A conversation between a grandfather and his grandson reveals the tradition of storytelling.
By Rodney Frey
A deep sense of place is expressed throughout the oral literature of the American Indian. In the telling of the stories, every mountain and river, valley and ridge, and every animal and fish associated with these natural features is given its particular significance and meaning. In this defining process, the critical values and relationship’s between human, animal and land are clearly enunciated. The oral literature thus speaks of what is most cherished and sacred, it "speaks to the heart of the people."
It is truly a "mythic landscape" traveled by Coyote and Grizzly Bear, Salmon and Raccoon, and by Humans. For Indian peoples, the "story" told and the "geography" walked are at once singular expressions of the same reality. It is then in the quintessential act of telling the stories, shared in the company of family and landscape, that this reality is created and maintained. The oral literature is not so much a response to and a description of the natural geography, as it is a bringing forth and perpetuation of that landscape, animating place with meaning and life. There is an understanding, often voiced, that we are the stories we tell, and, in the telling, the world is made.
To introduce this oral literature, a story must be told. To better appreciate many of the essential qualities of the oral literature of the Coeur d'Alene, or the Nez Perce, or any of the Indian peoples of the Inland Northwest, let us first listen to what an elder might share with us.1 I have chosen to tell a story rather then describe the literature in a more formal and abstract manner. In doing so, I believe we can gain greater access to an understanding of this literature consistent with the approach offered by the elders. The story that follows involves a conversation between a grandfather and grandson. It is, after all, a literature passed down from storyteller to storyteller. And it is a world that becomes known through the voice of an elder storyteller. While the scenario I have constructed is one that may have occurred countless times over the generations, the specific stories within it are based upon traditional narratives, each identified as to its tribal origin. Through this dialogue, we will thus be able to appreciate many of the literary motifs and cultural values embedded within the stories, sense some of the storytelling techniques used, and better understand the purposes of the literature as understood from the Indian perspective.
The dialogue itself is formatted in a "poetic" style to more fully convey the "oral nuance" and storytelling dynamic of this oral literature, and thus distinguishes it form a "written" literature meant to be told aloud, heard in the company of others. Specific words that might be stressed when spoken are indicated in italics. Pauses between or after words are noted by a series of ......dot ellipses. The rhythm of telling is more clearly conveyed with each verse represented on the written page as a separate line. In the experience of telling and hearing the story, the special sense of place is made even more immediate and personal.
The two of them are there,....
By that ancient cottonwood.....
And the younger one asks,...
"Grandfather,..
why do you continue to tell the
stories?....
"It's.. Old..Man..Coyote,...
the Grandfather says.
He's all alone,
traveling along... all hungry and tired....
There's water everywhere,..
no peoples,..
nothing,..
water everywhere....
When he wants to rest,..
it’s cold and wet....
He's having a..difficult time of it....
Four ducks fly over..
Old Man Coyote says,..
Younger brothers,..
dive beneath the waters,..
bring up some earth.'....
The first duck dives,....
is unsuccessful.
Then the second and third ducks dive,....
no earth is brought up from the waters.
Finally,..
Old Man Coyote says to the fourth
duck,..
Hell-Diver,....
bring up some earth.’..
The duck dives deep,..
is down a long time....
Hell-Diver surfaces,..
has a small..piece..of mud...
With this earth..Old Man Coyote
travels..from the east to the west,..
The mountains,..
the Rocky Mountains,
the Big Horn Mountains,..
they are made...
The rivers,..
the Yellowstone,
the Missouri,..
the Bighorn River,...
are made...
Now Old Man Coyote has a good place to
take a rest....
What you see all around you are here,..
Old Man Coyote made this place,..
the animal and plant peoples,..
the human peoples too,..
He made us,
gave us our...traditions,
our...ceremonies"2....
I..think..I..understand..grandfather..
The stories..came to us from the begin-
ning..with the Myth Peoples,..
Coyote..Salmon..Fox...Mole..
Swallowing Monster....others....
They are the ones who made this land,
the rivers,
the mountains,..
the..peoples,..
They are the ones who..made the stories....
We didn't create the stories,..
they were..already..here,
when we came to this place,....
true stories.....
