The Dreamer
as told by Stan Greene (Coast Salish)
Long ago at Semiahmoo (White Rock) a man fell asleep while fishing in his canoe. He woke to find that the canoe was headed out to open sea. His fishing rope was stretched out from the front of the boat and he drifted this way for 4 days until he became very hungry and thirsty. He began pulling the rope into the canoe. When he came near the end of the rope he saw a Killerwhale that he had hooked. When the Killerwhale's back came above the water the fisherman climbed onto it, hollering, "Let me go. You have no right to do this to me."
He started to hit the whale with his paddle. The whale made a loud noise and dove into the ocean. The fisherman thought that he would die.
When he finally opened his eyes he was on the beach near the white rock and he could see his canoe washing up on the shore further down the beach. He began jumping up and down, laughing. He was so happy to be alive that he ran back to the village and as he ran he hollered that Killerwhale had spared his life. When he reached the village he found all the people in the big house having a potlatch. He began singing a song about his encounter with Killerwhale, Soon he was dancing, telling the story of how Killerwhale took him under the ocean to visit the spirit houses of the undersea kingdom.