B L A C K FE E T

I N D I AN ST O R I E S

B!

G E O R GE BIRD GR IN N EL L
A UT H O R OF

” !
B L ACKFE E T L O D GE TAL E S, TR AI L S OF TH E P AT HFI N D E R S , E TC.

N E W ! OR K

C HAR L E S S CR IB N E R S SON S
’

1 91 3
 C OP ! R I G HT , 1 913 , B !

C H A R L E S S C R I B N E R S S ON S
’

P u b l ish e d S e p t e m b e r , 1 91 3

! CI A 3 5 4 1 5 5
.
 TO TH E R E A D E R

Those who w i sh to know some thing about

h ow the peo p le lived who told these stor i es
w i ll find their way s of lif e d es c r i bed in t he last
chapter of this book
The B lackfee t we re h un t er s t r av ell i ng from
,

p lace t o pla c e on foo t They used im plements

.

of s t one wood o r bon e wor e c lothing made of

, , ,

sk i ns a n d live d in t ents c overed by h i des

,
.

D ogs the ir only t ame anim a ls were used as

, ,

beas ts of bu rd en t o ca rry small pac ks a nd drag

l i ght lo a ds .

T he st ories h er e t old c ome down t o us from

v ery ancien t t i mes Grandfathers have told
.

them to their grand c h i l d ren and these aga i n

,

to the i r grandch i ldren and s o from mouth to

,

mouth through m a ny genera t ions they have

, ,

re a ched ou r t im e .
 C O N T E N TS

P A GE

Two FAS T R UNNE RS

TH E WOL F MA N
KUT -
o -! I S T H E B L OO D B O!

THE D O G AN D T H E R OO T D I GGE R .

TH E C A MP OF T H E GHOS T S .

T H E B UFF A L O S T O NE

How T H E TH UN D ER P I P E C A M E

C OL D MAK E R S M E D ICI N E
’

TH E A L L C O M RA D ES S OCIE T IES
T HE B UL LS SOCIE T !
T H E O T HER SOCIE T IES

TH E F IRS T M E D ICI N E L O D G E

TH E B UF F A L O P AI NT E D L O D G ES
-

M iK A '
PI -
R E D OL D MA N

R E D R OB E S D R E A M
’
 C ON TEN TS
P A GE

THE B LAC K F EE T C REA T IO N

OL D MA N S T ORIES
T HE W O N D ER F U L B IR D
T HE RA B B I T S M E D ICI N E
’

T HE LOS T E LK M EA T

T HE ROLLI N G ROC K
B EAR A N D B UL L B E R R I E S

T HE T HE F T F ROM T HE S UN

T HE SM AR T W O MA N CHIE F
B O B CA T A N D B IRCH T REE
T HE RE D E ! E D D U C K
-

THE AN CIE N T B L AC K F EE T

V1 1 1
B LA C KF E E T IN DI A N ST O R I E S
 B l a c kf e e t I n d ia n S t o r ie s

TWO F A ST R UNN ER S

. J
N CE ,
a long t ime a go the an t elope a nd
,

the deer happened t o meet on the pra i

r i e They spoke together g i v i ng each other
.
,

the news e ac h tell i ng wha t he had seen and

,

done A f t e r they ha d t alked for a t ime the

.

antelope told t he deer h ow fas t he c oul d run ,

and the deer sai d t ha t h e c oul d run fas t t oo ,

and be fore long ea c h beg a n t o say t hat he c ould

run fas t er than the o th er So t hey agre e d t hat
.

they would have a r a c e t o d ec i de which c ould

run t he fas t er an d on t his r a c e they be t t he i r
,

g alls When t hey s t ar t ed t he a ntelope ran

.
,

ahea d of the deer from the v ery star t a n d won

the race and so took the deer s gall ’
.

B ut the deer began to grumble and said ,

Well i t i s t rue that ou t here on th e pra i r i e

,
 BLACKFEE T I ND I AN STO RIE S
you have beaten me but this i s not where I
,

l i ve I only come out here once i n a wh i le to

.

feed or to cross the pra i r i e when I am go i ng

somewhere I t would be fa i rer if we had a race
.

i n the t i mber That is my home and there I

.
,

”
can run faster than you I am sure of i t
. .

The antelope felt s o glad and proud that he

had beaten the deer i n the race that he was
sure tha t wherever they m i ght run he could
bea t him so he sa i d A ll r i ght I w i ll run you
, , ,

a ra c e in the t i mber I have beaten you out

.

”
here on the fla t and I c an beat you there On .

th i s race they bet the i r dew claws -

.

They started and ran th i s race through the

th i ck t i mber among the bushes and over fallen
, ,

logs and th i s t i me the antelope ran slowly fo r

, ,

he was afra i d of h i tti ng h i msel f aga i nst the trees

or of fall i ng over the logs You se e he was not
.
,

used to th i s k i nd of travell i ng So the deer .

eas i ly beat h i m and took h i s dew claw s -

,

S i nce that t i me the deer has had no gall and

the antelope no dew claws -
.
 TH E WO LF MA N

LON G t i me ago t here was a man who

had two wives They were not good
.
!

women ; they di d not look after the i r home

nor try t o keep t h i ngs c omf ortable t here I f
.

the man brought in plenty of bu ffalo cow skins

t hey di d not tan them well and often when
,

he came home a t n i ght hungry and ti red after

,

h i s hun t ing he had no food for t hese women

, ,

would be away from t he lo d ge visiting the i r

,

relat i ons and having a good time .

The man thought tha t if he moved away

from the b i g c amp and l i ved alone where there
were no other people perhaps he m i ght teach
these women to become good ; s o he moved h i s
lodge fa r off on the prair i e and camped at the
foot of a h i gh butte.

E very even i ng about sundown the man used

to climb up to the top of th i s butte and sit
there and look all over t he count ry t o se e where
3
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
the bu ffalo were feed i ng and whether any ene
m i es were mov i ng about On top of the h i ll.

there was a bu ffalo skull on whic h he used to,

S it
.

One day on e of the women said to t he other ,

I t i s very lonely here ; we ha v e no one to talk

w i th or t o vis i t .

“
L et us k i ll ou r husband said the other ;,

then we can go back to ou r relations and

have a good t i me .

E arly next morning the man set ou t to hunt ,

and as soon a s he was ou t of s i ght his w i ves

wen t up on t op of t he bu t te where he used to
s it
. There t hey dug a deep h ol e and covered it
over with ligh t st i cks and grass and earth so ,

that it looked l ike the o ther soil near by and ,

placed the bu ffalo skull on t he st i cks wh i ch

covered the hole .

I n the afternoon as they watc hed for their

,

return i ng husband they saw h i m come over

,

the h ill loaded down with mea t that he had

killed When he threw down h i s load outside
.

the lo d ge they hurr i ed t o cook something for

,

hi m After he had eaten he went up on the

.

4
 TH E WOLF M AN
butte and sat down on the sku l l The slender .

sti cks broke and he fell in t o t he hole His .

w i ves were watching him and when they sa w ,

hi m d i sappear they took down the lodge and

,

packed their dogs and se t out t o go to the

m a i n camp A s they drew near it so that
.
,

people c ould hear t hem they began t o cry and ,

m ourn .

Soon some people came t o mee t them and

“
said What is th i s ? Why are you mourning ?
,

”
Where is your husband ?
”
A h they repl i ed he is d ea d F ive days
, , .

ago he wen t ou t to hun t and he d id not come

back Wha t S hall we do ? We have lost him
.

”
who c ared for us ; a n d t hey c rie d an d mourne d
again .

N ow when t he man fell in t o th e p i t h e was

,

hurt for the hole was d ee p Af ter a time he

, .

t ried t o cl i mb ou t but h e was so badly bruised

,

t h at he could not do so He sat th ere and .

wa i ted t h i nking t ha t here he mus t surely die

,

of hunger .

B ut travelling o v er t he prairie was a wolf

t h a t cl i mb e d up on the butte and c ame t o the
5
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
hole and look i ng i n sa w the man and pitied
, ,

hi m.

“ ”
A h h w o o o ! A h h w o o o o ! he how l ed
- - - - - - - - - - -
,

and when the other wolves heard h im they all

came running t o se e what was t he ma tt er F ol .

low i ng the b i g wolves came also many coyo t es ,

badgers and k i t foxes They d id no t know

,
-
.

what had happened bu t they thoug ht p erh aps ,

there was food here .

T o t he others the wolf said Here in this ,

hole is what I have found Here is a m a n who .

has fallen in L et us dig him ou t an d we will

.

h ave h i m for our brother .

A l l the wolves thought t h at this talk was

good and they began to dig and be fore very
, ,

long they had dug a hole down almos t t o the

bottom of the p i t .

Then the wolf who had foun d t he man said ,

Hold on ; wait a l i ttle ; I wan t t o s a y a few

”
words A ll the animals s t opped digging and
.

“
began t o l i sten and the wolf sa i d We will all
, ,

have th i s man for our brother ; bu t I found him ,

and so I th i nk he ought to l ive w i th us big

wol ve s All the others thought tha t this wa s
.

6
 T H E WOLF MA N

good and the wolf tha t had found the man

,

went i nto the hole that h a d been dug and t ear ,

ing down the res t of the earth dragged ou t t he

,

poor man who w a s now almos t dead fo r he

, ,

had neither eate n nor d run k any th ing S in c e h e

fell in t he hole They g av e t he m an a ki d ney
.

t o e at a nd when he was able t o w a lk t he b i g

,

wol v e s t ook him t o their home Here t here .

was a v ery old blind wolf who had grea t p ower

a nd could do won d erful t hings He c ured the .

man a nd made his head and his h a nds look l i ke

those of a wolf The r es t of his body w a s no t
.

c hanged .

I n t hose days t he p e op l e us e d t o m ake holes

in the wa l l s of t he fen c e abou t t he en cl osure
int o whi ch t hey led th e bu ff al o They se t .

snar es o v er t hese holes a n d when wo lves a n d

,

othe r a nim als c rep t th roug h t hem so as t o ge t

i nto the p en a n d fee d on t he me at t hey were
c augh t by the ne c k a nd kil l e d a n d th e pe ople
,

used t heir S kins for c lo thing .

On e n i ght a ll th e wol v e s wen t down t o t he

pen t o ge t me at a nd when they had come c lose
,

“
t o i t the m a n wolf said t o his bro t hers
,
-
Stop ,

7
 BLACKFEE T IN D I AN STO RIE S
here for a l i ttle wh i le and I w i ll go down and
fix the places so that you w i ll not be caught .

He went down to the pen and S prung all the

snares and then went back and called the
,

—
wolves and the others the coyo t es badgers and , ,

—
k i t foxes and they all went into the pen and
-

feasted and t ook mea t t o carry home to t he i r

fam i lies I n the morn i ng the people found the
.

meat gone and all their snares sprung and they ,

were surprised and wondered how th i s could

have happened F or many n i gh t s the nooses
.

were pulled t i ght and the meat taken ; but once

when the wolves went t here to eat they found
only t he meat of a lean and sickly bull Then .

the man wolf was angry and he cr i ed ou t l i ke

-
,

“
a wolf B ad food you give u s o o o ! B ad food
,
- - - - - - - -

you g iv e u S o o o o
- - - - - -

When the people heard th i s they sa i d to one

“
another A h i t is a man wolf who has done
, ,
-

”
all this We mus t cat ch h i m
. So they took .

down to the p isku n pemmican and n i ce back

l

fa t and pl a ced it there and many of them hid ,

1
A p e n o r e n clos u r e , u su a l l y — a m on g t e
h B lackfee
—
t a t t he foo t of a

c l iff, o ve r which t h e b uffa lo we r e in d u ce d to ! u m p P r on o u n ce d pi skun

’
. .

