Shasta

(map)

Coyote was travelling about. There was an evil being in the water. It rose up out of the water and said, "There is no wood." Then the water rose up toward Coyote; it covered him up. Then the water went down, dried off, and Coyote shot the evil being.

Now, Coyote ran away, and the water followed him. He ran up on Mount Shasta, up to the top. The water was very deep. The only ground left above the water was there. Coyote made a fire. Grizzly-Bear swam thither, Deer swam thither, Black-Bear swam thither, and Elk, and Gray-Squirrel, and Jack-Rabbit. . . . Then there was no more water. It was swampy all about. People scattered everywhere.

Roland B. Dixon, "Shasta Myths," Journal of American Folk-Lore 23 (1910): 36; Clark, 1953, 12.