LOO-WIT, the Fire-Keeper
(Nisqually Pacific Northwest)

When the world was young, the creator gave everyone all
that was needed to be happy.

The weather was always pleasant. There was food for everyone
and room for all the people. Despite this, though,, two brothers began
to quarrel over land. Each wanted to control it. It reached the point
where each brother gathered together a group of men to support his claim.
Soon it appeared there would be war.

The Creator saw this and was not pleased. He waited until the two
brothers were asleep one night and then carried them to a new country.
There a beautiful river flowed and tall mountains rose into the clouds.
He woke them just as the sun rose and they looked out from the mountaintop
to the land below. They saw what a good place it was. It made their hearts good.

“Now,” the Creator said, “this will be your land.” Then he gave each of the
brothers a bow and a single arrow. “Shoot your arrow into the air,” the creator said.
“Where your arrow falls will be your land of you and your people, and you
shall be great chief there.”

The brothers did as they were told. The older brother shot his arrow.
It arched over the river and landed to the South in the valley of the
Willamette River. There is where he and his people went, and they
became the Multnomahs. The younger brother shot his arrow. It flew
to the North of the great river. He and his people went there
and became the Klickitats.

Then the Creator made a great stone bridge across the river.
“This bridge,” the Creator said, “is a sign of peace. You and your peoples
can visit each other by crossing over this bridge. As long as you remain at peace,
as long as your hearts are good, this bridge will stand.”

For many seasons the two peoples remained at peace. They passed freely back
and forth across the Great Stone Bridge. One day, though, the people to the North
looked South toward the Willamette and said, “Their lands are better than ours.”
One day, though, the people to the South looked North toward the Klickitat and said,
“Their land is more beautiful then ours.” Then, once again, the people began to quarrel.

The Creator saw this and was not pleased.

The people were becoming greedy again. Their hearts were going bad.
The Creator darkened the skies and took fire away. Now the people grew cold.
The rains of autumn began to fall and the people suffered greatly.

“Give us back fire,” they begged. “We wish to live again with each other in peace.”

Their prayers reaached the Creators heart. There was only one place on Earth
where fire still remained. An old Woman named Loo-Wit had stayed out of the
Quarreling and was not greedy. It was in her lodge only that fire still burned.
So the Creator went to Loo-Wit.

“If you will share your fire with all the people,” The Creator said,
“I will give you whatever you wish. Tell me what you want.”

“I want to be young and beautiful,” Loo-Wit said.

“That is the way it will be,” said the Creator. “Now tale your fire to
the Great Stone Bridge above the river. Let all the people come to you
and get fire. You must keep the fire burning there to remind people that
their hearts must stay good.”

The next morning, the skies grew clear and the people saw the sun rise for
the first time in many days. The sun shone on the Great Stone Bridge and there
the people saw a young women as beautiful as the sunshine itself. Before her, there
on the bridge, burned a fire. The people came to the fire and ended their quarrels.
Loo-Wit gave each of them fire. Now their homes again became warn and peace
was everywhere.

One day, Through, the chief of the people to the north came to Loo-Wit’s fire.
He saw how beautiful she was and wanted her to be his wife. At the same time,
the chief of the people to the south also saaw Loo-Wit’s beauty. He, too,
wanted to marry her. Loo-Wit could not decide which of the two she liked better.
Then the chief’s began to quarrel. Their peoples took up the quarrel and fighting began.

When the creator saw the fighting he became angry. He broke down the stone bridge.
He took each of the two chiefs and changed then into mountains.
The chief of the Klickitats became the mountain known as Mount Adams.
The chief of the Multnomahs became the mountain we now know as Mount Hood.
Even as mountains, they continue to quarrel, throwing flames and stones at each other.
In some places, the stones they threw almost blocked the river between them.
That is why the Columbia River is so narrow in the place called the Dalles today.

Loo-Wit was heartbroken over the pain caused by her beauty. She no longer
wanted to be a beautiful young woman. She could no longer find peace as a human being.

The Creator took pity on her and changed her into a mountain also,
The most beautiful of the mountains. She was [llaced so that she stood between
Mount Adams and Mount Hood, and she was allowed to keep the fire within
herself which she had once shared on the Great Stone Bridge. Eventually,
she became known as Mount Saint Helens and she slept peacefully.

Though she was asleep, Loo-Wit was still aware, the people said. The Creator
had placed her between the two quarreling mountains to keep the peace, and it
was intended that humans, too, should look at her beauty and remember to keep their
hearts good, to share the land and treat it well. If we human beings do not treat
the land with respect, the people said, Loo0Wit will wake up and let us know
how unhappy she and the Creator have become again. So they said long before the

day in the 1980s when Mount St. Helens woke again.