8
 K UT O ! I S ,
— — ’
TH E B L OO D B O!

Sthe c hildren whose ancestors c ame from

E urope ha v e storie s about the heroe s who
—
k i lled wicked and c ruel mons t ers l i ke Jack the
—
Gian t Ki ller for ex a mpl e so the I ndian ch i l
,

dren h ear s t ories abou t persons w h o ha d magic

power and wh o went abou t the world des troy
ing those who t reated cruelly or kille d the I n
d i ans of the c amps Such a hero w a s Kli t o
‘
-
.

’
y
’

i s, and th i s is how he c ame t o be a l ive and

t o travel abou t from place to place h elping the
,

people and destroying their enemies .

I t was long long ago down where Two Med

, ,

ic in e and B adger R ivers c ome together that an ,

ol d man l i ved w i th his wife and three daughters .

One day there came t o h is camp a young man ,

good looking a good hunter and brave He

-
, ,
.

stayed in the c amp for some t i me a nd when ,

ever he wen t hunt i ng he k i lled game a nd

brought in great loads of mea t .

10
 KU B LOO D
'
T o ! IS - -
, T HE B O!

A ll this t ime t he ol d m a n was watching him ,

“
for he s aid in h i s hear t Th i s seems a good ,

young man and a good hunt e r Perhaps I .

w i ll gi v e him my daughters for wi v es an d then ,

”
he will s tay h ere an d help me a lw ays .

Aft er a t ime t he ol d man d e c ide d t o d o thi s ,

a nd h e g av e th e young m a n his da ught ers ; and

bec aus e these thr e e we r e h is only c hil d ren h e
ga v e h is s on in la w his d og s a n d all his p roper ty
- -
,

and for himself a nd his wife he kep t only a

’
l i ttl e l o d ge The young man s wi v es t anned
.

plen ty of c ow S kins a n d m a de a big fine l odge ,

and in th is the son in law l i v e d with his wi v es - -

.

F or some t ime after t his t he s on in law w a s - -

very good a nd kind to t he ol d people When he .

k i lled a ny anima l h e g av e them p a r t of the

meat an d ga v e t hem skins which h is mo th er
,

in law t a nned for robe s or for c lo th ing

-
.

A S time wen t on the son in law beg a n t o grow - -

s tingy and prett y soon he gav e nothing t o h i s

,

father in l aw s lodge bu t kep t e ve ry th ing for

- -
’

h i s own .

N ow the son in law was a person of much

,
- -

mys t erious power a nd he kept t he bu ffa l o hid ,

11
 BLACKFEE T I ND IAN STO RIE S
den under a b i g log j am i n the r i ver When
-
.

ever he needed food and w i shed to kil l anyth i ng ,

he would take his father in law w i th h i m to

- -

help He would send the old man ou t to stamp

.

o n t he log j am and fr i ghten the bu ffalo

-
and ,

when they ran out from under i t the young

man would S hoot on e or t wo with h i s arrows ,

ne v er k i ll i ng more than he nee d ed B u t o ften .

he gav e t he ol d people nothing a t a l l t o eat .

They were h ungry all the time an d at length ,

they began to grow th i n and weak .

One morning early the young man asked h i s

father in law to c ome and hunt with h i m They
- -
.

went to t he log j am and the old man drove

-

o u t the bu ff alo and h i s s on —

in law k i lled a fat-

bu ff alo cow Then he sa i d to h i s father in law

.
- -
,

Hurry back now t o the camp and t e l l your

daughters to come and c arry home the meat ,

and then y ou can ha v e someth i ng to eat The

o l d man se t o u t for the camp th i nk i ng as he , ,

“
wal ked along N ow at last my son in law has
, , ,
- -

taken pity on me ; h e will give me some of th i s

meat .

When h e re t urned w i th his d augh t er s they

12
 —
K DT o T HE BL OO D B O!

skinne d the cow and cut it up and carrying i t , ,

went home The young man had h i s w i ves

.

leave the meat a t h i s own lodge and t old h i s

father in law to go home
- -
He d i d n ot give h i m
.

even a l i ttle p i e c e of the meat The two older .

daughters gave the i r parents nothing t o eat ,

but somet i mes the younges t on e had p i ty on

them and took a p i ece of mea t an d when S he ,

could threw it into the lodge t o the ol d people

, .

The son in law had told his wives not t o give

- -

the ol d people anything t o ea t E x c ep t for .

the good heart of the younges t daugh t er t hey

would have died of hunger .

A nother day the son in law rose early in the

- -

morn i ng and wen t over to the old man s lodge ’

and k icked ag ai nst t he poles c all i ng t o h im , ,

“
Ge t up now an d help me ; I want you t o go
and stamp on the log j am t o drive ou t the b u f
-

”
falo . When t he ol d man moved h i s fee t on
the j am and a bu ffalo r a n out the s on in law ,
- -

was not ready for it and i t passed by h i m b e

,

fore he shot the arrow ; so he only woun d ed

it It ran a way bu t a t las t it fell d own a nd
.
,

die d .

13
 BLACKFEE T I N D IAN STO RIE S
The old man followed close after i t and as he ,

ran along he came t o a place where a great c lot

’
of blood had fallen from the bu ffalo s wound .

When he came to where th i s clo t of blood was

lying on the ground he stumble d and fell and ,

spille d his arrows ou t of h i s quiver an d while ,

h e was picking them up he picked up also the

c lo t of blood and hid it in his quiver .

“ ”
Wha t a re y ou picking up ? called the son
in law
-
.

“
N o th ing replie d t he ol d man
, I fell .

down an d spille d my arrows a nd I a m putting ,

”
them back .

“
A h ol d man , said t he son in l aw
, y o u - -
,

are lazy and useless ! ou no longer help me . .

Go back now t o the camp and t ell your daugh t er s

”
t o c ome down here and help carry in this mea t .

The ol d man wen t t o the camp and t old h i s

daugh t ers of the mea t t h at the i r husband had
killed an d t hey went d own t o the killing ground
,
.

Then h e went t o his own lodge and sa i d to h i s

“
w ife Hurry now put the s t one kettle on the
, , ,

fire I ha v e brough t home something from the

.

”
k i lling .

14
 U
K T O -
T HE BLOO D B O!

Ah said t he ol d woman has ou r son in

, ,
-

law been generous and given us some th i ng nice

”
to ea t ?
“
N o replied the old man
, bu t hurry a n d ,

”
put the ke t tle on t he fire .

After a t ime the wat er began t o boil an d t he

old m a n t urned his quiver u p side down over
the po t an d immedia t ely there c ame from i t a
,

soun d of a chi l d crying a s if it were being hurt

, .

The ol d people both looked in the ke tt le and

t here th ey saw a l it tle boy and they quickly ,

took him ou t of t he wa t er They were sur .

prise d an d d id n ot kn ow where t he child had

c ome from The ol d wom a n wrap p ed the child
.

up an d woun d a line abou t its wrap pings to

keep them in pla c e m aking a l as h ing for the
,

c h i ld Then t hey t alked abou t i t won d ering

.
,

wha t S hould be done with it They t hought .

tha t if their son in law knew i t w a s a b oy he

- -

would kil l it ; so they de t ermined to tel l t heir

daughters tha t th e baby was a girl for then ,

t he i r son in law would th i nk that he was go i ng

- -

to ha v e another w i fe So he would be glad

. .

—
They call ed th e chil d Kfi t o yis C lo t of B lood - -
’ ’
.

15
 BLACKFEE T I ND I AN STORIE S
The son in law and his wives came home
- -
,

bring i ng the meat and after a l i ttle t i me they,

heard the ch i ld in the next lodge crying The .

“
s on in law sa i d to his youngest w i fe
- -
Go over ,

’
to your mother s and se e whether that baby is
a b oy or a girl I f it is a boy tell your paren t s
.
,

”
to k i ll i t .

Soon the young woman came back and said

to her husband I t i s a g i rl baby You are
, .

”
to have another w ife .

The s on in law did not know whether t o b e

- -

l i eve this and sent h i s oldest w i fe to a sk the

,

same questi on When she came back and told

.

h i m the same thing he bel i eved tha t it w a s really

a g i rl Then he was glad for he sa i d to himsel f
.
, ,

N ow when th i s ch i ld has grown up I shall

, ,

”
have another w i fe He said to his youngest .

“
w i fe Take some back fa t and pemmican over
,

to your mother ; she must be well fe d now tha t

”
S he has to nurse th i s ch i ld .

On the fourth day after he had been born

“
the ch i ld S poke and said to h i s mother Hold ,

me i n turn to each one of these lodge poles and ,

when I c ome t o the last one I S hall fall out of

16
 BLACKFEE T I N D IAN STO RIE S
has t aken even my dogs ; and now for many
days we have had no thing to eat ex c ept some ,

t i mes a small p i ece of me at that ou r daugh t e r

throws to us .

“ ” “
F ather sai d Kut o
, h a v e y ou no ar
-

”
r ows ?
“
N o my son
, r epl ie d th e ol d m a n bu t I
, ,

st i ll h ave four st on e a r r ow poin t s

”
Go ou t th en s ai d Kut o y i s
, and get - -

some woo d We wil l make a bow and some

.

arrows an d in th e morning we will go down t o

,

where t he bu ff al o are a nd kill some thing t o

”
eat .

E arly in t he morning Kfi t o y l s pushed the - -

“
o l d m a n and s a id C ome ge t up now and we
, , ,

will go d own and kill when t he bu ff alo come ,

ou t. It w a s stil l v ery e a rly in th e morning .

When they re ac h ed t he ri ve r the old man

“
sa i d T h i s 1 s t he pl ac e t o st and a nd shoo t I
, .

”
w i ll go d own and drive t hem out .

He wen t down and s t amped on the l og j am -

,

'
and presen tly a f at c ow r an ou t a nd Kli t o yfs
‘
- -

k i lled it .

N ow aft er t hese t wo had gone t o t he ri v e r

,

18
 KU —
T O s
— BLOO D
'
, T HE B O!

the son in law a rose and wen t over t o the ol d

- -

man s lodge a n d kn ocked on the poles and called

’

to the ol d man to ge t up a n d help him kill The .

o l d woman c alle d ou t t o th e s on in l aw saying - -

, ,

“
Your fa the r in law has already gon e d own t o
- -

t he pis k un This m ad e the son in l a w a ngry

.
99
- -
,

and he beg a n t o talk badly t o the ol d woman

and t o th rea t en t o ha rm her .

Pr e s en tly h e wen t on d own t o t h e l og j a m -

,

and as h e go t n ear the pl ac e h e s a w th e old man

at work th ere ben d ing o v er S kinning a bu ffalo ;
, ,

for Kli t o w h en h e had seen the son in law

‘
- - -

coming had lain d own on t he groun d an d h id

,

den him self b eh in d th e ca r ca ss .

When the son in la w had c ome pretty cl ose - -

t o wher e the bu ff a lo l ay he sa i d t o h is fa ther in -

“
law , Ol d m an s t an d up and loo k all abou t
,

you L oo k ca refully a n d well for it will b e t he

.
,

last time th at y ou will e v er se e a ny th ing a nd

while the s on in l aw sai d th i s he t oo k a n a rrow
- -

from his quiver .

K ii t o y is spoke t o the ol d man from hi s hid

’ '
- -

“
ing place and said
-
Tell your s on in law that ,
- -

he must take h i s las t look for that y ou are going ,

19
 BLACKFEE T IN D IAN STO RIE S
t o kil l h i m now The old man said this as he
.

had been told .

“ ”
A h sa i d the son in law
, you talk back - -
,

to me That makes me still angrier at you

. .

He put an arrow on the str i ng and shot at the

o l d man bu t did not h i t h i m Ku t o y is sa i d ’ ’
- -
.
,

to the old man Pick up that arrow and shoot ,

”
it back at him ; and the ol d man did so N ow .
,

they sho t at each other four ti mes and then the ,

“
o l d man said t o K fi t o I am afra i d n o w ; -

get up and help me I f you d o no t I th i nk he .

,

’
w il l kill me Then K iit o yis rose to h i s feet
.
- -
’

“
and said t o the son in law Here what are - -
, ,

you doing ? I th i nk you have been treati ng

th i s ol d man badly for a long time Why do .

