CLINTON ST. QUARTERLY by Rick Rubin Th he e re C , h to in ld o o a k , s to w r h y o o f u s a e d le g t e o n d l a iv ry e headman. They told it all up and down the Columbia; there were versions from down around the mouth of the river, and another up around The Dalles. The best was probably the one told by the Clackamas- Chinook, who lived up that small river and fished at Oregon City. The Chinook word for legend meant “ to remember an account o f .” Such legends were lesser, newer stories, not sacred scriptures like the myths. Legends told of a time long after the myth age, when the animals had become just animals, and the people had arrived. There are tantalizing rumors that this story may tell of a real man. Somebody said he lived a few generations before the Europeans arrived. They claimed his home was downriver near the mouth, and that the mother of his son was a Wahlala, from around Bonneville Dam, or a Wasco from around The Dalles. His name, which was a variation of Tia’pe Xwas Xwas in all the versions, is said to be untranslatable, but sounds a lot like “ Big Foot Heron.” Perhaps this legend would, in time, have become the Myth of the Great Blue Heron, that raucous, broadwinged, big-footed native bird of the lower Columbia and Willamette rivers. Those psychoanalytically inclined may see the story as a classic Oedipus myth of the overthrow of the father by his son, whose enormous feet may symbolize sexual potency. His thirst for blood might represent the high cost to the people of suffering a tyrant. The story seems to teach that nothing can prevent the eventual overthrow of such a tyrant, yet in a curious way it also shows a somehow peaceful passing on of power by a father when his son has grown as large as he has. Indeed, Lewis and Clark reported of the Chinook that “ The old man is not always respected as the head of the family, that duty most commonly devolves on one of the young men.” The legend shows the former tyrant dying happy, with his grandsons at play around him, the exact same image that ends the movie The Godfather, where Marlon Brando portrays that powerful man dying after his grandson shoots him. Tia’pe Xwas Xwas dies happy and old, freed of power and responsibility, just walking around like anyone. What follows is an only slightly shortened version of the story, as close as possible to the formal language and choppy cadence of Chinook storytelling: TIA’PE XWAS XWAS They lived there, the headman’s name was Tia’pe Xwas Xwas, he was 10 feet tall, his feet were 3 feet long, he could walk on water. He had a house with five fireplaces, nicely fixed with fish and animals carved around on every side. He had 100 wives — 50 beds on one side of the house, 50 on the other. A short distance to one side he had a house in which lived 100 slaves. He never walked. Wherever he went they would carry him, his slaves would carry him about. Whenever he heard of a fine girl he would go and purchase her. That is the way he did. At the place where he bought the girl her kin would make a return gift in the blood of the animals. He would take it and drink it, no matter how much of it there was he would drink it all, that blood. His house was full of wives. When a wife of his would give birth, he would ask them, “ What did she bear?” When they told him a male, he would say to his slaves, “ Kill it.” They killed it. But if a female, he would tell them, “ Take good care of the baby.” And that is what they did. Now then, he heard them say, “ Oh goodness, a fine girl! Her hair is right to the ground, it is yellow-brown.” He told his slaves, “ Take me tomorrow. I am going to buy her.” “ Very well,” they said. On the following day they got ready, they took him along, they laid him upon his canoe, they went, they got to the place where the girl’s village was. The villagers said, “ They are bringing Tia’pe Xwas Xwas to come buy the girl.” The next day then, he gave them her bride price. Her villagers said, “ Where shall we find something that has lots of blood?” Then they sought it. Near the sea they found a monster. Perhaps a whale. They burned it, they hit it. They said, “ Now we shall put the blood in containers.” They filled all their containers. They brought the blood to him. He drank it, he drank up one container. He set that beside him, he drank another. He looked, there was still much blood left. He drank another. He thought, “ I shall drink it all up .” No! He could not drink it up! He lay down. “ Hu!” he said, “ I am full now. Redhair has filled me up!” That is the way he called his wife from then on. One of his other wives, Nadaiet, gave birth. The slaves and the wives said, “ If it is a male, do not inform him. We shall say to him, ‘a female.’ ” “ Yes,” they said. Then she gave birth. He said, “What is it?” They told him, “ A female.” “ Very well.” But she had borne a male child. Five days afterward she bathed. She told him, “ I am going away, I am going back to my home. The baby will be bigger before I return.” “ All right.” But she really went to hide her son. She went back home, she remained there. Now her son got big. His feet were very long, long ones just like his father. Then she told her son about it. She said to him, “ We are not staying here just for nothing.” I came to hide you from your father. If they had informed him that you were a male, he would have killed you.” “ Indeed,” he replied to her. The boy went to the mountains to seek guardian spirits. He returned, he told her, “ Mother, the five Thunders and Lightnings have given me their strength.” His mother said, “ That is not enough.” He went again, he came home the fifth day, he said, “ 1 have the strength of five bands of Grizzly Bears.” “ That is not enough.” He went a third time, he got five bands of Elk, it was not enough. Now she told him, “ Do not seek power any longer in the mountains, but seek by the water.” He went to the water and got the power of five Whirlpools. His mother said, “ That is not enough.” Then he went for the fifth time, he returned, he said, “ I have the power of the five long-legged Water-Spiders. I have the power of five bands of Yellow Flies Running on the Water.” His mother said, “ This is enough.” Now, each evening Tia’pe Xwas Xwas’s slaves poured sand around his house, they smoothed it flat. The following day he would say, “ Look for footprints in the sand.” They would go, they would say to him, “ No footprints.” “ Very well.” He would say to Redhair, his favorite wife, “ Now loosen your braids. Walk about for me to see you, Redhair!” And that is what she would do. She would loosen her hair and she would walk about. “ Oh!” he would say to her. “ Now then,” he would say to his slaves, “ Take me yonder.” They would carry him, they would lay him down next to one of his wives. Now his son thought, “ Supposing I go see him?” He went. He saw one of the slaves there, he asked him, “ Where will he be sleeping tonight?” “ Yes,” the slave replied, “ Tonight he will sleep at Redhair’s platform.” “ Indeed.” His son stayed there. The next evening he went, he entered the house, he went to where Redhair lay, he lay beside her. The woman accepted him. She thought her husband had returned. He arose the next day, he went back home. In the evening he went again, he got to her forthwith. He said to her, “ How long before he will be getting to you?” She replied, “ Dear, oh dear, he was here shortly ago, it will not be until he has gone clear around his wives before he gets back to me.” “ Indeed,” he said. Now, that is the way they were doing. He would go to her each evening, in the morning he would go back home. Pretty soon then he made his footprints visible. He said to one of the slaves, “ Show him my tracks tomorrow.” “ Very well.” They saw his tracks, they informed Tia’pe Xwas Xwas. “ Indeed,” he said, “ Take me. I shall go see them.” He stood in a footprint. It was somewhat longer than his own foot. Then Tia’pe Xwas Xwas lay down. He lay down for two days. Then he rose. “ Oh, I think that woman carried away a male child.” He sent five slaves. “ Go. Go see what she took when she went away long ago.” Five slaves went. They reached the place where the son of Tia’pe Xwas Xwas was. The son said to them, “ Do not go back home. Remain here.” On the following day the headman said to another five slaves, “ You go too! Go see where they went to and did not return from.” They went, they arrived, they saw the other five slaves. The son said to them, “ Remain right here! Do not go back home!” He said to one of them, “ Only you go. He will question you. You will tell him that I have kept all the slaves.” He went, he got there. Tia’pe Xwas Xwas questioned him, “ Where did they go?” “ Yes. They arrived. Your son himself kept them at that place.” “ Really. That is just what I was thinking.” Then he said to his people, “ We shall go tomorrow. We shall fight.” They took him, they carried him, they laid him in his canoe. Now they went in 50 canoes. The people at the son’s village said, “ Now Tia’pe Xwas Xwas is on his way here.” He called out, “ Give me back the slaves.” They called to him, “ Your son said no. He will not give them to you.” So then they warred and they fought. Some of his people fled, some others of them took the son’s side by doing nothing. His son shot the people. He hit a canoe and it burst. He hit another. It burst. He killed Tia’pe Xwas Xwas's people. The father and son fought standing on the water, hand to hand. As the old man’s strength began to fail, he began to sink in the water. It would not hold him up any longer. He said to him, “ Sure enough. You are my son! Now you may take everything, my name and all. I will not be like that anymore now.” So from then on his son became headman. Now Tia’pe Xwas Xwas himself had no such wives, no such slaves anymore. Now he walked about, no more did they carry him around. Then those people lived there, the son was their headman, his wife was Redhair herself. He had taken her away from his father. He said to the other wives, “ If you choose you may go back.” Now that is what they did, some of the women went back to his father. After some time his wife gave birth to two sons. Now Tia’pe Xwas Xwas was old and infirmed. He made arrows for his grandsons, and they shot their grandfather, and after some time he was dead. Then Tia’pe Xwas Xwas’s son had many sons. Illustration by Elaine White 27
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