Yule stories

HOW THE SALMON CAME TO THE YUROK PEOPLE
A Native American Folk Tale

Coyote stood by the Klamath River one day, and thought to himself, "My people, the Yurok have no food. I wonder if I could find some in that mighty river. There must be something there. There ought to be fish in rivers. Where are all the fish?"

Coyote talks this over with his best friend, Mink. Mink said, "All the fish are up in the pond behind Salmon Grandmother’s house. She’s keeping them all for herself!"

"Well, then, I’ll just have to journey up the river to free the fish!" said Coyote, although he knew it was a long trip to Salmon Grandmother’s house. Coyote’s grandchild, Wren, gave him a pouch of madrone berries for the trip, which are small and red, and look exactly like salmon’s eggs!

Coyote began the long journey up to Salmon Grandmother’s house. When he got there, he knocked on her door. "Who is it?" called Salmon Grandmother. Coyote replied, "I’m just a weary traveler, and I’m oh, so hungry and tired! I need a place to stay for the night." Of course, Salmon Grandmother took pity and asked him inside. She offered him some of her fresh, hot acorn soup, but just as she was getting ready to dish it up, Coyote popped a madrone berry into his mouth. Grandmother was rather surprised.

"Would you like some Salmon eggs?" Coyote offered. Grandmother thought, "Oh dear! This Coyote fellow knows about my salmon!" This worried her, because the salmon were her secret and she didn’t want to share. But since he clearly already knew about the salmon, she couldn’t offend him by just giving him acorn soup. So she picked up her dip net and went out to the pond in back. She dipped her net in the water, and pulled out a fine, fat silver salmon. Then she cooked it up on skewers over a pit of coals and they had a delicious dinner.

After the meal, Grandmother told Coyote he was welcome to rest and stay overnight. Making himself comfortable, Coyote announced he would be going out the sweat lodge. He brought his magic flute with him into the lodge. Coyote started to play a lovely little tune on his flute. He played and played, and when Grandmother heard the sweet strains of beautiful music she became drowsy. Finally, she finally fell into a deep sleep. Once she drifted off, Coyote left his flute playing in the sweat lodge, since of course it was a magic flute that could play by itself. He went out to the salmon pond in back, and began to dig. He dug and dug all night, forming a trench from the pond to the nearby river. Towards dawn, Grandmother woke up and heard the flute still playing. "Something is not right here! Who can play the flute for that long?" Suddenly it hits her.

"My salmon," she shouted, "He's stealing my salmon!!!" She jumped out of bed, and raced around to the back of the house. She got there just in time to see Coyote digging out the last little patch of dirt between the pond and the river. Coyote lopes down the riverbank, laughing as all of her salmon swim free into the Klamath. And that’s how the salmon came to the Klamath river to feed the Yurok!

The Shortest Day

by Susan Cooper

And so the Shortest Day came and the year died
And everywhere down the centuries of the snow-white world
Came people singing, dancing,
To drive the dark away.
They lighted candles in the winter trees;
They hung their homes with evergreen;
They burned beseeching fires all night long
To keep the year alive.
And when the new year's sunshine blazed awake
They shouted, revelling.
Through all the frosty ages you can hear them
Echoing behind us - listen!
All the long echoes, sing the same delight,
This Shortest Day,
As promise wakens in the sleeping land:
They carol, feast, give thanks,
And dearly love their friends,
And hope for peace.
And now so do we, here, now,
This year and every year.
Welcome Yule!