Twana Narratives: Native Historical Accounts of a Coast Salish Culture

Elmendorf notes that "the critical hiatus is accounted for by the Twana in two seemingly unconnected ways: as owing.to the activities, in the sábu, of the World Changer or Transformer, dúk"ibai; and also as the result of the sp'oláo', which does not seem to have been brought about by the Transformer"(p. lii). [...]what is so interesting about the narrative type in question is neither the plot structure nor the nature of the participants (human vs. non-human, etc.), but the fact that the relationship between speaker and participant facilitates a re-enactment of the original event from the point of view of the "witness." The reenactment is punctuated by stretches of discourse "originating" in the voice of the witness. [...]a tactic for signalling the frame of interpretation from which to view and orient oneself toward the unfolding events is woven right into the plot structure. The ultimate target of the warning is the attitude of complacency on the part of the Twana people that is revealed in their behavior toward Leschi. [...]wax'elut's warning not to kill Leschi can be taken out of time and read as a warning for the present and future to protect the integrity of Skokomish history.