Secwepemc Creation Story

My father is Secwepemc(pronounced - suh-wep-muh ) and metis
This is effectively transcribed from online resources and my father's stories as told by his grandmother.

The Secwepemc people have lived in the center of BC for around least 10 thousand years. The Secwepemc people do not have a legend explaining the origin of the world. They believed that it always existed.

The  Secwepemc's' first ancestors were beings who they believe were both man and animal. The stories or myths about these beings are known in the Secwepemc language as "stsptekwle".

These people were endowed with special powers. Eventually amongst the people appeared "transformers". These transformers went across the world shaping it as they went. One was greater than all other transformers. He was known as the "Old One". The Old One sent the transformers to earth to make it ready for the indigenous people.

The Secwepemc people believe the "Old One" with the help of Coyote shaped the world. The world was said to have been very small but eventually grew larger, emerging more and more from the lakes which were believed to surround it.

Coyote is the most famous transformer figure. Stories describe his foolish nature and how he had great magical powers. He taught the people many things, introduced salmon and created fishing places. Coyote also transformed monsters and made the world safe for the present-day Secwepemc.

Coyote was an imperfect transformer and thus left his work incomplete. Coyote himself was later transformed into Coyote rocks that can be seen throughout Secwepemc territory.

(n.d.) Secwepemc transformation. Retrieved from http://secwepemc.sd73.bc.ca/sec_origin/sec_originfs.html

(Tony A. Bristow, In person discussion, September 10, 2019)