Quileute Culture: Storytelling

Rather than focus on the disheartening aspects of Quileute history, such as the impacts of European colonialism and U.S. domination as I have in previous posts, I would like to utilize this post to celebrate Quileute culture. As addressed by the tribe’s website, storytelling served to educate Quileute youth prior to the establishment of institutionalized education (“Raven Tales”). Traditional stories include trickster stories, often featuring Raven and other animal characters (“Raven Tales”). Quileute trickster stories teach valuable lessons regarding morals and appropriate conduct, such as the following: “working hard and being true to yourself is more important than trying some copycat shortcut” (“Raven Tales”).

The ancient history of the Quileute tribe provides that there was a time long ago when “animals were like human beings” (“Raven Tales”). This history is rooted at the beginning of the Quileute’s existence, as their creation story provides that the tribe came into existence after a Transformer transformed them from wolves into people (“History”).

The Quileute Tribe has generously shared a some of their traditional stories through their website, in a collection titled “Raven Tales: Traditional Quileute Stories of Bayak, the Trickster”. The stories are told by Quileute elder Fred Woodruff Sr. with Vickie Jensen, Jay Powell, Carol McLaren, and Nola Johnston as contributors. Some of their traditional stories serve to explain how things came to be the way they are. For instance, “Bayak and Akil: Raven and Bear” provides the series of events that tell the story of how Raven “got his black, curled-up feet” (11). According to the story, Raven’s feet became black and curled after Raven copied Bear by trying to use his feet to make oil to cook fish for their dinner, which he had witnessed Bear do previously (11-15). In my view, this story serves as a cautionary tale by illustrating the consequences of mimicking others, since Raven wouldn’t have burnt his feet if he hadn’t copied Bear. I encourage you to visit the link provided above and read the full story.

Some Traditional Quileute stories also feature monsters and serve as cautionary tales for Quileute children. For example, Daskiya is a monster that eats children she finds in the woods “wandering alone or misbehaving” (40).

References

“Raven Tales.” Quileute Nation, https://quileutenation.org/stories-and-tales/.

“History.” Quileute Nation, https://quileutenation.org/history/.

Woodruff, Fred, et. al.  Raven Tales: Traditional Quileute Stories of Bayak, the Trickster. Quileute Nation, https://quileutenation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/raventales.pdf.