It tries to explain why a natural bridge made of stone no longer stands. This is a legend from the Pacific northwest. This legend is shared by several native nations. It is a story about a natural bridge crossing from Oregon to Washington. Erosion had washed away the under side of it and therefore created the bridge. The Great Spirit then put an old wise woman in charge of the bridge. Two brothers who were mountains fell in love with the same girl and began fighting over the girl by spewing hot rocks and liquid, otherwise known as lava, onto the bridge and therefore destroying the bridge. After the fight between the two brothers the girl fell into a deep sleep beside "klickitat" and has never awaken. The old woman who was the guardian of the bridge became a young beautiful mountain and because she was so old she did not long for companionship. So she became what is known today as Mt. St. Helens.
If you were to read the entire legend it teaches us that there are consequences for our actions no matter what they may be. So we need to take that into consideration before we do something we might regret.
Then there is the legend of Multnomah Falls near Portland, Oregon. In the story a young maiden got married and she was the only child of the chief as his sons had bravely fallen in battle. So he chose her husband with great care. Many people were at the ceremony and the wedding was a joyous feast. Then an old man stood and told of a disease that would overcome all the people unless a young maiden true in heart were sacrificed to the gods from a high cliff. No one gave it a second thought until one day it happened and a great sickness befell the people of the village. The maiden thought it would not get her until one day her lover had fallen sick with the illness. She then went to the high cliff and prayed to the gods that if she should throw her self off the cliff that her death would not be in vain and to show her a sign. The moon came over the horizon and she then dove off the cliffs. The chief then called all the young maidens to his teepee and found one was missing. He realized it was his beloved daughter. That because of her sacrifice the sickness had ended.
People say that in the winter the spirit of the brave and beautiful maiden comes back to see the beautiful waterfall that the gods created to prove to her people that her death was not in vain. She is believed to be seen standing among the trees at one side of the falls. Where she looks up to the place where she gave her life to save her people and lover's lives.
This particular legend is sad in tale and shows no lesson. It parallels William Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet” where one lover does something for the other.
In this next legend the legend itself parallels the bible story of David and Goliath. It is called “COYOTE KILLS A GIANT” It is a story about a coyote that says giants don't scare him. He walks along and finds what he perceives to be a cave. He walks in and in turn finds an old woman crawling and asks her what is wrong and she tells him she is starving. He in turn tells her he is looking for the giant and wants to kill him. The woman tells him that he is already in the giants belly and he continues to walk on and finds more people starving. He comes up with a plan to cut some fat and meat from the giants' side and feeds the people and they get stronger. He then tells them that when he cuts the giants heart to run as he will open his mouth for one last breath of air. So he cuts a chunk out of the giants' heart and blood starts to flow. The people run and are freed from the giant and the hero is the coyote who has conquered the giant.
In conclusion, fables, fairy tales and legends, where do we get them? Where do they originate from? Are they true or false? Maybe we just need to listen to them over again and learn the lessons they teach us. Writers, such as myself,what or where did we get our talent to tell such tales? These are all excellent questions we ponder along with the “what if” question we always seem to have.
Try taking some of these fairy tales and legends and reworking them giving them different endings. What would happen? How would the story turn out? Would it be silly or just not make any sense?
So we realize in each story somewhere lies a lesson to be learned. We just have to extract that lesson and apply to our daily lives and maybe we can live better lives.
