| Summary: | This unfinished manuscript by Sarah Cheney Willoughby weaves together vignettes from life on the Quinault reservation and the legends Willoughby heard during her interactions with the Native Americans living there. The story principally concerns Riley, a native of the Haida tribe who was brought to the Quinault as a slave and later freed by the Emancipation Proclamation (according to the story), and his wife, a Quinault woman named Wee'-a-ket. The two are visited by two young Quinault girls, Da'-ha-dittle and O-mook, and two young Quinault boys, Jon-jy and Kua-kui. The girls demand a story from Riley, and as dinner is eaten, Riley begins telling a legend "about spirits and men and animals", which he claims is from another tribe living far away from the Quinault. A very elderly Quinault man named Old Salmon is refused hospitality at first, but he later creeps into the room and is allowed to stay and eat with them. Once Riley finishes the first legend, he tells a very brief story of the Haida about the raven (or "thunderbird") stole fire from his wicked uncle in order to give it to the people. The next day, Riley and Wee'-a-ket are visited by Wah-ke'-na, the elderly doctor of the tribe, and his wife. The four children arrive soon after, as well as Old Salmon, and after a little while Wee'-a-ket is convinced to tell a story: the legend of the whale rock. (Another version of this legend is recorded in the mock newspaper manuscript which is also found in Sarah Willoughby's papers.) After that tale is finished, Riley is convinced to continue the story of the thunderbird from the previous evening. After this story ends, Kaplano, a young Quinault doctor, arrives with his wife and four children, having just made a short "ocean trip" to the north in their canoe. Several days later, the account resumes in the local "burial place", where Da-ha-dittle is being laid to rest after succumbing to a fever. After the memorial is over, the children return to Riley and Wee'-a-ket's house, where they are fed. Riley tells a story of "Nee-ah Bay" about a mouse and a flounder and many other animals going to visit the South Wind. At the end of the evening, Riley sounds as though he will begin another tale, this time about the reason that the crow is black in color, but the manuscript ends. In addition to relating a number of legends (of the Quinault and Haida, and perhaps other tribes), the manuscript is rich with detail about many other details of day-to-day life among the Quinault. Much attention is given to the preparation and serving of food, and Willoughby also offers specific descriptions of burial practices and native medicine. At least some of the characters in the manuscript appear to be based directly on actual people Willoughby had met: Old Salmon is mentioned elsewhere in her papers when she's discussing actual events on the reservation, as is a man named "One-Eye Riley" who is described as a freed slave. Sarah Cheney Willoughby (1842-1913) came to Washington Territory from Lowell, Massachusetts in 1862 to teach art at the newly founded University of Washington. After leaving the university to teach in a school in Port Townsend, in 1865 she met and married Captain Charles Willoughby, who worked at the time for the Coast Survey. Willoughby became an Indian Agent at the Neah Bay reservation in 1877, and was moved to Quinault in 1883, where he and Sarah lived (along with their younger children) until Charles's death in 1888. While on the reservation, Sarah took special interest in the culture of the local tribes, and both drew sketches of native scenes and recorded the legends and myths she was told.
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