”
you do i t ?
“
Oh no said the son in I a w and h e smile d
,
- -
,

'
a t K lit o yis in a friendly way for he was afraid
‘
- -
’

“
of him . Oh no ; no on e t h i nks more of this
o l d man than I do I ha v e a lw ays been v ery .

”
good to h i m .

“
N sa i d Ku t o y l s You are saying wha t
- -

”
is not true and I am go i ng to k i ll you now
,
.

Kfi t o y
-
i s-
shot the ’

s o n
’
—
in law four t i mes an d -

20
 KUT o -
T HE BLOO D B O!

he fell d own and died Then the young man .

told h i s father to go and br i ng down to h i m the

daughters who h a d a ct ed badly tow a rd h i m .

The ol d man d i d so a n d Kfit o yis punished '

’
- -

them Then he wen t up t o t he l odges an d said

.

to the younges t woman D i d y ou lo v e your hus ,

“ ” “ ”
band ? Y e s said th e girl I love d him
, , .

’
So Kfit o yis punished h er t oo bu t no t so badly
’
- -
,

as he had t he other daugh t ers be ca use S he had ,

been k i n d t o h er parents .

T o the ol d people h e s ai d Go o ve r now to ,

tha t l o dge a n d live th ere There is plenty of .

foo d and when t ha t is gone I will kill more

, .

A s for me I shall make a j ourney Tell me

, .

where t here are any people I n w hat d ire ction .

”
s hall I go to find a c amp ?
“ ”
Well sa i d the ol d man up h ere on Two
, ,

Medicine L odge C reek there are some people

”
u p where t he piskun is you know
-
, .

’
Kut o yis followed u p t he stream to where
’
- -

the p i skun w as an d t here found many lodges

of p e ople I n the c en t re of the c amp was a b i g
.

lodge and p aint e d on i t t he figure of a bear

, .

He did no t go t o this lodge but wen t into a ,

921
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
small lodge where two ol d women l i ved When .

he had sa t down they pu t food before him

lean dried mea t a nd some belly fa t .

“ ”
How is this grandmothers ? he said
, Here .

is a c amp with plenty of fa t mea t and ba c k fa t

hanging up to dry ; why do y ou no t give me
”
some of t hat ?
“
Hus h ; be c areful said t he ol d women
, .

I n that big l o d ge o v er ther e li v e s a big bear

and his wi v es a n d ch ildren He takes all the .

bes t food a n d le aves u s no t hing He is the .

c h i ef of th is pl ac e .

E a r l y in the morning Kri t o y l s sa i d t o t he

‘
- -

ol d women , H arnes s up your dogs to the tra

v oi s now a n d go o v e r t o the piskun a nd I will ,

”
kil l s ome fa t me at for you .

When t hey go t t here he k il l e d a fa t c ow a nd

,

helpe d the ol d women t o c u t i t up and t hey ,

t ook i t t o t he lo dge On e of th os e old women

.

“ ”
sa i d Ah me t he be ar s will be s ure t o c ome
, , .

“ ”
Why d o you say that ? he asked .

“
They sa i d to him We S hall be sorry t o lose
,

”
th i s back fat .

“
D o not fear he sa i d
, N 0 on e shall take
.

22
 KU s BLOO D
'
T o - -
, T HE B O!

th i s back fa t from you N ow t ake all those .

,

best p i eces and hang them up s o tha t t hose ,

who l iv e i n t he be ar lodge may see t hem .

They d i d s o Pr et ty soon t h e ol d b ear chief

.

“
sa i d t o on e of his c hildr e n B y t hi s ti me ,

I think t h e p eop le h ave fini shed k i ll ing Go .

o u t now a n d loo k a bou t ; see w here t he n i ces t

p i eces a r e a n d bring in s om e ni c e b ac k
,

”
fat.

One of the young be a rs wen t ou t of the l odge

and stoo d u p a nd l ook ed abou t a nd when i t ,

s a w t hi s m eat ha nging by t he ol d women s ’

lodge close by i t wen t o ver t ow ar d it

, .

“ “
A h sai d the ol d wom e n t her e are t hose ,

bears .

“
D o no t be afrai d s a id Kfit o yrs ,
- -

The young bea r w e n t o ve r t o wher e the mea t

was h anging a n d s t oo d u p a n d beg a n t o p ull i t
down K ii t o y fs w e n t ou t of th e l o d g e and
.
-
'
-

s aid , Wai t ; wai t ! Wh at are y ou d oing tak ,

”
ing th e ol d women s me at ? ’

The young be a r a nswered My fa th er t ol d ,

me th at I S hould go ou t and ge t t h i s me a t a n d
”
bring i t h ome t o h im .

23
 BLACKF EE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
Kut o yrs h i t t he young bear over the hea d
- -

with a s t ick and it ran home cry i ng .

Wh en it had re ac hed t he lodge i t t o ld w h a t

h ad happened a nd t h e fa t h e r bear s aid I wil l
'

go o v er there myself ; perh aps t his p erson wil l

”
hi t m e o v er the hea d .

Wh en t he ol d wo me n sa w th e father and
mo th er bear and a l l their r elations c oming they
wer e afraid bu t Kfit o yis j umped ou t of the ’
‘
- -
,

lodg e a nd k i lled t he bears on e after another ;

all ex c ep t on e l i ttle sh e be a r a v ery small one
-
, ,

which go t a way .

“ “
Well said Kit t o
,
-
you m ay go and
”
breed more bears .

He t old the ol d women t o mo v e over to the

bear p ain t ed lodge and after th i s t o l i ve in it
-
.

It w a s t heir s .

T o t he ol d wom e n Kut o y rs the n sa i d - -

,

N ow gr a ndmo th ers w h ere are there a ny more

, ,

”
people ? I w a n t t o t ra v el abou t an d se e them .

“
The ol d women sa i d At the Poin t of R ocks
,

—on Sun R iver— th ere is a camp There is a .

p i skun there
—
So Kut o y i s se t off for tha t pla c e and when
-
,

24
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RI E S
snake who was lying t here asleep and pricked
, ,

“
him wi th his knife saying Here ge t up ; I have
, , ,

c ome t o v isi t y ou L e t us s moke together

. .

T h en th e s nak e w a s a ngry an d he r a ised up

’
his he ad an d began t o r attle a nd Kl it o yis cu t
’ ’
- -
,

o ff h is he ad an d c u t h im in pie c e s He cut off .

’
t he h ea d s of all th e snake s wi v es a n d children ;
a l l ex c e pt on e li tt le fem ale s n ak e w h i c h go t

a w ay by c rawling into a c r ack in t h e r o ck s .

“ ” “
O h well said Kfit o
, , you ca n go an d
-

bree d sn akes so t here will b e more T h e peo

ple will not be afrai d of li ttl e snakes .

'
Kli t o y fs s aid t o the ol d woman N ow
‘
- -
, ,

gran d mo ther go in t o t his snak e lodge a nd take

,

”
i t for your own a n d e v ery thing th at is in it .

“
Then he said t o t hem Where are th ere some
,

”
more p eople ? They t ol d h im th ere wer e s ome
camp s d own th e ri v e r a n d some up in th e moun
“
t ains bu t th ey sai d
, D o no t go up there
, .

I t is b a d be c aus e th ere l i v e s Ai s i n o k O k i -
’
- - -

”
Win d Su cker He will kil l you
. .

’
Kli t o yfs w a s glad t o know that there was
’
- -

such a person and he went to the mountains

,
.

When h e reached the place where Wind Sucker

26
 KUT O -
T HE B LOO D B O!

li v ed h e l ooked in t o h is mouth and sa w there

,

many d e a d people Some were S kele t ons and.

some had only j us t d i ed He wen t in a nd t here .

,

he sa w a fe arful sigh t Th e ground w a s white .

as snow wi t h t he bon e s of th ose w h o h ad died .

There were bodies with flesh on t hem ; s om e who

had d i ed no t long befor e a n d s ome w h o w e re
st i ll living .

A s he looke d about he sa w hanging down ,

above him a grea t t hing th a t s e em e d t o mo v e

t o grow a l i tt le la rge r a n d the n t o g r ow a l i tt le

s mal ler .

Kfi t o yl s s p o ke t o on e of the p eopl e w h o was

- -

“
a li v e and a s ked Wh at i s that h anging d own
,

”
abo v e us ?
Th e p erson a n s w e r ed h im T hat i s Win d ,

’ ”
Sucker s hear t .

Then K fi t o y l s sp ok e t o al l the li v ing a nd

- -

said t o t hem You wh o st ill d r aw a li ttl e bre a th

,

t ry t o mo ve your head s in t im e t o t he s ong t ha t

I sh all sing ; a n d you wh o a r e st i ll ab l e t o mo v e
s ta n d u p on your fee t a nd d a n ce T ake c our age .

”
now ; we a re going t o da n c e t o th e gh os t s .

’
T h en Kut o yis t ie d his knife p oin t u p w a r d
’
- -
, ,

27
 BLACKFEE T I N D IA N STO RIE S
to the t op of h i s head and began to dan c e S i ng ,

i ng the ghos t song and all the others danced

,

w i th him ; a nd as he danced up and down he

kep t spring i ng higher and h i gher i nto the a i r ,

and the po i n t of his k nife c ut W i nd Su c ker s ’

hear t and k i lle d him .

Then Ku t o with h i s kn i fe cu t a hole

-
,

’
betwe e n Wind Sucker s ribs and he and all ,

those wh o were able t o move cr awled out

through t he h ole He said t o th ose w h o c ould
.

st i ll walk t ha t they should go and t ell the i r

people to c ome here to ge t t he ones s ti ll alive
,

bu t unable to t ravel .

To some of t hese p eople t h a t he had freed

“
he said ,Where are there a ny other people ?
”
I wan t t o visit all the p eople .

“
There is a c amp t o t he wes tw a rd up the ,

ri v er they replied ; bu t you must not take

,

the lef t hand tra i l go i ng up because on that tra i l

-

lives a woman who invi t es men t o wrestle w i th

”
her a n d t hen kills them Av o i d her . .

N ow really th i s was wha t Kfi t o y l s was

, ,
- -

look i ng for This was what he was do i ng i n

.

the world t rying t o k il l off all the bad things

, .

28
 KU IS BLOO D
'
T O ! - -
, T HE B O!

He asked these people just where this woman

l i ved and h ow it was bes t for h i m t o go s o t ha t
he should n ot meet her He di d this because .

he d i d not wish the people t o k now t ha t he was

go i ng where S he was .

He starte d a nd after h e h a d t ra v elle d some

,

time he sa w a woman standing not far from the

tra i l She called to him saying
. C ome h ere , , ,

young man come here ; I wan t t o wres tle with

,

99

y o u .

“
N o he replied , I am in a h u r ry ; I c a n ,

not stop .

The wom a n c alle d again N o no ; d o no t , ,

”
go on ; come now and wrestle once with me .

A fte r sh e h ad called him t he four th t ime ,

Kut o yfs wen t t o her '

‘
- -
.

N ow on t he ground where t his wom a n wre s

t l e d with people sh e ha d placed m a ny sharp ,

broken fl in t s t one s partly hiding t h e m by the

-
,

grass The t wo sei z ed e a c h o ther a n d began

.

to wrestle o v er t hese sharp st ones bu t Kiit o ,

-

’
y
‘’
I s looked at the ground an d did n o t s t ep on

them He watched his chance and gave the

.

wom a n a qui c k wrench and threw h er down on ,

29
 BLACKFEE T I ND IAN STORIE S
a large S harp flint wh i ch cut her in t wo ; and
,

the par t s of her body fell a sunder .

’
K li t o yfs the n wen t on an d after a t ime
’
- -
,

came t o w h ere a woman h a d m ad e a pla ce for

S l i ding d ownhill A t the far end of i t s he had
.

fixed a rope which w h en sh e raised i t woul d t rip

, ,

people up a nd when they were tr i pped they fell

,

ove r a h ig h c li ff in t o a deep wa ter where a great ,

fish at e them .

