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Lim Mitchell, from the Nez Perce (Nimiipuu) nation, shares traditional coyote stories that teach cultural lessons about following instructions, knowing oneself, and respecting the natural world. He recounts how the Lochsa River formed, stories of the buffalo bull and coyote, and a creation narrative explaining how the Nez Perce people originated in the Wallowa Valley through Coyote's contest with a monster.

Transcript

0:02 you just got back from lunch right yeah do you have a good lunch good food do anybody have any cookies left over you want to give to me you do I'm going to find you after the program get some cookies all right I'd like say welcome to the 10 of many voices to the core Discovery 2 my name is Ranger Braden and I've been traveling with this this tent and the rest of our exhibit for a little over a year and a
0:26 half of living on the road the exhibit's been traveling for three years now so we're having a lot of fun and we're having a great time here in in your guys's area in here in the Ten of many voices we invite in different speakers different presenters different folks to come in and share their story and share their history their knowledge their opinions of Lewis and Clark not only what happened 200 years ago but what's
0:50 going on still today in those same areas 200 years later so with all that said and out of the way I'd like to introduce you to our next presenter Mr LM Mitch who has an excellent last name by the way Mr Lim Mitchell he is from the non-treaty nimu uhhuh all right I didn't butcher it too bad for him so if you could please help me welcome Mr
1:14 [Applause] Mitchell hwal C in my language I says good afternoon boys and girls um going to tell a little bit of coyote stories in our in our in our history in our culture coyote is a he can either be a good good guy or a bad guy he can help you or not help you but
1:37 a couple of the stories I'm going to tell um have you got any people all you know where the locksa river is raise your hand if you know where the locks saww is at oh not that many huh I'm going to tell a story about how the locksa was formed it's actually a um Salish story from our brothers on the other side of the
2:02 pass they don't have no salmon over there and they uh back before people came on this Earth the animals used to rule all the land and coyote was kind of the leader of all the all the animal people at that time and um they were wondering on the other side why do we always have to cross over the mountains to trade for our fish we have
2:26 to go over on the other side of the mountains to get salmon get salmon from them on that side why don't we have salmon on our side over here on the other side of the L pass where the mountains are and they all wondered all the animals were having a discussion that day and coyote came along and he says H yeah I think I can fix that I could go over there on the other
2:50 side of the mountains I'll cross over the pass I'll go down to the stream and I'll catch me a salmon and I'll bring it back and I'll put it in the water over here and we'll have salmon on this side of the mountains cuz kyot he was pretty arrogant cuz he figured he could do anything in everything and so uh he kept saying while I can do it I'll go on the other side of the mountains
3:15 and I'll catch a fish and I'll bring it over here but a big voice came over and said no coyote you can't do it that way and coyote says yeah I can I can do way any way I want cuz I am coyot I got powers to do whatever I want to do and big voices no if you follow in my
3:38 instructions and you'll be able to bring the salmon and put them in this stream and then we'll have fish on this side of the mountains coyot listened to him and the big voice came back and says these are the things you have to do in order to make this a successful trip when you go on the other side of the mountains and you catch a salmon you take the first one you catch
4:03 you take him out of the water you wrap him in wet grass and you put him in your par Fletch and you put him on your back and you come over the mountains and all the way as fast as you can run or fast as you can don't stop don't stop at all don't stop nowhere all the way over and put him in the water unwrap him out of your parfet and unwrap him out of the grass and put him in that
4:27 water then we can have salmon on this side of the mountains so coyote says oh I can do that that's nothing to that so he goes off comes on this side of the pass comes clear down into the water clear water in here fishes around catches him a salmon about this size ah ain't good
4:52 enough PS him back in fishes around some more pulls out another one little bigger ah ain't good enough either fishes around some more boom catches a big salmon all right this is one I'm going to take so he throws it gets it out of the water throws it in the parfet throws it on his back and he takes off back for the other
5:15 side he gets part way up and he's barely making it cuz this salmon was big and he's heavy he's packing him on he's parfet and he's going up the mountain he's getting tired and he says I know I ain't supposed to rest but I have to I'm going to take me one minute break and he takes his parlet off and sets it down and he sits down he's almost to the top of the mountains almost over but he sits
5:38 down and rests as soon as the salmon feels that ground he just starts flopping around flopping around he jumps up out of that knocks that parf Fletch loose and he jumps up out of that par Fletch flopping around on the ground and coyot jumps up and tries to grab him every time he tries to grab the salmon the salmon squirms out and jumps and lands over here and each time everywhere
