of the Thunderbird seizing and dropping the whale. The Thunderbird saw the boy, and told him that the story was now his, and he had the right to wear the Thunderbird mask and wings at the potlatch. Reconstructing the myth In the 1980s, geologists found evidence that an earthquake, powerful enough to send a tsunami all the way to Japan, hit the American Pacific Northwest in 1700. Some ethnologists believe that "Thunderbird and Whale" is a description of that disaster. Explanatory notes References Citations Bibliography : "Quillayute Myths". pp. 12–15. External links Legendary creatures of the indigenous peoples of North America Traditional narratives of indigenous peoples of the Americas Mythologies of the indigenous peoples of North America Earthquake myths