Quileute Legends | Twilight | New Moon

A journeying shape shifter happened upon a wolf and transformed him into a human, producing the first Quileute. These Quileutes may undergo what is called the “Wolf Imprint”.

Quiluete Tribe Legend

This imprinting is love at first sight, only much stronger as it creates a persistent and constant bonding between two people that can not be broken.

When their eyes meet, the will of the wolf awakens as it immediately realizes that they’ve found their partner. Though the wolf’s will has awakened it may take the human side some winning over.

He will wait for the woman he loves by not aging, for he knows that she is the “One”.

This is a legend presented in the “Twilight Series”.   Although there maybe no factual basis for this Tribal Legend,  speaking from my own experiences  I believe this to be true to some extent.   At least for the animal side of humans as I can often identify with it, as  “I still hunger”.  But it is another thing when it is lost and can never be…

This legend has been recounted from generation to generation to remember the history of the Yakama.  In the beginning,  our Creator spoke the word and this world was created.  He spoke the word once more and all living things were put in the world.   Then he said the word and we, the [American Indian] people, were created and planted here on this World.

We are similar to the plants of this earth.  Our food was put here as plants to feed us;  just like when we establish a garden. That’s the way our earth was in the beginning.  There are salmon, deer, elk, and all kinds of birds.  It’s as though our bodies are the very end of this earth, continues to develop while our ancestors are all laid to rest in the ground.

He named everything He created.  He placed water on this earth and made it feed into the rivers and lakes to water this great garden and to quench the starve of the people, the beasts, plants, birds and fish.  He took the feet of the people and made them walk on this earth. He made the horse, which is like a human being.  He set the horse and the people together to assist each other.

Altogether the land where we live and where our ancestors lived was created for
the [American Indian] people.

Thunderbird vs Whale

Long since, in that respect was a sad time in the earth of the Quillayute. For days and days, a violent storm blew. Rainfall and hail then sleet and snowfall descended upon the earth. The large hailstones killed many natives. The Quillayute were forced from their sea-coast villages to the great prairie, which comprised the peak part of their land.

In that location the tribe became lean and weak from famish. The hailstones destroyed the ferns, the camas, and the berries.  The rivers covered by ice and the tribe could not fish. Violent storms swayed the sea therefore the fishermen could not go out in their canoes for deep-sea fishing. Before long, the tribe consumed all the grass and roots on the prairie for food; at that place no food was left. As children perished without nutrient, the strongest and most courageous of their fathers could do nothing. They called upon the Great Spirit for help, but no help came.

Finally the Great Chief of the Quillayute met with his tribe. He was old and wise. “Take comfort, my tribe,” the Chief said. “We will call again upon the Great Spirit for help. If no help comes, then we will know it is His will that we die. If it is not His will that we live, then we will die bravely, as brave Quillayute have always died. Let us talk with the Great Spirit.”

The weak and hungry tribe sat in silence while the Chief spoke with the Great Spirit, who had looked kindly upon the Quillayute for hundreds of years.

When his prayer had finished, the Chief turned again to his tribe. “Now we will wait for the will of the One who is wise and all-powerful.”

The tribe waited. No one spoke. There was nothing but silence and darkness. All of a sudden, came a great noise, and flashes of lightning cut the darkness. A deep whirring sound, like colossus wings flapping, came from the place of the setting sun. All of the natives gazed toward the sky above the sea as an immense, bird-shaped beast flew towards them.

This bird was greater than any they had ever seen. Its wings, from tip to tip, were twice as long as a war canoe.   It had an immense, curved beak, and its eyes radiated like fire. The tribe saw that its large claws held a living, giant whale.

In silence, they observed while Thunderbird – for so the bird was called by everyone -cautiously lowered the whale to the earth before them.  The thunderbird flew high in the sky and returned to the thunder and lightning it had come from. Perhaps it flew back to its perch in the hunting grounds of the Great Spirit.

Thunderbird and Whale kept the Quillayute from dying. The tribe acknowledged that the Great Spirit had answered their prayers. The tribe shall never forget that gift from Thunderbird, never forget that it ended long days of hunger and death. For on the prairie near their village are large, round stones that the grandfathers say are the hardened hailstones of that violent storm long since passed.