A
Squamish Nation legend, from the
Coast Salish, on the
west coast of Canada. The Cheakamus River is north
of the town of
Squamish and flows into Howe Sound.
The Legend
A long time ago, even before the
time of the flood, the Cheakamus River provided food
for the Squamish people. Each year, at the end of
summer, when the salmon came home to spawn, the
people would cast their cedar root nets into the
water and get enough fish for the winter to come.
One day, a man came to fish for
food for his family for the winter. He looked into
the river and found that many fish were coming home
this year. He said thanks to the spirit of the fish,
for giving themselves as food for his family, and
cast his net into the river and waited. In time, he
drew his nets in, and they were full of fish, enough
for his family for the whole year. He packed these
away into cedar bark baskets, and prepared to go
home.
But he looked into the river, and
saw all those fish, and decided to cast his net
again. And he did so, and it again filled with fish,
which he threw onto the shore. A third time, he cast
his net into the water and waited.
This time, when he pulled his net
in, it was torn beyond repair by sticks, stumps and
branches which filled the net. To his dismay, the
fish on the shore and the fish in the cedar bark
baskets were also sticks and branches. He had no
fish, his nets were ruined.
It was then he looked up at the
mountain, and saw Wountie, the spirit protecting the
Cheakamus, who told him that he had broken the faith
with the river and with nature, by taking more than
he needed for himself and his family. And this was
the consequence.
And to this day, high on the
mountain overlooking the Cheakamus and Paradise
Valley, is the image of Wountie, protecting the
Cheakamus.
The fisherman? Well, his family
went hungry and starved, a lesson for all the people
in his family.
