Quileute Legends

Quileute refers to a traditional Indian tribe. Stephenie Meyer mentions this tribe in her book and movie series, the Twilight saga. In Meyer’s novel, Jacob, Bella’s friend, is Indian and is related to the Quileute tribe. There are many myths, legends and stories associated with this tribe. The most well-known myth is the creation myth.

The creation myth is about the origin of the tribes. This myth involves a hero named Q’wati. In English, he is commonly known as the Transformer. The Q’wati was almost like a teacher. He told the people how they should be and taught them how to build houses and how to survive. Without the Q’wati’s words, the tribes wouldn’t have survived or prospered. The Q’wati did not only influence the creation of people, he influenced the creation of animals as well.

One day, he came upon Beaver sharpening his knife and asked him what he was sharpening the knife for. Beaver told him that he was planning on killing Q’wati. In response, the Q’wati stuck the knife Beaver was sharpening into his tail and told Beaver that he will always have the knife stuck in his tail, could only slap the water with his tail and had to dive whenever anyone came near.

Later, the Q’wati came across Deer. Deer also admits that he is planning on killing Q’wati. So, the Q’wati takes the shell Deer is sharpening and plunges it into the ears of Deer. He tells Deer that from now on, he will be afraid of people, run away from them, then stop and look back.

Next, the Q’wati comes to Q’wayi’t'soxk’a river, but finds no people. He spits on his hand and rubs them together, removing the dead skin. As the dead skin falls into the water, people appear. He tells the people that the name of the tribe is Q’wayi’t'sox and that they should live there.

Soon after, the Q’wati comes across the Hob people. These people walked on their hands, instead of their feet. The Q’wati goes up to them and tells them that they will now walk on their feet and will catch lots of smelt in the water.

The Q’wati reaches the Quileute land. He doesn’t see any people, but he sees two wolves. The Q’wati transforms the wolves into people. He tells the people that they shall be brave and strong and only have one wife, unless they are a chief. A chief will be the only member of the tribe that is allowed to have four or eight wives.

Continuing his journey, he soon comes across the Ozette people, but he only saw two dogs. He transforms the dogs into people and tells them to search around the rocks to find sea-food.

Lastly, he finds the Neah people. These people did not know how to fish, so they were on the verge of dying. The Q’wati did not want to see them die, so he showed the people how to fish and then told them there would be a lot of fish in the Neah bay.