The Legends of the Quileute Tribe

The Quileute tribe is a group of Native American Indians who now reside in La Push, Washington in the United States. They are a small group right now, only of around 700 people, but they still continue the legacy of their great ancestors from the past, the original Quileute tribe. They speak the language of the Chimakoan Tribe, which is Chimakwan.

The Quileute tribe was well-known for their many different Quileute legends, myths and folklore. There are many different characters in Quileute folklore. There is the Raven, who is a joker and trickster according to the folklore. He is considered to be a bad character, and it is said that he is lazy, greedy, rude, and treacherous. Another character would be the Thunderbird. The Thunderbird is a large bird that is so big, it can even carry a whale, and its wings sound like thunder when it flies by. Next, there is the Dask’iya. She is an ogre who eats children, and stories about her are told to make sure that the Quileute kids will not get into trouble. And the most important character is Q’wati. He is the creator and the protector, and according to Quileute legend, the tribe started by Q’wati.

The legend of Q’wati starts as Q’wati travelled around the world to help people and tell them how they should act so they could be good people; he even taught them how to build their houses. As Q’wati was journeying, he came upon a beaver that was sharpening a stone knife, and he wanted to kill Q’wati with it. Q’wati decided to get the knife and stick it to the tail of the beaver. This is how the beaver got such a big tail, and Q’wati told him that he shall live in the water and slap the water with his tail.

Next, as Q’wati continued on his journey he saw the deer. The deer was sharpening his shell knife in order to kill Q’wati. Q’wati then got the shell knife and stuck it to the deer’s ears, making its horns. He told the deer that it would be frightened and stop when confronted with light. Then he went to the Q’wayi’t'soxk’a river and created people, called the Queets. Then, he went to the Quileute land and transformed two wolves into people. And this is how the Quileute people came to be, according to legend.

Another very famous Quileute legend is the one of the Navajo Tribe’s Navajo yee naaldlooshii, a person who can turn into a wolf. This is one of the legends where the grounding for werewolves started. Those who have the ability to turn into animals are called skin-walkers, since they can transfer through bodies. They also have been told to have the ability to read people’s thoughts.

Many Quileute myths and Quileute folklore were the stories that began more contemporary works. One very good example is the book series “Twilight” by Stephenie Meyer. She uses the Quileute folklore in her stories and some of the characters are said to be Quileute descendants who live in La Push. This book has drawn much attention towards the Quileute tribes and their legends, causing more people to learn about them and their rich history and their wonderful stories.