The Bridge of the Gods
Adapted by Scott Blume

In ancient times, people told stories to remember great events. The native people of Washington remembered that the land east of the Cascade Mountains was once filled with a great Inland Sea. Then it was torn apart by earthquakes. They said the quakes were caused by a battle between gigantic monsters that split the ground with their mighty tails. The waters rushed into the crevasses, drowning the monsters. They rushed toward the ocean, and became the Columbia River…

In later times, there were many villages along the river. An old woman named Loowit lived there. When she was young, she had learned to harvest the fruit, and to prepare the fish with the other women during the summer. She had gathered the roots and dried the salmon and berries to feed her people through the winter. She had listened to the stories her elders told. She knew the story of the Inland Sea of ancient times, and the creation of the great river. Loowit also knew the story of her own people: In the time before, the Great Saghalee Tyee had paddled his canoe down the river with his two sons. They found a beautiful land rich with salmon.. Both sons wanted it for their own. They fought over who should have it.

So, according to the elders, Tyee had taken his bow and shot two arrows--one to the north, the other to the west. He said to his sons "Go. Find the arrows. There you may have the land." One went north over the plain. He was the first of the Klickatat people. The other followed the arrow west to the Willamette Valley. He became the first of the Multnomahs. Then Tyee built a great stone bridge over the river so that the tribes might be friends. People could walk from one side of the river to the other. It was called "the Bridge of the Gods." He said it would stand as long as there was peace.

Now Loowit was old. And in her time some people did evil things. They were greedy and fought. They were not grateful for the salmon and the fruits of the land. This angered Tyee. One day Loowit awoke to find that the sun had not risen. It was cold. There was snow. People shivered because they had no fire. Loowit went to Tyee and she pleaded "My people suffer. Let them learn to be better." Tyee relented and the sun rose once more. He placed the gift of fire on the great stone bridge.

Tyee spoke: "You, Loowit, shall keep the fire. Give embers from your fire to any who need them." She tended the fire faithfully, and was kind to the people who came to her. Tyee was pleased. He decided to give her eternal life so that she would always keep fire for the people.

But Loowit wept. "I do not want to live forever as an ugly old woman. My back is bent. My eyes are dim. I am always in pain. Do not make me suffer so long." Tyee could not take back the gift of immortality, but he told Loowit he would grant her one wish. She said "I would be young and beautiful again."
Tyee passed his hands over her. Her grey hair became as black as charcoal. Her eyes became clear and as brown as the bark of the fir tree. She became sleek and straight and proud. She dressed herself in white robes.

Word of her beauty spread. Men came to her with presents. They competed in feats of strength to impress her. They did not know that Loowit was young in appearance but old in her heart. She did not care for the young men. One day she saw the young chief Wyeast approaching from the land of the Multnomahs in the west. She saw Pahto, chief of the Klickatat, coming from the north. They had come to see the beautiful Loowit for themselves. Both fell in love with her. Each wanted to marry her. Loowit could not choose between them. Both men became angry and began to quarrel. They fought to have her and their followers fought with them. They swept across the bridge and made war. Homes were torched and whole villages destroyed. The forests were burned.

Tyee looked upon the smoking world and was furious. Blood had been shed. The peace was broken. Loowit watched Tyee smash the Bridge of the Gods. Then as the bridge began to crumble she snatched up a burning brand from the fire. The great rocks fell away to crash into the river. Sheltering the fire, she watched Tyee raise his hands and turn the warring chiefs to stone. The last thing Loowit saw was Tyee turning on her, the woman the chiefs had fought over. He raised his hand again and changed her body into stone. Wyeast became Mount Hood, which stands on the south side of the river. Pahto became Mount Adams, which stands on the north side of the river. Loowit became the most beautiful mountain of the Cascades, the one we call Mount St. Helens.

Some say Pahto and Wyeast continued to quarrel .They roared like thunder and threw boulders at each other. Loowit slept for hundreds of years, drawing her snows like a robe of silence around her. But she has a heart of fire because she had covered the flame with her body as she was transformed. When her flames burst forth-as they do today-her beauty is scarred, her sides are streaked with ash, and her figure is once more stooped and broken.