6:03 the coyote land or the salmon lands the coyote tries to grab him again water pops up the spring pops up salmon jumps over here and another spring pops up all the way down and Coyote's trying to catch him pretty soon all these Springs start running together salmon swims on down the stream gets away coyote standing
6:27 there now what am I going to do so he goes back all on the side tells the animal people over there I had him I had a salmon but he got away he said well did you did you do everything you were told to do well yeah yeah I think I
6:50 did but and it's my mistake here I should have asked you guys before we started to uh pay attention because that's kind of what this story is about remember when I started what coyote was supposed to do catch the first fish wrap him in
7:13 Grass put him in a parfet and go all the way without stopping right coyote didn't do what though does anybody remember that's one okay that's another one anybody else
7:37 there's one more of something that he didn't do yeah they got all three of them see that's from not following instructions he didn't get to complete his uh his um Endeavor he started and that's why we all have to follow instructions right am I right or wrong okay well that's um so um thanks
8:01 to Coyote not following instructions we now have the locksa river and no thanks to Coyote for not following instructions they still have no salmon on the other side of the mountains so we need to all follow instructions uh whenever we get them um another story I want to tell about coyote is
8:24 uh like I said most of all the coyote stories that our people tell all have some type of a meaning some type of a uh plan to so that people can learn from it and uh the next one I'm going to tell is called the uh buffalo buffalo bull in the coyote back over in the Montana Plains
8:46 and the Buffalo were plentiful and big old bull he had this big vast area where he stayed had all these herd of cows and all these children out there and he had this green all this grass up there for him to eat nice cool stream run right through his his land he had his big buffalo wallow right there for
9:10 him and he was Prime he was a goodlooking healthy Buffalo bull had everything he needed coyote he comes trotting along and he's looking pretty scraggly kind of hungry tells a buffalo bull you know W I wish I could be just like you I wish I was a buffalo bull just like you are I
9:33 wish I had everything that you have Buffalo bull say well you can't be like me and you can't have everything I have cuz you're a coyote and I'm a buffalo Bull and coyot says I know that but you got powers that can help me and buffalo bull says no I do but I ain't going to help you not right now coyote says well just help me this
9:57 one time and he says no and he goes walking off and coyot follows him follows him everywhere he goes finally Buffalo bull gets tired of him a lus coyote in my language lamus means you're so bothersome go over there go go catch a mouse catch some mice to eat and coyot says that's all I ever get to eat is mice
10:22 so Buffalo bull gets tired of him bugging him he tells him all right go sit down over here close your eyes and don't move no matter what no matter what you hear don't move don't open your eyes coyote says all right I'll go do it so he goes over there and he sits down he closes his eyes he's sitting there he can hear that all kinds of noise going on he can hear thumping he can hear that
10:45 bull tearing the ground up and snorting around pretty soon he hears the buffalo's hooks coming boom and curiosity is getting to him he's wondering what's going on and just right at the last second he opens his eyes and he sees that Buffalo bull charging right at him and he jumps off to the side and the bull goes by Buffalo bull gets mad he stops and he comes back and he says see I told you
11:10 told you coyote you're just bothersome I told you not to move and you never follow instructions coyot follows him around for another hour or more bugging him all right this is last time I'm going to help you I'm going to try it one more time if you move this time I'll never help you again ever talk to you again so Kyo goes and sits down again same thing closes his eyes sits there hears all
11:35 that commotion and stomping and snorting and he hears a running again here's that Buffalo bull coming bam he hits that coyote knocks him way up in the air coyot comes Landing lands on the ground he's kind of Daz he's laying there gets up and shakes his head looks at himself all right I don't have no more
11:59 paw I got hoofs all right I got big horns all right I'm a buffalo bull so he's all happy and proud and he's walking around and a buffalo bull comes over and tells him okay I helped you I made you what what I am but you have to go find your own place to live this is mine you got to go find your own place all right so he trots off and he goes few miles away
12:24 and finds his own place to live and time goes by another coyote comes along sees that big buffalo bull same situation oh he's just fat and real nice looking coat all he wants is right there and the coyote asked him he's not the Buffalo bull now he's a bull
12:48 coyote he was a coyote but now he's a bull Coyote Well the second coyote tells him God I wish I was like you you got all this stuff to eat all I've had to eat today was two mice I'm getting tired of mice think you could help me think you could make me just like you are and the buff coyote bull says I
13:12 don't know um I had a hard time getting like this myself he says but I'll tell you what I'll give you one chance you go sit down over here close your eyes and no matter what don't move move don't open your eyes and don't move he says all right so he go coyot goes and sits down over there and the