When t his wom a n sa w Kfi t o y rs c oming sh e - -

“
c rie d ou t t o h im C ome o v er here young man
, , ,

a nd sli d e wi th me .

”
N o he repl i e d I am in a h urry ; I ca n
, ,

”
no t w ai t . She kep t c alling t o him and when ,

S he had ca lled him t he four th t i me he wen t

over where he was t o sli d e with her .

“ ”
This sl i ding said t he woman
, i s v ery ,

”
good fu n .

“ “ ”
A h yes said Kli t o
, , I will look at it
’
-
.

A s he wen t near t he place he looked c arefully

and s aw the hid d en rop e He began t o S lide .
,

and holding his knife in h is hand when he ,

reached the rope h e c u t i t j ust as t h e woman

raise d it an d pulled on it an d th e woman fell ,

30
 KUT O -
T HE B LOO D B O!

over ba ckwar d in t o t he w at er an d w a s eat en

up by the big fish .

F rom h e r e h e wen t on again and afte r a time ,

he came t o a big c amp A man e at er w a s t he .

-

chief of this pla c e

B efore Kfi t o y i s w e n t t o t he chief s l o d ge
- -
’

h e l ook e d abou t a n d saw a little girl an d c alle d

“
her t o him a n d sai d C hild I a m going in t o , ,

t ha t l odg e t o l e t that man ea t er ki ll a n d ea t

,
-

me T h e r efore b e on th e w at ch an d if y ou
.
, ,

can ge t h o ld of on e of my bon es t ake i t ou t a n d

c all all t h e d ogs t o you a n d w he n th ey have ,

c om e t o y ou thr ow d ow n th e bon e a n d say ,

’
Kfi t o yis the d og s a re e at ing your
‘
- -
,

’
Then Kut o yis en t e r e d th e lo d ge a n d w h en
’
- -
,

“
t he man e at e r s aw him h e c alled ou t
-
Oki , ,

”
ok i ! ( we l come we lc ome ! ! a n d seeme
, d g l a d t o

se e h im for h e w a s a fa t young m a n
, T he .

man ea t er t ook a knife an d walked up t o KiI t o

-
’
-

’
y i
’
s a nd cut his thro at an d p u t him in t o a great
s t one po t t o c ook When t he me at w as c ooked .

he pulle d th e kettl e from the fire a nd a te t he

body limb by limb un til i t was all eate n
, , .

A ft e r that th e l i ttle gir l w h o w a s w atch ing

31
 BLAC KFEE T I N D IAN STO RIE S
c am e int o the lodge and said Pi ty me man , ,

eater my mother 1 s hungry a nd asks you for

,

”
t hose bones Th e ol d m a n gathered them
.

together and h an d e d them t o her and she took ,

them ou t of th e l odge Wh e n sh e h ad gone a .

littl e w ay she called all t he d ogs t o h er and

,

threw d own th e bone s t o t he d ogs c rying ou t , ,

“ ”
L ook ou t Kii t o yfs th e d ogs are eati ng you
,
’
- -
, ,

’
and w h en she sai d t h at Kut o yis arose from
’
- -
,

t he pile of bones .

A gain he wen t int o t he lo d ge a n d w h en the ,

“
man eat er s aw h im he c ried ou t
-
How h ow , , ,

”
h ow ! the fa t young m a n h as s urvi v e d ! and he
seem ed s urp rise d A gain he took h i s knife an d
.

’
cut the t hro at of Kli t o yis a nd t hr e w h im int o
’ ’
- -

the ke ttl e A gain w h en t h e m eat w a s c ooked

.

he ate i t an d when th e l i ttl e girl asked for the

,

bon es again he gav e the m t o her She t ook .

them ou t and t hrew t h e m t o t he d ogs crying , ,

“ ”
K ii t o -
t he d og s a r e ea ting y ou and ,

aga i n Kfi t o yfs a rose from t he bones

'
’
- -
.

When the man eater had c ooked him four -

’
t i mes Ku t o y is again went in t o the lodge and
- -
’

seizing t he man eater h e threw him in t o t he

-
,

32
 TH E D OG A N D TH E R OO T D I GGER

H I S hap pened long ago .

I n those day s the pe op le w er e h ungry .

N o bu ff al o c ou ld b e foun d n o a n tel ope were

,

seen on the pr airie G ra ss g re w in the t r ails

.

wher e th e e l k a n d the d eer use d t o t ravel .

There was no t e ve n a rabbi t in t he brus h Then .

“
t he p eople p r ayed O h Nap i h el p u s now or
, , ,

we mus t d i e T he bu ffalo a n d t he d eer are

.

gone It i s use l ess t o kindle the morning fires ;

.

ou r a rrow s a re use l es s t o us ; ou r k ni v es rema i n

”
in t heir she ath s .

Then N api se t ou t t o fin d w h ere t he g ame

was an d wi th h im w e n t a young m an the son
, ,

of a c hief . F or m a ny days t hey t r av elle d over

t he prairie s T h ey c oul d se e no g am e ; r oots
.

a n d berrie s w e re th eir only foo d One d ay they .

climbe d t o th e c res t of a hig h ri d ge and as they ,

l ooked off o v er the c oun try t hey sa w far away

by a st re a m a lonely lodge .

341
 T HE D OG AN D T HE ROOT D I GG ER
”
Who can it be ? asked the young m a n .

”
Who camps there a lone far from friends ? ,

“ ” “
Th at s ai d N api
, is he who has h i dd en
,

all th e anim als from th e peop le He h as a wife .

”
an d a li ttle son T he n th ey w e n t d own nea r
.

t o th e l o dg e a n d Napi t o ld t he young man wha t

t o d o N api change d himself in t o a li ttle d og
.
,

”
a n d he s a i d This is I
, The young man .

change d himse lf in t o a roo t d igger a nd h e said ,

“
This i s I Pre tty soon t he li ttle boy who ,

was p l aying abou t ne ar t he l o d ge foun d t he ,

dog an d car ri ed i t t o his fa ther s aying See , ,

”
what a pr e tty l it tle d og I ha ve foun d .

“
The fa the r sai d T hat is no t a dog ; t hrow it
,

”
away ! Th e l i t tl e boy c rie d bu t hi s father ,

ma d e h im t ake the d og ou t of th e lo d ge T h en .

the boy foun d th e r oo t d igge r a n d again p ick ,

ing u p th e d og h e c arrie d bo th in t o th e l o d ge
, ,

saying L ook mo t her ; se e w hat a pre tty roo t

, ,

”
digger I hav e foun d .

“
Throw th em a way s ai d his fa ther ; th row
,

them bo th away That is no t a r oo t digger ; that

.

”
is no t a d og .

“
I wan t tha t roo t digger sai d th e wom a n , .

”
L e t ou r son ha v e the l i ttle d og .
 L et i t be so then replie d the h usban d
, ,

bu t remember t ha t if t roub l e c omes it is ,

you who h av e broug h t i t on yourse lf a nd on

”
o u r s on .

Soon af te r th is the woman an d her s on went

o ff to pick berries and when they were ou t of
,

sight t he m an wen t ou t and killed a bu ffalo cow

and brough t th e me at in t o t he lodge and c overed
it u p He t ook th e bones and the skin and
.

t hrew th em in the wa t er When his wife c ame

.

back h e g ave h er som e of t he mea t t o roast ,

an d w h i l e they wer e ea t ing the l i ttle b oy fed

,

the d og three t imes a nd when he o ffered i t

,

more the fa the r t ook th e mea t away .

I n th e nig ht w h en a ll were sleep i ng N api a nd

, ,

th e young man arose in t heir right shapes and

at e s om e of the mea t .

“ ”
! ou were righ t sai d th e young man
, This .

is sure ly the person w h o ha s h i d den th e b u f

”
falo .

“ ”
Wai t sai d N api ; an d w h en they ha d fin
,

ish e d e at ing t hey c hanged t h emsel v es again in t o

the r oo t d igger a nd the dog .

N ext morn i ng the w i fe and the little boy went

o u t to d i g roots and the woman took the root
,

36
 THE D OG AN D T HE R OOT DI GG ER
d i gger with her while t he dog followed the l i t
,

tle boy .

A s they t r av e lled along looking for roo t s t hey ,

passed ne ar a c a ve and at i ts mou th s t oo d a

,

bu ffalo cow The d og ra n in t o the cav e a nd

.
,

the roo t digge r s lip p ing from t he wom a n s

,
’

hand fol l ow ed g l iding a l ong o ver t he groun d

, ,

l i ke a snak e I n this c a v e w e re foun d all th e

.

bu ffalo an d t he other gam e T h ey beg a n t o .

drive t hem ou t and soon t he pr a irie was cov

,

ere d wi t h bu ffalo a n t elop e a n d d eer N e v e r

, , .

befo re wer e s o m any seen .

Soon t he m a n c ame running up a n d he sa i d ,

“
to hi s wife Wh o is d r i v i ng ou t my animals ?
,

“
The woma n repl i ed The d og a nd the root
,

d i gger a re in t her e n ow .

“ ”
D i d I n ot t ell you said her h usb a n d that
, ,

those were no t w h a t t hey looked like See now .

”
the t roubl e t h at you hav e broug ht u p on u s !
He pu t a n arrow on h is st rm g and wai t e d for
them t o c ome ou t bu t t hey were c unning and
, ,

whe n t h e la s t a nim al a big bull w a s starti ng

, ,

ou t t he s t i c k grasped him by th e long ha i r

under t h e ne c k and co i led up in i t a nd t he dog ,

37
 BLACKFEE T I ND I AN STO RIE S
held on by the ha i r underneath unt i l they were
far ou t on the pra i r i e when they changed i nto
,

their t rue S hapes and d rove the bu ffalo t oward

the c amp .

When the people saw the bu ffalo c oming they

le d a big ban d of t hem t o t he piskun bu t j us t ,

as t he leaders were abou t t o jump o ver the

cli ff a rav en came a n d fla pp e d i t s wings in
fron t of them an d c roake d and they t urne d ofl
,
’

an d r a n down another way E v ery t ime a h erd

.

o f bu ff alo was brough t n ear t o t he p is k un thi s

ra ve n frigh t ened th em a w ay T h en N api k new

.

that t he ra v en was the pers on w h o had kept

the bu ffalo hi dd en .

N api wen t d own t o th e rive r a n d cha nged

himself int o a bea v e r a n d lay st r etched ou t on
a san db a r as if de ad The r ave n w as v ery
, .

hungry an d flew down a n d beg a n t o p i ck at t he

beav er Then N api caugh t it by t he legs a nd
.

ran wi th i t t o the camp an d all the chiefs were

,

calle d t oge the r t o de c i d e w h a t S h ould be d one

“ ”
w i th t he bir d Some said
. L e t us kil l i t
, ,

but N api sa i d , N o I w i ll punish it

, and he ,

t i ed i t up over t he lo d ge r i gh t in the smoke hole

, .

38
 T HE D OG AN D T HE R OOT DI GG ER
A s the day s wen t by the raven grew thin
an d weak and i t s eyes were bl i nded by the
th i ck smoke a nd i t c rie d continually t o N api
,

ask i ng him t o pity i t One day N api unt i ed

.

the bird and t old i t t o tak e its righ t shape and ,

“
then s aid , Why h ave y ou t ried to fool N ap i ?
L ook a t m e I canno t die L ook at me Of
. . .

all people s a n d t ribes I a m t he chief I c annot

.

d i e I made the mountains ; they a re stand i ng

.

ye t I m ad e the p rairie s a n d t he r o ck s ; you

.

s e e them ye t .

“
Go home n ow t o your wife a n d your ch i ld ,

and when y ou are hungry hunt l i ke any on e

”
else I f you do n ot you S hall di e
.
, .

