores piezas, las aves más montesinas, las que más difícilmente podían derribar otros halcones. Negro, con ojos brillantes, el halcón iba erguido en el guante de Hernando y al solo movimiento del brazo de éste se lanzaba como una flecha de basalto contra las aves que vanamente querían huir de él. Y así, entre Hernando y su halcón, llegó a establecerse una relación íntima, un afecto casi humano.

Una tarde, la cacería había sido larga, y Hernando estaba cansado y sediento. Bajaba de una alto monte a cuya cumbre había llegado después de una penosa ascensión. El halconero buscaba con gran ansiedad una fuente en que refrescar su sedienta boca. Al fin, junto a una pequeña arboleda, vio con ran alegría una fuente que brillaba al sol del atadecer.

¡Agua!-exclamó.

Y bajando del caballo se echó de rodillas para beber. El halcón volaba por encima de él. De pronto, cuando el halconero iba a aproximar a sus labios las manos en que había recogido un poco de agua, la soltó con un grito de dolor. Había sentido un tremendo picotazo en el cuello. Se revolvió irritado, viendo con extrañeza que había sido atacado por su propio halcón. Quiso atraerlo para sujetarlo con el guante, pero fue inútil: el halcón siguió volando. Y cada vez que el halconero quiso beber, el halcón se lo impedía lanzándose feroz contra su dueño.

Hasta que éste, lleno de ira y desasosiego, puso una saeta en su ballesta y lanzándola contra el ave, la derribó, muerta en tierra. Mas cuando el cazador iba a recoger el cuerpo traspasado del que hasta entonces había sido su fiel compañero, vio con espanto que en el nacimiento de la fuente una enorme culebra había metido su cabeza y que, cerca unas aves que habían bebido estaban muertas.

El halconero comprendió, con gran dolor y confusión de su alma, que el depredador le había salvado la vida. Y entonces cogió el cuerpo, que aún latía, y lo besó. Después le dio sepultura, ahuyentó a la culebra y alzó allí una fuente. Ésta se halla cerca de la ermita de Santa Águeda, y cuenta la tradición que quien beba en esas aguas el 5 de febrero, fecha en que se celebra la romería, no tendrá mal alguno durante el resto del año.

The Golden Cockerel

This tale is set in the land of Tsar Dadon who is looking for a new method to protect his rich kingdom. He offers the reward of the person's choice in return for finding a perfect security system. He is disappointed when he tries several different techniques, but at last an astrologer seems to have the answer. The astrologer gives him a Golden Cockerel which will crow any time that the Kingdom is endangered. The astrologer then chooses not to claim his reward immediately, but to wait until he can decide what he would like.

The magic Cockerel proves to be the perfect protection for Tsar Dadon's kingdom. The Cockerel crows three times. The first time he crows when an enemy army is advancing towards Tsar Dadon's land. The Tsar then sends his elder son and his mighty army to fight the enemy. The tsardom is saved, but the Tsar's son and army never return.

The Cockerel crows the second time as another army is advancing to capture Dadon's land. This time he sends his younger son and an army into battle. But once again, though the kingdom is spared, neither the son nor the army ever return.

The Cockerel then crows the third time, sounding the alarm that yet a third army is planning to invade. This time Dadon himself leads an army to the farthest borders of the kingdom. Arriving there he is horrified at what he discovers. All along the border of his land are strewn out the dead bodies of his soldiers that he had sent into battle. He also finds the slaughtered bodies of his two sons. Tsar Dadon is then overcome with sickness and grief. He walks into a tent to sit down, and there his sadness is lifted when he sees a most beautiful sight! Before him stands the seductive Queen of Shemakha. Dadon immediately falls in love with her, and plans to marry her once they return to his castle. But on the way home they encounter the Astrologer who has decided that he would like to claim the enchanting Queen for himself, as his reward. Tsar Dadon is engulfed with anger and envy, he not only denies the Astrologer his reward, but kills him.

The Golden Cockerel then flies down from his perch and pecks Dadon to death for not keeping his end of the bargain.

El puente de Ledea

El rey Abderramán tenía que pasar por Navarra de regreso de Francia. El rey don Sancho, al saberlo, envió mensajeros a los valles del Roncal, Salazar, y Aezkoa con la orden de que se reunieran todos los hombres disponibles y salieran al encuentro del ejercito musulman y les presentaran batalla.

Los roncaleses y salacenos se dispusieron a cumplir las órdenes del rey Sancho. Sonaron las campanas de los pueblos a rebato, dejaron los hombres sus ocupaciones y, cogiendo las armas de las que disponía, palos y hoces, se fueron corriendo a atacar al ejército de Abderramán. Sin embargo los aezkoanos dijeron que ellos no eran hombres de guerra y que sus obligaciones eran cultivar y guardar las tierraas. Pero que si Abderramán pasaba por allí, lo recibirían con fuergo.

Así que sólo los habitantes del Roncal y de Salazar se dirigieron al encuentro de las huestes de Abderramán. Iban con furia decididos a vencer a los enemigos de la fe. Tenindo lugar la batalla en el puente de Ledea. Aunque los navarros eran muchos menos, consiguieron derrotar al ejercito musulman. Los salacenos además mataron a Abderramán y le cortaron la cabeza. Orgullosos con su sangriento tesoro pensaban en presentárselo al rey Sancho, que sin dudarlo recompensaría el valor de los habitantes de Salazar.

Los de Roncal tenían envidia de la suerte de sus vecinos. Así que durante el regreso del campo de batalla se arreglaron para coger una noche la cabeza del rey Abderramán y cortarle la lengua. Así cuando los salacenos se presentaron ante el rey Sancho y le enseñaron la cabeza los roncaleses dijeron que habían sido ellos los que habían cortado la cabeza, y que tenían la lengua del mismo como prueba. Poco faltó para que se iniciase una trifulca delante del rey. Pero este los apaciguó y dio a cada uno de los pueblos triunfadores un escudo de armas. Los de Salazar recibieron un escudo con un loco con un cordero en la boca y los del Roncal un zorro indicando su astucia.

Finalmente don Sancho también dio a los aezkoanos un escudo, un jabalí echado a la sombra de una encina para mostrar la pereza de los habitantes del valle de Aezkoa.

Rainbow Serpent Dreaming

A long time ago, in the Dreamtime, before there were men or animals, plants or any other thing, there was the Rainbow Serpent which was the mother of us all.

She moved around in the darkness before there was the sun and the moon in the sky, and created mountain ranges, and deep channels where her great body wound its way.

Where she thrashed her tail great rifts appeared, and there were great hollows where her body had lain sleeping.
After a time, the Rainbow Serpent decided that it was time to create life for the world. So at the place called Uluru (Ayers Rock), she gave birth.

She gave birth to the Frog tribe and the Kingfisher tribe. But the Kingfisher people couldn’t see to fly and the Frog people didn’t have any water to live in.

The Rainbow serpent told the Kingfisher people what they must do. The Kingfisher flew up into the sky and shot down at the Rainbow Serpent’s head, splitting it asunder with his long, sharp beak.

Out of her stomach leaped all the animal tribes of the world, and all the spirit beings.

The sun leaped up into the sky to light the world for the tribes, and the moon jumped up to take his place in the night sky.

The Frog tribe started singing with delight as the blood of the Serpent flowed out of her body and into the channels cut by her travels, and into the deep chasms to become the sea.

The vibrant rainbow-coloured scales of the Serpent flew up into the bright sky to become a flock of rainbow lorikeet tribe, and the image of her colours was left on the sky as the rainbow, the reminder to all the tribes of their common mother.