Legend of Poia

Coyote and
Monster

Chinook Salmon Legend

First Creator
and Lone Man

Edward Goodbird's Story

Creators

For the people of the Indian Country, creation was not a distant event. They believed the world was a product of ongoing creative acts involving many supernatural forces.

Elders explained that the cosmic forces that made the world continued to be present above and beneath it. They told stories of spirit beings who wielded immense power, affecting the weather,the hunt, and the size of the harvest and taught that creation was a complex and never-ending process and that human beings were successful only if they acted with the assistance of the spirit world.

The people of the Indian Country communicated their values through stories of creation and tales of the spirit world. This oral literature was passed from elders to young people and provided vivid lessons regarding the values they beleived were essential for community well-being.