But why do you continue to tell the
stories?....
The two of them have their camp there,
by Hood River,..
a man and his wife,"..
the grandfather says.
This day he's out gathering bark,..
pulls some down from that tree..
It hits him..here,..
it cuts him..deep on his forehead.
A boy is born to the wife,
and he soon learns to hunt..the rabbits
and squirrels.
He hunts that which they can use...
and never any more....
His father is there,
and he says,..
When I was your age,
I'd bring back much more...
I was a great hunter.'...
The boy would hunt,
and bring back only that which the
family could use,
never any more....
And the father is there,..
When I was your age,
I'd bring back much more..
I was a great hunter.
You see..this..scar,..
the Elk..came to me
and became my guardian spirit....
That is my medicine..
And I am a great hunter.'....
Some time passes...
The young man would hunt the deer and
the elk,
and bring back only that which the
family could use,
never any more....
And the father is there,..
When I was your age,
I'd bring back much more...
I was a great hunter...
You’re no good.’....
The young man would hunt the deer and
the elk,
and bring back only that which the
family could use,
never any more...
This day young man is out hunting..
The Elk..comes to him,..
and says,..
You are to hunt only that which
you can use
and never any more.
You are to boast,..
brag about the hunt.
I'll be with you,
as your medicine,
your guardian spirit.....'
And the father is there,..
When I was your age,
I'd bring back much more.
I was a great hunter.
You're no good.'...
Th young man would hunt the deer and
the elk,
and bring back only that which the
family could use,
never any more...
His medicine would be with him....
And the father is there,..
When I was your age,
I'd bring back much more.
I was a great hunter.
You're no good.'....
This day the young man goes hunting
with his medicine.
He takes..a herd of elk,...
and another,
another over there,
and there,
and a fifth herd of elk....
And the young man takes after his own
medicine....
He chases it into that lake...
The Elk is at the bottom,..
and they say,
bring him down,
bring him down,
bring him down,
bring..him..down.'...
And he is down at the bottom of the
lake...
The Elk is there,..
Do you see all those on the other side?'..
Tears are in the eyes of all those peoples he
had taken....
The Elk says,..
You were to take only that which you
could use,
and never any more....
Your father said my father had come to
him...
He had not....
I shall leave you in five days.’...
And they say,
Take him back.
Take him back.
Take him back.
Take him back.
Take..him..back.’...
And the young man is out of that lake....
In his camp he has his wives make..five
beds of elk skins..
For five days he tells his family,..
how his father had lied to him,..
how the Elk had come to him,.
and said,..
Take only that which you can
use,
and never more,..
and never boast about the hunt.’...
Five..days..pass...
The Elk leaves the young man,...
as does..his life."3....
I..think..I..understand..grandfather..
The stories teach us,.
teach us about the world,
about the animal and bird peoples,..
the stories teach us about ourselves.
The stories teach us where we came from,..
who we are,..
what we can become....
The stories are our..textbooks....
I..think..understand..grandfather...
This particular story teaches us that we are
a part of the world,..
share in kinship with..all the peoples,
the Elk and animal peoples,
the human peoples....
We are one family,..
all peoples....
But why do you continue to tell the
stories..grandfather?...
The two coyotes are there,..
on the ridge..above the camp,"..
the grandfather says.
One coyote says to the other,..
‘They'll say that there are two coyotes up
here.'..
The other one says,
‘My name is not coyote.’..
‘You are coyote,
just like me.'..
My name is not..coyote.’...
Your name is coyote.’...
They argue like that for some time...
Then the second coyote says,.
We’ll run down..through the camp,..
and they’ll show you that my name
is not coyote.’..
So the first coyote runs down through the
camp...
The people say,..
There goes..coyote.'..
And the second coyote runs through
camp,
and they say,..
‘There goes...another one.’
See....my name is not..coyote.
My name is....’another one.’"4....
I..think..I..understand..grandfather..
The stories teach us to smile,
to laugh,
to cry....
In everything we do,
there is a laugh and cry...
The stories allow us to feel..who we are,..
feel the world..all around us...
In everything we do,..
we need to feel with the heart.....
But why do you continue to tell the
stories grandfather?...