13:37 coyote bull does this tears the ground up snorting around you could hear him running bam he hits that second coyote and they both go flying in the air they land on the ground the second coyote gets up looks at himself I'm still a coyote it didn't work
14:01 first coyote the coyote bull he gets up says it did too work worked on me now I'm a coyote again the moral you know the story like I said they all got meanings and the moral of that story as a coyote too is that you know you are what you are and a Creator made you what you are and you always want to be proud of what you are
14:26 and who you are no matter what that's kind of the the moral of that story about the coyote and the coyote bull because your people your own kind will bring you back down to earth to what you really are that's kind of what that story talks about because the coyote wanted to be that coyote be the Buffalo bull but you
14:49 can't be what you're not what you what the Creator didn't make you now another one I want to tell is uh about two coyotes like I said most of all these coyote stories have a lesson two coyotes are going up the stream Coyote's either going upstream or
15:13 Downstream he's always traveling he's looking for some something to do some kind of Mischief or whatever to get into he's always moving even his partner they're walking up this up the trail and they get up to a certain place and they're go along this Ridge and it goes across and it comes over this bench and the they're talking he
15:37 says when we get up over the over to the top there and we look down on those people they're Village down on the river you listen to what they say you're a coyote but I'm not a coyote CU yeah you're a coyote you're just like me you look exactly like me I we look alike but I'm not you watch
16:00 and see now when we go over that Ridge you go first okay so the first coyote goes over so they come to the Ridge and they're looking down at the village and they see it down there and the people are down there so he goes trotting out you go first he tells him so he goes trotting out there looks down and makes sure the people can see
16:21 him people look up oh look at there it's thei that's in our language that's how you say coyote there's coyote right there and he chots off goes up and over the Ridge and he stands on the other side of the trail and he tells his partner now your turn come across and see what they say oh second coyote he
16:44 goes trotting over there and he stops where people can see him he's looking down there the people all look up and they're looking at him oh look at it's another one so he goes trotting over there and he tells his partner see I told you I'm not a coyote I'm another
17:07 one and so just like I said the moral of that story too is is you know the Creator made you what you are even though that he was he thought he was something else he was not something else he was the same as that other other coyote and last one I'm going to tell you is a kind of um creation story of our people the nimi pooo people it happened right
17:32 here in this big valley right here long time ago and before people were on this Earth used to be a monster in this big Valley big monster and all the animal people were disappearing there used to be a big waterfalls down on a Columbia River called Salo Falls that's where all people used to go and catch
17:56 salmon and trade coyote was traveling Downstream and he was wondering where everybody was at cuz he didn't run into nobody all along the river and usually there's people fishing people fishing and he couldn't run into nobody's he got down to Salo didn't run into one person he's wondering where they're at Here Comes make pie flying over he lands
18:21 down and kyogi says where's everybody you fly in the air you can see all around where's everybody at gathered at he says oh something's happening up in a valley up there C up in a upper country there's a big monster up there and he's swallowing everybody down so coyote says well we better go do something about this so he makes his way on up the river and as he's coming up
18:46 the river he stops in a few places and gathers up some Indian hemp he makes some ropes out of this Indian hemp long ropes out of it makes three of them he gets further on on up the river on up to the place down here and he finds him some Flint he makes him three knives I'll need these when I get up
19:09 there so he gets on up here and he looks over the over the mountains and he says oh yeah there he is down there too he's right in the valley just like they said I'll go down there and I'll confront him we'll have a contest first I need to tie these ropes so he ties ropes around his waist all three of his ropes around his waist and ties them off to the
19:32 mountaintops way out this way he comes down to the mountains there and looks over the edge and hollers at the monster hey it's wel it that's how you say monster in my language I want to challenge you to a contest says what kind of contest well since you're inhaling everybody you inhale me and I'll inhale you all right coyot says
19:56 well you're bigger than me so you go first all right all right monster says sucks in as hard as he can see trees are uprooting and rocks are falling down and making all kinds of commotion tearing the ground up but Coyote's still there one rope one of his ropes breaks so he gets a little closer and it's the ey coyote he says
20:19 okay my turn and he goes hard as he can he inhales few leaves shake a little bit grass moves just a little bit nothing happens okay monster it's your turn so he does it same thing rocks and trees all falling down another rope breaks coyote gets a little closer coyote inhales same thing just a