39
 TH E C AM P O F TH E GHO STS

HERE was on c e a man wh o loved h i s w ife

d early After t hey had b e en married for
.

a tim e th ey h ad a li ttle boy Some t i m e after .

th at th e woman grew sick an d d i d not ge t well .

She w as sick for a long t ime The young man .

lo v e d h i s wife so much t h at he d i d not w i sh

to tak e a s e c ond woman The woman grew
. .

worse a n d worse D octoring did no t seem to

.

do her any goo d At las t S he d i ed

. .

F or a few d ays after t his the m an used t o t ake

,

h i s baby on h is ba ck an d t r av el ou t a way from

the camp walking o v er t he h il l s c rying and
, ,

mourning He felt b a dly a n d h e d i d no t k now

.
,

what t o d o .

After a t im e he sai d t o the littl e c hild My ,

l i ttle boy y ou will ha ve t o go a n d l i ve wi th your

,

grandmother I shall go aw ay and t ry t o find

.

”
you r mother a nd bring her back .

40
 BLACKFEE T IN D I AN STO RIE S
without help B eyond the next butte from her
.

”
lodge you w i ll find the camp of the ghosts .

The next morning the young man awoke and

wen t on t oward t he next butt e I t t ook h i m .

’
a long summer s day to ge t there bu t h e found ,

there no lodge so he lay down and slep t A ga i n

, .

he dre amed I n h is dre a m he sa w a little lodge

.
,

and sa w an ol d woman c ome t o t h e door and

heard her call to h i m He went in t o the lodge
.
,

an d S h e spoke t o him .

“
My son you a re v ery unhappy I know
, .

why you ha v e c ome t his way ! ou ar e looking .

for your wife w h o is now in t he ghos t c oun t ry .

I t is a v ery h ar d t hing for y ou t o ge t there .

You may no t be abl e t o ge t your wife back ,

bu t I have grea t power and I will do for you

all that I can I f y ou act as I advise you
.
,

”
may su cc eed .

Other wise wo rd s sh e spok e t o h im t elling ,

him w h a t h e S h ould do ; also she gave h i m a bun

dle of mysterious t hings which would h elp him
on his j ourney .

She went on t o s a y ! ou s t ay here for a

,

t ime a n d I will go over there to t he ghosts ’

42
 THE CA M P O F T HE G H OSTS
c amp a nd t ry to br i ng back some of your rel a
t i ons who a re there I f i t i s poss ible for me to
.

bri ng them back y ou may return t here with

,

them bu t on t he way y ou mus t shut your eyes

, .

I f you S hould o p en t hem a nd look abou t y ou ,

you would di e Then you would ne v er c ome

.

ba c k When y ou c ome t o t he c amp y ou will

.

p ass by a b ig lodge and they will a sk y ou Where ,

‘

a re y ou going an d who t old you to come h ere ? ’

You mus t a nswer My gr andmo t her who is

,
‘
,

’
standing ou t here wi t h me told me to c om e , .

They wil l t ry t o s c are y ou ; t hey will make fear

ful noises and you will see s t rang e a nd t errible
”
things bu t do no t be afraid
, .

The ol d wom a n wen t a way a nd after a t i me ,

came b a ck wi th on e of th e man s relat i ons ’

.

’
He wen t with t hi s re l ation t o t he ghosts c amp .

When they came t o t he l arge lodge s om e on e

called ou t a nd asked the man wh a t h e was
doing there a n d he answered as the ol d woman
,

had t old him As h e passed on th rough the

.

camp t he ghosts tried to frigh t en him w i th

many fearful S ights and sounds bu t he kept ,

up a s t rong hear t .

43
 B LACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
P re sent ly he came t o ano ther lodge and the ,

man who owned it c ame ou t and spoke to h i m ,

ask i ng where he was going The young man .

said I a m looking for my de a d wife I mourn

, .

for h e r so much tha t I canno t r e s t My l i ttle .

boy t oo keeps crying for his mo th er They .

have o ff ered to give me other wives bu t I do ,

no t want them I w a n t th e on e for whom I a m

.

sear ch ing .

The ghos t said It is a fearful t hing t ha t

,

y o u h a ve come here ; it is v ery l i kely that y o u

w i ll n e ver go away N e v er before has there

.

been a person here .

The ghost asked him t o c om e in t o h is lo dg e ,

and h e entered .

Thi s c hief ghos t s ai d t o h im ! ou sh a l l stay

,

h ere fo r four n i ghts and y ou sh all see your

w 1 fe bu t y ou must be v ery careful or y ou w i ll
,

never go b a ck You will die here in this very

.

p lace .

Then t he ch ief gh os t walke d ou t of the lodge

’
a nd shouted out for a feas t i nviting the man s ,

father in law and other relat i ons who were i n

- -

“
the c amp to come and eat saying Your son , ,

44
 TH E CAM P O F TH E G H OSTS
in law invi t es y ou t o a feast as if he meant
-
,

that the son in law had died a nd become a

- -

g hos t a nd arri v ed a t t he c amp of the ghosts .

N ow wh e n t hese in v i te d ghos t s ha d reached

the lodge they di d n ot like t o go in They sa i d .

“ ”
to each other There is a person here ; it
,

seemed a s i f they d i d no t like the smell of a h u

man being The chief ghost burned sweet p i ne
.

on the fire which t ook away this smell and then

, ,

the ghos t s c ame in an d sa t down .

The c hief ghos t sai d t o them N ow pity ,

this s on in l aw of yours He is looking for h i s

- -
.

wife N either t he gre at dis t ance tha t he has

.

c ome n or th e fe arful sight s tha t h e has seen

here ha v e weakened h is h e ar t You c an see .

how t ender hear t ed he is He n ot only mourns

-
.

because he has los t h is wife bu t he mourns ,

becau s e h is li tt le boy is now al one with no ,

mother ; so pity h im a n d give h im back h i s

”
w i fe .

The ghos t s talked among themselves and ,

“
one of them said t o the man Yes ; y ou S hall ,

s t ay h ere for four n i ghts a nd th en we will give

,

—
you a medi c ine p ip e the Worm Pipe a nd we —
45
 BLACKFEE T IN D I AN STO RIE S
wil l g i ve you back your w i fe and you may re
t urn to your home .

N ow a fter the third nigh t the ch i ef ghost

,

called together all t he people a nd they c ame and

, ,

’
w i th them came th e man s wife One of the .

ghos t s was beating a drum and foll owm g h i m ,

was ano ther who carried the Worm Pipe which ,

they gav e t o him .

Then the chief ghos t said N ow be very ,

care ful ; t o morrow you and your wi fe w i ll start

-

o n your j ourney h omeward Your wife w i ll .

carry the medicine pipe and for four days some

of your relation s will go along with you D ur .

ing this time you mus t keep your eye s S hut ;

do no t open them or y ou will re t urn h er e and be
,

a ghos t forever Your wife is not now a per

.

son B ut in th e mi d dle of the fourth d ay you

.

will be told t o look and w h en y ou have opened

,

your eyes you will see that your wi fe has become

a person and that your ghost relations have
,

”
disappeared .

B efore the man wen t away his father in law - -

“
spoke to h i m and said When you get near
,

home you mus t no t go a t once int o the camp .

46
 THE CAM P O F THE G H OSTS
L et some of your relat i ons know that y ou have
come and a sk them to bu i ld a sweat house for
,
-

you Go i nto that sweat house and wash your

.
-

body thoroughly leav i ng no part of i t however

, ,

small uncleansed I f you fa i l in th i s you will

, .
,

d i e There is someth i ng abou t the ghos t s that

.

it i s d i ffi cul t t o remove I t c an only be r e .

moved by a thorough s wea t Take care now .

that you d o wha t I t ell you D o no t wh i p .

your wife n or strike her with a knife n or hit

, ,

her with fir e I f you do sh e will vanish before

.
,

”
your eye s a nd return here .

They left the ghos t country to go home and ,

on the fourth day the w i fe said t o her husband ,

“
Open your eyes He looked abou t him and
.

s a w that t hose who had been with them had

d i sappeared and he found that they were stand

,

i ng i n fron t of the old woman s lodge by the ’

butte She came ou t of her lodge and said to

them ,Stop ; gi v e me ba c k those mys t erious
medicines of mine whose power helped you to ,

”
do what you w i shed The man returned them
.

to her and then once more became really a l i v

,

i ng person .

47
 BLACKFEE T IN D IAN STO RI E S
When they drew near t o the Camp the woman
wen t on ahead and sa t down on a bu t te Then .

some c urious persons came ou t to se e who th i s

m i gh t b e A s they approached t he woman
.

calle d ou t t o them D o not come any nearer

, .

Go a nd tell my mother and my relations to pu t

up a lodge for us a little way from the camp ,

”
an d ne a r by i t bu i ld a sweat house When this
-
.

had been done the man and h i s wife wen t i n

an d t ook a t horough swea t and t hen they wen t
,

into the l odge and burned sweet grass an d puri

fi e d t heir clo t hing a nd the Worm Pipe Then .

their relations a nd friends came i n t o se e them .

The man t ol d th em w h ere h e had been and how

h e h ad managed to ge t h is wife b ack a nd that ,

the pipe hanging o v er the d oorway was a medi

— —
cine p i pe the Worm Pip e p re s ented to h im
by his ghos t f a ther in law
- - .

That is h ow the peop l e c am e t o possess the

Worm Pip e Th at pipe belongs to the band
.

of P i egans know n as th e Worm People .

N ot long after t his once in the n i ght this

, ,

man t old his w ife t o do something and when sh e ,

d i d not begin a t once he picked up a br a nd

48
 TH E B UFF A L O ST O N E

S MA LL stone wh i ch i s often a foss i l shell

, ,

or s ome t imes only a queer shaped p i ece of

fl i nt i s c alled by t he B lackfee t I
, the
bu ffalo s t one This stone h a s gre at power and
.
,

g i ves i t s owner goo d luck in bringing the bu ffalo

close so t h a t they may be k i lle d The stone
, .

i s found on the pra i r i e and any on e who finds

,

o n e is though t t o be very lucky Sometimes a

.

man who is going along on the prairie will hear

a queer faint chirp such as a l i ttle bird m i ght
,

make He knows th i s sound i s made by a

.

bu ffalo s t one He s t ops and sear c hes for i t on

.

the ground and if he canno t find it marks the

, ,

place and c omes back nex t day t o look for i t

again I f it i s found he and a ll h i s f a m i ly are
.
,

glad The B lackfeet tell a story abou t how the

.

first bu ffalo stone was found .

L ong ago one w i nter the bu ffalo d i sappeared

, ,
.

The snow was d eep so deep that the people

,

50
 TH E B UFFAL O STON E
c ould n ot mo v e in search of the bu ffalo ; so
t he hunters went as far as they c ould up and
down the river bottoms and i n the ravines and
-
,

k i lled deer and elk and other small game and ,

when these were all killed or driven away the

people began t o s ta rve .

On e day a young married man killed a prairie

r abbi t He r an home as fas t a s he c ould an d
.
,

t old on e of his wives to hurry and ge t a skin of

wat er t o c ook i t She s t ar t ed down t o the river
.

for wa t er and as sh e was going along she heard

,

a beautiful song S h e looke d all about bu t

.
,

could se e n o on e who w a s singing .

The s ong seeme d t o c ome from a big c o t ton

wood t ree near the t rail leading d own to t he
water A s sh e l ooked closely a t thi s t ree sh e
.

sa w a queer s t one j ammed in a fork where the

tree w as split and with it a few hairs from a

,

bu ffalo which had rubbed against t he tree .

The wom a n was frigh t ened and d a re d no t pass

the t ree Soon t he singing s t opped a nd the
.

“
I n fs kim said to the woman
’
Take me t o your
’
-
,

lodge and when i t i s d ark call in the people and

,

t each t hem t he song you ha v e j us t heard Pray .

,

51
 B LACKFEE T I N D IAN STO RI E S
t oo , that y ou may not s tarve and tha t the b u f
,

falo m ay c ome back D o th i s and when day

.
,

”
c omes your heart s will be glad .