"There are two young girls..up there on
the hill,"
the grandfather says...
"They are looking up at the stars..that
had just come out...
One girl says,
I wish I was..married to that..little star
there.'...
Soon the two girls go off to the lodges....
It's the next morning..
The one who had spoke..hears voices out-
side her lodge.
They are voices unknown to her,
strangers....
She goes out..
These people are all..strangers...
But there is one that she feels she's re-
lated to..
She goes up to an old man...
He says,..
‘I’m your ..husband....
You spoke to me last night,..
wished to marry that..little star....
Now we're married.'...
She wished she had spoken to a..large
star...
Then she would have..a young
husband."5...
I..think..I..understand
..grandfather..
Words have power...
When we speak the words and tell the
stories aloud,..
with sincerity,..
with heart,...
they can change the world...
What comes through the mouth..has the
power to affect the world...
I..think..I..understand..grandfather..
The stories are from..the beginning,
brought here by Coyote and the
other Myth People,..
absolutely true stories…
The stories are teach us..how to live in this
certain place,
they define us,
we learn that we are all family....
The stories allow us to shed a tear..with
joy.. and sorrow,
allow us to..feel the world....
And the stories..make the world,...
life is brought forth,..
the beauty is maintained,..
when the stories..are told....
And the grandfather said,..
"If all those great stories were told,....
great stories....will come."....
Rodney Frey is an anthropologist and the director of the Lewis-Clark State College Panhandle Services in Coeur d'Alene, the author of several books, and the editor of Stories that Make the World: Oral Literature of the Indian People of the Indland Northwest (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1995).
Notes
- This discussion also has application to the Bannock-Shoshone, Shoshone-Paiute, and the Kootenai peoples of Idaho, as well as the Bitterroot Salish and the Crow peoples of Montana.
- From the Crow of Montana. As with all Coyote stories told among the Crow, this narrative should only be told aloud during the winter months, from the first frost until the first thunder in the spring.
- From the Wasco of Oregon.
- From the Coeur d'Alene and Nez Perce
- From the Kootenai
Bibliography: Primary
- Aoki, Haruo and Deward Walker. 1989. Nez Perce Oral Narrative. Berkeley: University of
California Publications in Linguistics, 104.
- Boas, Franz and A. Chamberlain. 1918. Kutenai Tales. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 49: 1-387
- Fray, Rodney, ed. 1995. Stories That Make the World: Oral Literature of the Indian Peoples
of the Inland Northwest as told by Lawrence Aripa, Tom Yellowtail and other elders. Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Lowie, Robert with introduction by Peter Nabokov, 1993 (originally 1918). Myths and Traditions of the Crow Indians. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Mourning Dove, ed. by Heister Dean Guie. 1990. Coyote Stories. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press.
- Phinney, Archie. 1934. Nez Perce Texts. New York: Columbia University Contributions to
Anthropology 23.
- Ramsey, Jarold. 1977. Coyote was going there: Indian Literature of the Oregon Country.
Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- Reichard, Gladys. 1947. An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths. Philadelphia: Memoirs of the American Folklore Society 41.
- Sapir, Edward. 1909. Wishram Texts. Leyden: Publications of the American Ethnological Soceity
2.
- Walker, Deward. 1970. Myths of the Idaho Indians. Moscow: University of Idaho Press.
Bibliography: Secondary
- Bright, William. 1993. A Coyote Reader. Berkeley: University of California Press.
- Hymes, Dell. 1981. In vain I tried to tell you: Essays in Native American Ethnopoetics.
Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
- Kroeber, Karl, ed. 1981. Traditional Literature of the American Indian. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
- Sherzer, Joel and Anthony Woodbury, ed. 1987. Native American Discourse: Poetics and
Rhetoric. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Swann, Brian, ed. 1983. Smoothing the Ground: Essays on Native American Oral Literature. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.
- _____. 1987. Recovering the Word: Essays on Native American Literature. Berkely and
London: University of California Press.
- _____. 1992. On the Translation of Native American Literatures. Washington and London:
Smithsonian Institution Press.
- Tedlock, Dennis. 1983. The Spoken Work and the Work of Interpretation. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press.