20:44 few trees leaves Rattle and a little bit of the grass shakes coyote says all right this is your La your last turn here you do it and monster hard as he can this time he just everything comes flying down even Coyote's last rope breaks even he comes flying down and a monster swallows him but as he's going down to Monster's
21:07 throat he starts running into his animal people that he had already swallowed he runs into the wack puss the rattles snake first rattlesnakes acting all Fierce towards him striking at him and coyote says you know how come you're doing that to me you let this guy swallow you and he goes over and Stomps on the rattlesnake's head and tells him you know you don't act like that that to me rattlesnake crawls off and today
21:32 that's why the rattlesnake's head's flat coyote stepped on him and um he goes further down he runs into the grizzly bear and the grizzly bear is acting all ferocious towards him trying to bite him and he says why are you trying to bite me you got all this meat right here you could be eating why are you suffering like this pushes the grizzly bear away pushes
21:56 him by his nose and that's why the grizzly bear has that concave nose now face he goes a little further down and muskrats laying there tells the Muskrat why are you you over there in the corner crying around you're one of the smarter ones you should be trying to figure out how to get these people out of here and muskrats over there shaking around and the coyot says okay I got a plan I got these knives I'm going to cut
22:20 this heart when I get done cutting his heart he's going to take his last breath all these openings are going to open up and that's when we're going to going to escape okay so he jumps up on the heart and he starts cutting that heart but his knife breaks his first knife breaks so he throws it down he grabs a second knife and it breaks third knife he says
22:42 go get ready everybody get ready and his last knife breaks but he just has very little bit hanging on so he pulls hard as he can on that heart Boom the heart pops off the monster weaves around a little bit and Bam he's dead falls down dead his last breath all his openings open up his mouth his ears he's back in coyot
23:06 makes everybody got out the back end push all the bones out the back end all you people out are alive go they go out the back end and sure enough muskrats the last one out too late closed up has muskrats tail and they're all pulling on the Muskrat come on come on finally they pop the Muskrat out and that's why muskrat don't have no hair on
23:29 her Tails now today you you guys ever see a muskrat know what muskrats are anyway that's um then a fox comes over and he says uh what are we going to do with this now we got this whole big body lay what are we going to do with it oh we'll cut it up and throw it away we'll get rid of it so they start cutting it up and they start throwing
23:53 pieces to all the directions the monster has these short front arms he throws them to the Southwest has a big long legs in the back and he throws them out to the out into the Midwest out into the Plains and if you go down to the Southwest not all of them but most of those people down there are short people
24:14 now and if you go out to the Midwest out to the plains not all of them either but you see a lot of tall tall uh tribal members out there in the in the plains Lota and The Crow and the Cheyenne they're all T people and fox tells him well what about here what about this place you got all this fine land here water
24:39 mountains everything's beautiful but we don't have no people here so coyote tells them well go get me some water go get me some cous he goes over and brings water and coyot gets some blood off of the all we got left is a heart here grabs some blood off of the heart and washes his hands with that water and goes like this with his hands and sprinkles it around and everywhere that
25:02 blood landed that blood in that water landed neimi poo people sprouted up and that's exactly how our people lived in all these different areas he said these people are going to be brave brilliant and good-hearted but who's going to take care of them they're they don't have no clothing don't have no shelter no
25:27 food who's going to who's going to take care of them and all the animals came forward elk deer moose all came forward will'll take care of them we'll give them shelter we'll give them clothing and we'll be their food the samon he popped up out of the water and he says I'll come back every year and I'll feed these people as long as they keep my water
25:49 clean so right there at that time and even the small Roots popped up and they said the same thing as long as you take care of our land to take care of our water and take care of us we'll take care of you and so that's kind of how and why the native people are so close to tied with the Earth the land the water and the
26:13 Animals because we made a compact with the animal people a long long time ago y cut you out Y in my Lang that's all thank you what' you all think do you like
26:38 those stories yeah pretty good you want to help me give them one more round of applause for those wonderful stories thank you we like to thank you very much Lim for coming out and sharing those all right where is group number one uhoh we're kind of everywhere that's okay group number one you guys are going to be [Music]
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Lim Mitchell: Nez Perce Coyote Stories and Creation

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Nez Perce

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Lim Mitchell: Nez Perce Coyote Stories and Creation

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