The wom a n wen t on a nd g ot the w at er and ,

when S he came back she t ook the stone and gave

it to her husb and t elling h im a bou t the song and
,

wha t the stone had said .

A s soon as i t was d ark t he m a n c alled the

,

c h i efs and ol d m e n t o his lodge and h is w i fe,

t augh t t hem t he song t ha t S he had hear d They .

praye d t oo as t he s t one had sai d should b e d one

, .

B efor e l ong th ey hea r d far o ff a noise coming .

I t w as th e t ramp of a gre at h er d of bu ffalo .

Then th ey kn e w t ha t th e s t one was powerful ,

and S ince that t ime the people h a ve t aken care

of i t an d h a ve p raye d t o i t .

52
 HOW TH E T HUND ER P IP E C AM E

OU hav e heard the Thun d er for h e is ,

eve ryw h ere He r o ars in t he mount ains

.
,

an d f ar ou t on t he prairie is he ard h i s c rashing .

He st rikes the high ro cks a nd they fall t o pie c es ;

,

a tree an d i t is broken in sli v ers ; th e pe op le a nd

, ,

they di e H e is ba d He does no t li ke the

. .

h igh cli ff t he stan d ing t ree or l i ving m an He

, , .

l i kes t o str i ke and c rush them t o the ground .

Of all th ings he is the most powerfu l He c an .

no t b e resis t e d B u t I h a v e no t t ol d you the

.

wors t thing abou t h im S ome tim es h e t akes

.

a way women .

L ong ago almos t in th e b eginning a man and

, ,

h is wife were S i tting in t heir lodge w he n Thun

der cam e and struck t hem T he m a n w a s n ot .

killed At first he lay a s if d ea d bu t after a

. ,

ti me he li v e d aga i n and s tanding u p looke d

, , ,

a bou t h im He d i d not se e his wife

. .

53
 BLACKFEE T I ND I AN STO RIE S
Oh he thought sh e has gone to get wood
, ,

or water and he sa t down aga i n B ut when

, .

n i gh t c ame he went ou t of t he lodge a nd asked

the people abou t her N o on e had seen her . .

He looke d all through the c amp but c ould not ,

find h er Then he knew t ha t the Thunder had

.

taken her away and he wen t ou t on the h i lls

,

and mourned A ll night he sa t there try i ng

.
,

to th i nk what he m i gh t do t o ge t back h i s
w ife
.

When morning came he rose and wandered

away and whene v er he met any of the an i mals
,

he a sked i f they c ould t ell him where the Thun

der li v ed The animals laughed a nd most of
.
,

t hem woul d no t a nswer .

The Wolf said t o h i m D o y ou t hink tha t ,

we would look for t he home of t he only one we

fear ? He is ou r only danger F rom all o ther .

enemies w e ca n run away bu t from him no one ,

can run He st rikes a nd there we l i e Turn

. .

back ; go home D o no t look for the place of

.

tha t dreadful one .

The man kept on a nd t ravelled a long d i s

tance At last after many days he came t o a
.
, ,

54
 HOW T H E TH UN D ER P IP E CAM E
—
lodge a strange lodge for i t was made of stone , .

Just l i ke any other lodge i t looked only it was ,

made of ston e This was the home of the R aven

.

ch i ef The m a n entered
. .

“ ”
Wel c ome friend , said the chief of the
,

“ ”
R a v ens ; sit down there and he po i nted t o a,

place S oon food was placed before th e p oor

.

man .

When he had finished eating the R aven ch i ef ,

“ ”
asked Why ha v e you c ome here ?
,

“ ”
Thunder has stolen my wife the man a n ,

“
sw e r e d I a m looking for h i s dwelling place -

”
that I may find h er .

“
A re you bra v e enough to en t er the lodge of
” “
t l fa t dreadful pe rson ? asked the R a v en He .

l i ves near h er e His lodge is of s t one like th i s

.

on e
—
and hanging in it are eyes the eyes of
,

those he has killed or taken away He has .

taken ou t their eye s a n d hung them in h is lodge .

”
N ow then ! D a re y ou enter there ?
,

“ ” “
No answered t he man
,
I am afra i d , .

Who c oul d l ook a t s u c h dreadful th i ngs and

l i ve ?
N o man ca n sa i d the R a v en ; there i s
,

55
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STORIE S
only on e ol d Thunder fears ; there i s but on e he
canno t kill I t i s we I t i s the R avens N ow
. . .

I will give you some medic i ne and he S hall n ot ,

harm y ou ! ou shall enter there and try to

.

find among those eyes your w i fe s and if you ’

find t hem t ell the Thunder why you c ame and

make him give them to you Here now i s a .
, ,

raven s wing Point th i s at him and h e w i ll

’
.

be afraid and s t ar t back ; but if that should

fa i l t ake this arrow
, I ts shaft i s made of elk
.

horn Take this I sa y and shoot i t through

.
, ,

”
the lodge .

“ ”
Why make a fool of me ? the poor man
”
asked .My heart i s sa d I am cry i ng He . .

covered his head with his robe and wept .

“ “
Oh said the R aven you do not believe
, ,

me C ome outs i de come outside and I w i ll

.
, ,

”
make you believe .

When t hey stood outs i de the R aven asked ,

I S the home of your people fa r ?

“ ”
A gre at d i stance sai d the man , .

C an you tell how many days you have tra v

”
elled ?
“
No , h e rep lied , my heart wa s sa d ; I d id
56
 BLACKFEE T IN D I AN STORIE S
N 0 man may enter my lodge and live ,

sa i d t he Thunder and he rose to str i ke h i m

, .

Then th e man pointed the raven wing at the

Thunder and he fell back on h i s bed and shiv
,

ered ; bu t soon he recovered and rose aga i n ,

and then the man fitted the elk horn arrow to -

h i s bow and S ho t it through t he lo d ge of stone .

R i ght through that stone it pierced a hole and

let the sunl i ght in .

“ ”
Wait said the Thunder ; s t op ! ou are
, .

the s tronger y o u have the greater medicine

, .

! ou shall have your wi fe Take down her

.

”
eyes .

The man ou t the string that held the eyes ,

and his w i fe s t ood bes i de him .

”
N ow said the Thunder
, you know me , .

I h av e great power I n summer I l i ve here ;

.

bu t when W inter comes I go fa r south I go .

south with the birds Here is my pipe I t

. .

has s trong power Take i t and keep it After

. .

this w h en firs t I come in the spring y ou shall

,
“

fill t h 1 s p 1 p e and light it and you shall smoke

,

it and pray to me ; you and the people I bring .

the rain wh i ch makes the berries large an d ripe .

58
 HOW TH E T H UNDER P IP E CA M E
I br i ng the ra i n wh i ch makes all th i ngs grow
,

and for th i s you S hall pray to me ; you and all

”
the people .

Thus the people got their firs t medic i ne p i pe.

It w a s long ago
.

59
 C O LD MA K ER S M E D I CI N E
’

H E last lodge had been set up i n the B lack

feet winter camp E ven i ng was clos i ng
.

o v er the travel tired peop le The sun had

-
.

dropp ed beyond the h i lls not fa r away Women .

were bring i ng wat er from the r i ver at the edge

of the great c i rcle Men gathered in qu i et
.

groups weary after the long march of the day

,

C h i ldren called S leep i ly to each other and the ,

dogs sn i ffed about i n well fed content -

.

L one F eather wrapped his robe more closely

around him and walked slowly from h i s lodge
door and from the camp off toward the north, .

He was th i nking of many th i ngs and hardly ,

noticed where he was go i ng Presently as he .

walked he heard the sound of persons talking

, .

He stopped to l i sten The sound came from a

.

lodge made of stone close by the r i ver ! u i etly

, .

he went toward the lodge and sa w a thin blue

l i ne of smoke coming from the top .

60
 C OLD MA KER ’
S M EDICINE

A s he approached an ol d woman bent w i th

, ,

age and cri ppled came from the lodge door and
,

looked at h i m .

“
Wi ll you come into my lodge ? sh e said ,

greet i ng h i m .

L one F eather looke d a t h er for a moment in

silence She spoke again He c ould n ot under
. .

stand h er speech for sh e belonged t o another

,

tr i be B y s i gns sh e ma d e him know that S he

.

w i she d h im t o come in t o h e r l o dge a n d rest .

L one F eat her entere d .

F ar back from the d oo r cr ou ch e d two big

grizzly bears She ma d e signs t o S how tha t the
.

bears were friendly and L one F eather s at down

,

near t he door She stirred the fire and as sh e

.
,

put on fresh woo d the sparks flew up toward the

smoke hole which was opened only a little way
, .

B y signs sh e t o ld him S h e would go ou t and

open the smoke hole wider so that the fire might ,

burn more brightly She was gone for some .

t i me and L one F eather s a t looking into the

,

fire st i ll thinking of m any things when the

, ,

a i r became thick w i th smoke He looked up .

an d sa w that t he smoke hole was closed He .

61
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
sprang up and went t o the door but the door ,

cover i ng was down He raised i t and as he

.
,

put h i s head ou t the ol d woman hit him with a

large stone club and he was dea d .

B efore his sp i r i t started for the Sand H i lls

h e sa w that w i th a large knife sh e cut up h i s
body and pu t the pie c es in t o a po t Soon they .

were well cooked and the old wom an a n d the

t wo bears feasted on his flesh .

They t h rew h is bones out of the door where ,

they fell among many others l ike them The .

ground was strewn with the bones of the per

sons sh e had trapped and k i lled .

D ay by day other persons d i sappeared from

the win t er c amp and more and more bones
,

whi t ene d on the ground outsi d e the s t one lodge

on the river bank .

A s C old Maker w a s bringing t he snow t o t he

B lackfeet wint er camp he passed the Sand Hills
, .

L one F e ather a nd other ghosts from the B lack

feet t ribe were telling each other how the old
woman had sent them there C old Maker .

heard the i r stor i es and he was ang ry .

When he reached the camp he went t o the

62
 C OLD M AKE R ’
S M EDICINE

lodge of B roken B ow —
a brave young man bu t ,

very poor .

He s h i v ered w h en C old Maker entered h i s

lodge and drew his ragged robe about h i m .

They were close friends .

“
Would you like t o hav e a new r obe ? asked
C old Maker .

“ ”
Yes said B roken B ow
, .

C ome with me ! ou may kill t wo grizzly

.

”
bears said C old Maker
, .

“
My bow is broken I canno t said B roken
.
,

B ow sadly .

“
I will help y ou B ring only a kn i fe
. .

Together they wen t from the lodges t oward

t he north The sun was alrea dy hidden b e
.

hind the nearby h i lls .

After they had tr a velle d some d is tance t hey

heard the sound of vo i ces They listened Two . .

bears were complain i ng tha t they wanted meat .

A woman told them they must wait The men .

s a w the line of th i n blue smoke rising from the

t op of the lodge of stone A ll about wh i tening .

bones covered the groun d They went nearer . .

Soon an ol d woman ben t wi th age a n d cr i p

,

63
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
pled came from the door and sm i led as sh e sa w
,

the two persons com i ng .

“ ”
C ome i n and rest sh e said B roken B ow , .

d i d not understand her language but C old ,

“
Maker who understands a l l tr i bes sa i d
, We , ,

are cold W i ll you let us sit by your fire ?

.

The ol d woman sm i led aga i n .

“ ”
! o u are welcome S h e sa i d ; come in D o
, .

n o t fear my bears They are fr i endly They .

w i ll no t h arm you The t w o fr i ends entered

.

the lodge where a smoulder i ng fire sent a feeble

,

smoke up t o t he smoke hole that was partly ,

open She put fresh wood on the fire and sa i d

.
,

“ ”
I will open the smoke hole w i der and went ,

ou t
, dropp i ng the door cover i ng a s S he went .

Then S he closed the smoke hole The smoke .

began to fill the top of the lodge I t settled .

lower and lower B roken B ow was afra i d

. .

“ ”
Give me your pipe s a i d C old Maker , .

