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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. Listen to this story told in Nimíipuutimptneewit, the Nez Perce language. Part 1. (Interviewed by Josiah Pinkham March 2002)

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Horace Axtell continues telling of the Coyote and Monster, and the creation of the various peoples, including the Nimíipuu. Part 2. (Interviewed by Josiah Pinkham March 2002)

In listening to the wealth of Nimíipuu oral traditions, the world of the Animal Peoples is at once revealed, as well as re-asserted onto the landscape. The Animal Peoples are the Titwa-tityá-ya, powerful beings who traveled the world before the coming of the human peoples. This is the world of Coyote 'Iceyéeye and Fox, of Eagle and Grizzly Bear, as well as large host of other Animal Peoples. They traveled the landscape and encountered its many dangerous monsters, such as Swallowing Monster and the five Maidens, destroying each of them. For example, there were five Maidens at Celilo Falls who kept all the salmon behind their dam, preventing them from going up river. With his cunning and deceptive ways, Coyote was able to trick the sisters, breaking their dam and releasing the salmon so that the human peoples would be nourished.

These powerful Animal Peoples are at once animal, human, and spirit beings, with great transformative powers, wayakin. As Archie Phinney once commented, there is "no clear picture" of the physical shape and image of the Animal People "offered or needed." As a result of the actions of the Animal Peoples, the landscape was given its particular form, with the river beds and mountain peaks created, with the heart of a monster here and the fishnet of Coyote there.

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Allen Pinkham discusses the nature of the oral traditions and their importance. (Interviewed by Josiah Pinkhan in November 2001)

It was the Animal Peoples who also set forth the ways to successfully travel and live upon the land, from providing the instructions in how to fish the salmon and dig the camas, to how to use the sweat house for prayer, healing and spiritual cleansing. As brought forth in the adventures and sometimes misadventures of the Animal Peoples and embedded in their legacy, the oral traditions and the landscape they transformed, are the "teachings," the moral and ethical codes of behavior upon which the very identify of the Nimíipuu is founded. It is thus the Animal Peoples who prepared the world for the coming of the human peoples, for our coming.

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Cecil Carter demonstrating Coyote Stories with string. (Interviewed by Josiah Pinkhan and Harold Crook in November 2001)

In the telling of the oral traditions, while the stories of Coyote can instruct and instill in the young and reaffirm in the adult a Nimíipuu identity, and while those stories can bring a laugh or a tear as a result of Coyote's antics, the oral traditions do something more. In the act of re-telling these ancient accounts, and especially when told in the Nimíipuu language, the listeners are made participants of the unfolding events. The story's participants witness Coyote throw the parts of the Swallowing Monster to the four directions and create the human peoples, all the while standing along side the once beating heart of that Monster. The listeners, made participants in the telling, are with Coyote as he fashions his fishnet and renders Frog into stone along the Clearwater River.

And once the storytelling has ceased for an evening, those same stories go with the listeners as they travel the identical landscape traveled by Coyote. To view the Heart of the Monster is to re-participate in the story of creation. The accounts of Coyote and all the meanings and significances, all the teachings, are thus embedded in the river beds and mountain ridges. The mountains and rivers of the Nimíipuu become morally endowed, continuing to offer practical lessons and spiritual significances for those who listen. In the re-telling of the oral traditions, the landscape, its animals, plants, waters and rocks, are themselves thus revitalized and perpetuated. And the world of the Nimíipuu is continued.

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Cecil Carter demonstrating Coyote Stories with string, told in Nimíipuutimptneewit (Nez Perce language) (Interviewed by Josiah Pinkhan and Harold Crook in November 2001)

As with the entire of the Nimíipuu territory, the sections along the Clearwater and Snake Rivers, where once Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery traveled, is rich with the stories of the Animals Peoples. Among the most important oral traditions along these rivers is the story of Coyote and the Swallowing Monster, the Nimíipuu account of the creation of human peoples and the Heart of the Monster at Kamiah. In the version shard by Horace Axtell (above), we see how Hells Canyon along the Snake and the Seven Devils mountains were first created.

In another oral tradition, Coyote was fishing for salmon with his fishnet, when Frog came along and began arguing with him, telling him he would catch no salmon where he was located. The arguing continued until Coyote threw Frog across the river, turning him to stone, with his back to the river. In another account, when Bear came across Coyote fishing for salmon, he asked Coyote why he had not gone to buffalo country with the other people? Not wanting Bear to know that he had forgotten Coyote began arguing with Bear, soon the same fate as Frog befell Bear. People are to be reminded of what can happen when you argue. But still, Coyote was without luck, so in frustration, he threw his fishnet on to the hill side and went on. In another oral tradition, you can see Rattlesnake and Rabbit just to the right of the Fishnet, and farther down river, Rattlesnake's partner awaits Rabbit. The Fishnet is located along the south side of the Clearwater, between Lewiston and Spalding. The "V" formed by gullies running down the hillside is the fishnet.

In another account, the Creator was calling in all the Animal Peoples to give them their particular characteristics and abilities, and to name each of them. Soon the human peoples were to arrive and each of the Animal Peoples were to help them find their way. For example, one animal said he'd offer his horns to make arrow points and his skin to fashion hide for clothing. He was named, "Deer." Salmon agreed to offer himself to the humans if the salmon would be allowed to complete their cycle, uninterrupted, from the mountain streams where they were born, to the oceans, and back to the streams where their decaying bodies nourished the next generation of salmon. And so Deer, Eagle and Salmon, and the other Animals were given their names and special abilities. But as some of the "large animals" were late to the meeting, the Creator turned them to stone. There can be a price to pay for being late! Located west from Coyote's Fishnet.

At a rock outcropping along the Clearwater River, Ant and Yellowjacket began arguing on which of them had the right to eat dried salmon at this particular place. Each was jealous of the other and each claimed ownership to this place. Coyote came along and told them to stop their arguing, and that they should share this place. But Coyote's words fell on deaf ears, as Ant and Yellowjacketet continued to fight. So Coyote used his powers to turn them both into stone, with their backs arched, each in the grip of the other. And just who does own "the land"? Ant and Yellowjacket are located east from Coyote's Fishnet, near Spalding, along the Clearwater River.

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