The west shore., July 01, 1887, Page 514, Image 18

514 THE WEST SHOKE.
him to tliig goddess, wboswal owed him. very higb, and that part of the country
Th a swan deity was not pleased to have about The Dalles was still deeply sub
too many fiuh taken from the wattr, nor merged in water. It is possible that at
to have root dag from the banks of the that time the Klickitat valley may have
lake. When she caught p rsons fishing, been, wholly or in part, covered with wa
c r digging roots, she caused the water to ter, though it hardly seems possible that a
chase them, and unless they diopped tradition could bo handed down from so
whatever they had, they were engulfed, remote a period. That elk once abound
If they dropjed the fish or roots they ed in the mountains around is a fact,
hid tnkn, the water returned to the Most of the lepends and myths of an
swan carrying the articles back, leaving tiquity have some shadow of foundation,
tho trmpasser unharmed. Ages ago, a if we could only follow the 6tories back
Iwutiful young maid of the Wisbam through the mazy labyrinths through
trife, hoping to enjoy the benefits of the which they have traveled down the gen
magical waters of this wonderful hue, orations. If we could follow all these
ventured into them to bathe, and while windings, and see the changes, additions
doing so got into the antlers of an elk, and deviations made from time to time,
that, coming down from tho mountains we would not so much wonder that these
to drink, had lain down in the water, myths come down laden with so many
He immediately sprang up and bore Ik r extravagances and absurdities. Even
away to the mountains toward Mount in our own times, the fact of a man's
Adams, but she succeeJed in escaping having vomited something very dark,
by cutting off his horn and falling to grows into the story of his having thrown
the ground. Returning to her home at up " three black crows." By some such
Tumwater, sho afterward bore a child process, perhaps, the myths if barbar
which was half elk and half human, like ous nations have come into existence
the fabled centaur of old. Being both and grown to such absurd proportions,
angry and ashamed she destroyed the Some actual occurrence, of a seemingly
young prodigy, which mortally offended unusual or mysterious character, takes
the elk tribe and they refused afterward place. The fact of there being a sub
to come to tho lake for water, and skco stantial truth for the foundation of the
have staid away off in tho mountains, story gives it a permanency. If there
and the Indians have had hard work be a stone, mountain, or other natural
hu1n,t,I)g lhe4m Al . object, standing to attest the accuracy of
I-or a part of this myth there may bo the story, it is taken by the savage mind
some found ion. The little lake at one as a verity. The untaught mind of the
time was undoubtedly much larger. If barbarian mistakes the permanency of
U Mruethat back ,n the remote ages the stone or mountain for that of the
of tho past the Columbia river valley myth connected with it A larce part
f?11 Wlr4lVatprg w5ro lmrml o'the history of antiquity is wrapped in
from ho ocean by the Cascade range cf a web of mystic uncertainty. There is'
tlT M? 1 ,he,?f erg0 a ke' of truth, but
brough t o mountains, whic forms the concealed in a mass of error and the
Mo that nver, was gradually worn by key for unraveling the my ha Trebu
it, waters, here mus have Wen a r. is, perhaps, lost fomer.
noj wh.n the W of the channel was 0. B. Kuieenmi i M.D
To U Vuntinxud.