B roken B ow filled his p i pe and handed it to

hi m He l i ghted i t by a brand from the fire
.
,

and sent great pu ffs of smoke curl i ng upward .

Th i s smoke met the other smoke and stopped i t .

I t could not descend any lower .

64
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
fe w wh i te eagle down feathers He b l ew them
-
.

from him At once a fierce storm blew across

.

the valley T h e bitter cold froze the water

.
,

but only in t his on e pla c e I t dammed the .

stream wi t h fas t form i ng ice The water rose .

h i gher and h i gher I t spre a d ou t over the

.

banks C old Maker and B roken B ow went

.

fa r off on t he hills and watc hed it L i ttle by .

l i ttle i t rose I t reached the s t one lodge The

. .

be ars roared The wom a n screamed The water

. .

reached the t op and covered the lodge from

s i ght A ll sound c eased A momen t more and
. .
,

the wat er w a s quie t On c e more C old Maker

.

blew from him a few whi t e eagle down feathers -

.

The s t orm subsided It became warm again . .

The ice mel te d T he w at er re t reated to i ts

.

channel .

C old Maker a n d B roken B ow went to the

stone lodge The woman was ly i ng bes i de the
.

po t The grizzly bears were close to t he s t ones

.

which blocked t h e d oor way -

.

“
C old Maker said Here is your new robe
, ,

and B roken B ow t ook from the bears the i r th i ck ,

warm Skins .

66
 C OLD MAKER ’
S ME D I C I N E

On his way home C old Maker again passed

the Sand H i lls E ntering the country was an
.

ol d woman bent with a ge a nd crippled .

He hurried on .

67
 TH E ALL C OM R A D E S S O CI E TI E S

N the B la ckfe et t ribe w as an assoc i at i on

k now n as t he A l l C omra d es This was .

made up of a dozen se c ret soc i eties graded a c

cord i ng t o age the members of the younger s o
,

c ie t ie s passing after a few ye a rs into the olde r

, ,

ones This association was in part benevolent

.

and h elpful and in par t to encourage bravery i n

war but its main purpose was to se e that the
,

orders of the chiefs were c arried out and to ,

punis h o ffences agains t the t ri be at large .

There are stories which explain how these so

c ie t ie s ca me to be inst it u t ed and this on e t ells
,

how the Society of B ulls began .

T HE B U L L S S O C I E T !

I T w a s l ong long ago v ery fa r back that thi s

, , ,

happened I n t hose days the people used to

.

k i ll t he bu ffalo by driving them over a steep

place near the river down wh i ch they fell in t o
,

68
 T HE ALL C O M RADE S SO CIE TIE S
a great pen bu i lt at the foot of the cl i ff where ,

the bu ffalo that had not been k i lled by the fall

were shot with arrows by the men Then the .

people went in t o the pen and sk i nned the bu ff alo

and c u t them up and carried the meat away t o
their camp This pen they called piskun
. .

I n those days the people had bu i lt a gre at

p i skun w i th h i gh strong walls N o b u fl a l o
'

.
,

could j ump over i t ; not e v en if a great crowd

of them ran ag ainst i t could they push i t
,

down .

The young men kept going ou t as t hey always ,

d i d t o try t o br i ng the bu ffalo to the edge of

,

the cl i ff but somehow t hey would no t j ump

,

o v er in t o the pi skun When they had come

.

almos t t o the edge they would turn off t o on e

,

side or the other and run down t he slop i ng

h i lls and away over the prair i e S o the people .

could get no food and they beg a n t o be hungry

, ,

and a t las t t o s t arve .

E arly on e morn i ng a young woman the ,

d aughter of a brave man was go i ng from her ,

l odge down to the stream t o get water and as ,

sh e wen t along sh e sa w a herd of bu ff alo feed

69
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STO RIE S
i ng on the pra i r i e close to the edge of the cl i ff
,

above the great p i skun .

“ ”
Oh sh e called ou t
, if you w i ll only j ump
,

o ff i nto t he piskun I w i ll marry on e of you .

She d i d not mean this but said it jus t in fun , ,

and as soon as sh e had said it sh e wondered ,

greatly when sh e s a w t he bu ffalo come j ump

i ng over the edge fall i ng down the cli ff
, .

A moment later a b i g bull jumped high o v er

the wall of the p i skun and came t owar d h er ,

and now truly S h e was frightened .

”
C ome he sa i d tak i ng hold of her arm
, , .

N o no
, , S he answered t rying t o p ul l her ,

sel f away .

B ut you said if the bu ffalo would only jump

over y ou would marry one of t hem L ook th e
, .
,

”
p i skun i s full .

She d i d no t answer and without say i ng any

,

th i ng more he l e d her up over the blu ff and out

o n the pra i r i e .

A fter the people had fin i shed k i ll i ng th e buf

falo and cutt i ng up the meat they m i ssed th i s ,

young woman N o one knew where sh e had

.

gone and her r elations were frightened and

,

70
 T HE ALL C O M RADE S SO CIE TIE S
very sa d be c ause t hey c ould no t find her So .

her fat her t ook his b ow and quiver and pu t them

“
o n hi s ba c k and said
”
I will go and find her ;
,

an d he c l imbed t he blu ff a nd se t ou t o v er th e
prairie .

He tra v elled some di stance bu t saw noth ,

ing of h is daughter The su n was ho t a nd a t .

,

leng th he came t o a bu ff alo w allow in wh i ch

som e wat er w as s t and i ng a nd d r a n k a nd sat ,

d ow n t o r es t A litt le way off on the p rairie

.

h e saw a h erd of bu ffalo A s t he m a n s at th ere .

by the w allow t rying t o t hink wh at he migh t

,

do t o find his d aughter a magpie came u p an d ,

al i ghted on t he groun d near h i m The man .

—
spoke t o i t saying M am i at s i kfm f Magp i e
“
- -
'
-
, ,

—ou ar e a be a u t ifu l bird ; h elp me for I a m v ery

y ,

unhappy A s y ou tra vel abou t o v er th e p rair i e

.
,

look everywhere a nd i f you se e my daugh t er sa y

,

to her Your fat her i s w a iting by t he w allow

,
‘
.
’

Soon t h e magp i e flew away and a s h e pas sed ,

near th e h er d of bu ffalo he saw t he young

woman th ere an d a ligh ting on t he ground near
,

her he began t o pick a t t h i ngs turn i ng his head

, ,

t hi s w ay a nd t ha t a nd seeming t o look for food

,
.

71
 BLACKFEE T I N D IAN STORIE S
When he was close to the g i rl he sai d to her ,

“
Your father i s wa i t i ng by t he wallow .

“
Sh h h ! S h h !h-— ”
-
replie d t he g i rl i n a
-

whis p er look i ng about her very much fr i ght

,

ened for her bull husband was sleep i ng close

,

“
by . D o no t speak s o loud Go back and tell .

”
h i m to wa i t .

“
Your daughter is over there with the b u f
falo She says
. sa i d the magp i e when
he had flown back to the p oor father .

After a l i ttle time t he bull awoke and said to

“
hi s wi fe Go and bring me some wa t er
, Then .

the woman was glad and sh e t ook a horn from ,

’
her husband s he a d and went to the wallow for
water .

“ ”
Oh why did you come ? S he sa i d to her fa
,

“
ther . They w i ll surely k i ll you .

“
I c ame to t ake my daughter ba c k t o my
l odge C ome let us go
.
, .

“
N0 sa i d t he girl
, no t now They w i ll , .

surely chase u s and kill us Wa i t unt i l he .

”
sleeps aga i n and I w i ll try to get away Then .

s h e filled the horn with water and wen t back to

the b u fl a l o ’
.

72
 BLACKFEE T I ND IAN STORIE S
f or your father ; bu t we have seen ou r fathers ,

mothers and many of ou r relations fa l l over the

,

h i gh cl i ffs to be k i lled for food by your people

, .

B ut now I w i ll p i ty y ou I w i ll g i ve y ou on e,

chance I f you c an bring your father to life

.
,

”
you and he may go back t o your c amp .

“
Then sa i d the woman A h magp i e pity me
, , , ,

h elp me ; for now I need h elp L ook i n the .

t rampled mud of the wallow and see if you can

’
find even a l i ttle piece of my fa th er s body and
br i ng i t to me .

Sw iftly the magpie flew t o t he wallow and ,

alight i ng there walked all about looking in

, ,

every hole and even t earing up the mud w i th

h i s S harp beak Presently he uncovered some
.

th i ng white and as he picked the mud from

,

abou t it he saw it was a bone and pull i ng hard

, , ,

—
he dragged it from the mud the j oint of a
man s backbone Then gladly he flew back
’
.

with i t t o the woman .

The girl put the bone on the gro u n d and c ov

ered it with her robe and began to S ing After .

sh e had sung she took the robe away and there ,

under i t lay her father s body as if he had j ust

’

74
 T HE ALL C O M RADE S SO CIE TIE S
d ied . Once again sh e covered the body with
the robe and s ang and th i s t i me when she t ook
,

the robe away t he body w a s breath i ng A .

th i r d t im e sh e c o v ere d t he bo dy wi th t he robe
and sang a n d when S he ag ain t ook away t he
,

robe t he body mo v ed i t s arms and legs a l i ttle

, .

A four t h t ime sh e c overed it and sang and when ,

sh e too k a way t h e r obe h er father s t ood u p .

The bu ff alo were surp rised a n d t he magpie

was glad and flew about making a gre at no i se
,

“
N ow t his d ay we have seen a s trange th i ng ,

“ ’
sa i d h er bull husband The people s medi
.

c i ne is s t rong He whom we t r ampled t o d eath

.
,

whom ou r hoofs cu t t o pie ces and mixed all up

with t he soil is alive again N ow you shall go
, .

to your h ome bu t before you go we will teach

,

y o u ou r da n ce a n d o u r s ong D o n o t forge t .

”
them .

The bu ffalo showed the m a n an d hi s daughter

the i r dance a nd t augh t t hem t he songs and ,

“
then the bull sai d to them N ow you are t o go ,

back t o your home bu t d o no t forge t wha t you

,

have seen Teach the p eo p le th i s dance and

.

these song s and wh i le they a r e d a nc i ng i t let

,

75
 BLACKFEE T I N D IAN STO RIE S
them wear a bull s head and a robe Those
’
.

who are to be of the B ulls Society shall wear

”
them .

When the poor man returned w i th his d a u gh

ter all the p eople were glad Then after a t i me
, .

he called a c ounc i l of the chiefs and told them

the things tha t ha d h appened The ch i efs .

chose c er t ain young men t o be B ulls and the ,

man taught them the dance and the song an d ,

t old them everyth i ng tha t they should do .

So began t he B ull Society .

T HE O T H E R S O C I E T I E S

FOR a long t i me the bu ffalo had no t been seen .

E very one was hungry for the hunters c ould

,

find no food for the people .

A certain man who had two wives a daughter

, , ,

and two sons as he saw what a hard t i me they

,

“
were having said I shall not stop here to d i e
, , .

To morrow we will move t ow ard the moun t a i ns

-
,

w h ere we may kill elk and deer and S heep and

antelope or i f n ot t hese a t least we shall find
, , ,

beaver and b i rds and can get them I n th i s

, .

way we S hall have food to eat and S hall l i ve .

76
 THE ALL C O M RADE S SO CIE TIE S
N ext morn i ng they caught the i r dogs and har
n e sse d them to the travo i s and took the i r loads

on t h e i r backs and set o u t I t was st i ll w i nter

.
,

and they travelled slowly B es i des they were .

,

weak from hunger and could go only a S hort

d i stance i n a day The fourth n i ght came and
.
,

they s a t i n the i r lodge t i red and hungry N 0

, .

on e spoke for people who are hungry do not

,

care to talk Suddenly outside the dogs b e

.
, ,

gan to bark and soon the door was pushed

,

as i de and a young man entered .

“ ”
Welcome sa i d the man and he mo tioned
, ,

to a place where the stranger S hould sit .

N ow dur i ng th i s day there had been blow i ng

a warm w i nd wh i ch had melted the snow so ,

that the pra i rie was covered w i th water yet ,

th i s young man s moccas i ns and legg i ngs were

’

dry They sa w this and were fr i ghtened They

.
, .

s a t there for a long t i me say i ng noth i ng

, .

Then the young man spoke and asked Why ,

”
is th i s ? Why do you not g i ve me food ?
“ “
A h repl i ed the father you se e here peo
, ,

ple who are truly poor We have no food . .

F or many days the bu ffalo did no t come i n

77
 BLACKFEE T I N D I AN STORIE S
s i ght and we looked for deer and other animals
,

which people eat and when these had all been

,

k i lled we began to starve Then I sa i d We .

,
‘

w i ll no t stay here to d i e from hunger and we ,

’

se t out for the mountains This is the fourth .

”
night of ou r travels .

“
A h said the young man then your t ravels
, ,

a re ended ! ou need go no farther C lose

. .

by h ere is ou r p i skun Many bu ffalo have been

.

r un in and our p a rfle ch e s are filled with dried

,

meat Wai t a l ittle ; I will go an d bring you

s ome, and he went ou t .

A s soon as he had gone t hey beg an t o t alk

abou t t his strange person They were afraid .

of h i m a nd did no t know wh at t o do The .

ch i ldren began to cry and the women trie d t o ,

qu i et t hem Presently the young man came

.

back br i ng i ng some meat

, .

“ ”
There i s food sa i d he as he put it down
, ,

by t h e woman N ow to morrow move your

.
-

c amp o v er to ou r lo d ges D o not fear anyth i ng. .

N o matter what strange t h i ngs you may se e do ,

not fear A ll will be your fr i ends Yet about

. .

on e t h i ng I must warn y ou I n th i s you should .

78
 THE ALL C O M RAD E S SO CIE TIE S
be careful I f you should find an a rrow ly i ng
.

about a nywhere in the piskun or outs i de do

, ,

not touch it neither y ou nor your wives nor

,

”
your children When he had said t his he
.

went ou t .

The fa the r t ook his p ipe an d fille d it an d ,

smoked and prayed t o all the p owers saying , ,

“
Hear now Sun ; l i sten A bove People ; listen
, , ,

Unde r wat er People ; now you h a ve t aken p ity ;

now y ou have given us food We are going .

to those mysterious one s w h o walk t hrough

wa t er wi t h dry mo cc asins Pro t e c t us among .

these t o b e feare d people L e t us live M a n

- -
. .
,

wom an an d c h ild g i ve us long life

, , .

N ow from th e fire again ar ose t he smell of

roasting me at T h e ch i l d ren at e and played
. .

Those who so long h a d been s i len t now talked

and laughed .

E arly in the morning a s soon as t he su n had ,

r isen they t ook down their lodge and packed

,

t hei r d ogs an d s t art ed for the c amp of the

strange r Wh en th ey had come t o wher e t hey
.

could se e it they found i t a wonderful p lace

, .

There a round the piskun an d stretching far ,

79
 BLAC K FEE T IN D I AN STO RIE S
up and down the valley were p i tched the lodges
,

of the meat eaters They could not se e them

.

all but near by they sa w the lodges of the B ear

,

band the F ox band and the R aven band The

, , .

fathe r of the young man who had vis i ted th em

and gi v en them meat was the chief of the Wolf
band a nd by t hat band they pitched the i r
,

lodge Truly that was a happy place F ood

. .

was plenty A ll day long people were shout i ng

.

o u t for feasts and everywhere was heard the

,

soun d of drumming and singing and dancing .

The newly come p eople went t o the p i skun

for meat a n d there on e of the ch i ldren sa w an
,

arrow lying on the ground It was a beaut ifu l .

arrow the stone po i nt long slender and sharp

, , , ,

the S haft round and stra i ght The b oy remem .

bere d wha t had been said and he looked around

fear fully bu t everywhere t he people were busy
, .

N o on e was looking He picked up the arrow

.

and put it under his r obe .

Then there rose a terr i ble sound A ll the .

an i mals howled and growled and rushed toward

h i m but the ch i ef Wol f got to h i m first and
, ,

“
hold i ng up his hand sa i d Wa i t He i s young, .

80
 B LACKFE E T I N D IAN STO RIE S
with many colored fea ther s T o the end of the
-
.

—
sti ck was t i ed t he S kin of a rav en hea d wings , ,

feet and t a i l
, .

“
We said t he R a v en ch i ef are those who
, ,

c arry the ra v en ( M as t o p a h t a -
Of all -
'
-

the fl i ers of all t he birds what on e i s so smar t

, ,

as the r aven ? N one The r a ven s eyes are

.
’

sharp his wings are strong He is a great

, .

hun ter and never hungry F ar off on the .

prairie he sees h i s food or if it is deep h i dden

,

in the forest it does not escap e him This is .

”
our song and ou r dance .

When he ha d fin i shed singing an d da n c ing

he placed t he s t ick in the sack and ga v e i t to
the man a nd said Take i t wi th you a nd when
, ,

y o u ha v e returne d t o your peo p le y o u S hall

‘
sa y, N ow there a re already t he B ulls and he ,

who is the Ra v en chief said There shall be more , .

There shall be the A ll F rien d s ( I kiin tih -

’

kah so t ha t t he people may live a nd of the ,

”
A ll F riends shall be the R a v en B earers ! ou .

shall c all a coun c il of the ch i efs and wise ol d

men and t hey shall choose the persons who are
,

t o belong to t h e so c ie ty Tea c h them the song .

82
 T HE ALL C O MRADE S SO C I E TIE S
a n d t he d an c e and g i ve t hem th e me d icine
, .

”
I t shall be theirs forever .

Soon they heard another p e rson S h ou ting ou t

th e feas t call and go i ng they entered the lodge
, , ,

’
of the c h ief of the K it F oxes ( S 1 n o pa h ! Here - -
.
,

t oo old men had gathered After they had

, .

eaten of the food se t before them the ch i e f ,

“
sa i d , Those among w h om you have just come
are generous They do n ot look carefully a t
.

the t hings they ha v e but g i ve t o t h e stranger ,

an d pity the poor The kit fox is a little ani .

-

mal bu t wha t on e is smarter ? N one His ha i r

, .

is l i ke th e d ead grass of the p rairie ; his eyes

are keen ; his feet m ake n o noise when he w alks ;
h i s brain is cunning His ears recei v e the fa r .

”
o ff soun d Here is our medi c ine Take i t
. He . .

gave th e m a n th e s tick I t was long c r ook ed .

,

a t on e en d woun d with fur an d tied here and

, ,

there wi th eagle fea thers At the e n d w a s a .

k i t fox skin Again the chief spoke and sa i d

-
.
,

L is t en t o ou r song D o not forge t it a nd the

.
,

d an c e t oo you must remember When y ou reach

, , .

home t each them to the people He sang and .

danced Then presently h is gues t s departed

. .

83
 BLACKF EE T I N D IAN STO RIE S
A gain they heard the feast shout and he who ,

called was the chief of the B ear society After .

they had eaten and smoked the ch i ef sai d ,

What i s your op i nion fr i end Wolf ? Shall

‘
,

we give o u r new fr i end a present ?

“ ”
I t S hall be as you say repl i e d t he Wolf, .

”
I t i s yours to g i ve .

Then spoke the B ear saying There are

, ,

many an i mals and some of them are powerful ;

but the bear is the strongest and greatest of
all He fears no t hing and is always ready to
.

fight .

Then h e pu t on a necklace of bear claws a ,

band of bear fu r about h i s hea d and a belt of ,

bear fur and sang and danced When he had

, .

fin i shed he gave the th i ngs he had worn to the

“
man and sa i d Teach the people our song and
,

o u r dance an d give them th i s medicine I t is

, .

”
p owerful .

I t was very late The Seven Stars had come

.

t o the middle of the n i ght yet again they heard ,

the feast shout from t he fa r end of the camp .

I n th i s lodge the men were pa i nted with streaks

of red and their ha i r was a l l pushed to on e side
,
.

84
 THE ALL C O M RADE S SO CIE TIE S
After the feast the ch i ef sai d We are d i fferent
,

from all others here We are called the B raves

.

( M fi
’
t We know not fear ; we are death .

E ven if our enem i es are as many a s the grass

we do not t urn away but figh t and conquer
, .

B ows are good weapons lances are be t ter ; bu t

,

”
o u r weapon is the kn i fe .

Then the ch i ef sang and danced and after ,

ward he gave the Wolf ch i ef s fr i end the med i ’

cine I t was a long kn ife and many s c alps were

.

“ “
t i ed on the handle Th i s sa i d he
.
, is for ,

”
the A ll F r i ends
.

To one more lodge they were called that ni ght

and the lodge owner taught the man his song and
dance and gave h i m h i s med i cine Then the
, .

Wolf ch i ef and his fr i end went home and S lept .

E arly next day the B lackfeet women began

to take down the lodge and to get ready to
move the i r camp Many women came and made
.

them presents of food dri ed meat pem i can, , ,

and berr i es They were g i ven so much that

.

they could not take it all w i th them I t was .

long before they j o i ned the ma i n camp for it ,

had mo v ed south look i ng for bu ffalo

, .

85
 BLACKFE E T I N D I AN STO RIE S
When they rea c hed t he c amp as soon as the
,

lodge was p i tched the man called all the ch i efs

,

to come and feast with h i m and told them wha t

,

he had seen and S howed them the d i fferent

,

medic i nes Then the chiefs chose c er t a i n young

.

men t o belong to the d i fferent societ i es and th i s

,

man taught them the songs and dan c es a nd ,

gave its me d i c ine t o ea ch society .

86
 TH E F I R ST M E D I CI N E L O D GE

H E chief god of the B lackfee t is the Sun .

He made th e worl d and rules i t an d t o ,

h i m the people pray One of his names is N api

.

ol d man ; bu t there is ano ther N api w h o is

v ery di fferen t from t he Sun an d ins t ead of
,

being gre at wise and wonderful is foolish

, , , ,

mean a nd cont e mpt ib le We S h all hear abou t

, .

him further on .

E very year in s ummer about t he t ime t he

,

berries ripen the B la c kfee t used t o h ol d the

,

great fest i val and sacrifice which we c all the

c eremony of the Medicine L odge This was .

a time of h appy meetings of feast i ng of gi v ing

, ,

presents ; but bes i des th i s rej o i c i ng those men

,

who w i shed to ha v e good luck in whatever they

-

m i gh t undertake tr i ed to pro v e their pr ayers

s i ncere by sacr i ficing t he i r bodies t ortur i ng ,

t hemsel v es in w ays that cause d grea t su ffering .

87
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
In ancient t i mes as we are told i n books of
,

h i story things l i ke that used to happen among

,

many peoples all over the world .

I t was the law that the build i ng of the Med i

c i ne L odge mus t always be pledged by a good
woman If a woman had a s on or a husband
.

away at war and feared that he was i n danger ,

or if sh e had a ch i ld tha t was s i ck and m i ght

d i e sh e m i gh t pray for the safety of the on e
,

sh e love d and promise tha t if he returned or

,

recovered she would bu i ld a Medic i ne L odge .

Th i s pledge was made i n a loud voice publ i cly, ,

in open a i r so th at al l migh t know t he prom i se

,

had been made .

A t t he t ime ap pointe d all the tr i be came to

gether and p i tched the i r lodges i n a great c i rcle
,

and with i n this circle the Med i c i ne L odge was

bu i lt The ceremony lasted for four days and
.

four n i ghts dur i ng wh i ch t i me the woman who

,

had prom i sed t o make the Med i c i ne L odge

ne i ther ate nor drank except once i n sacr ifice
,
.

D i fferen t stor i es are told of how the first Med i

c i ne L odge came t o be buil t This is on e of
.

those stor i es
88
 BLACKF E E T IN DIAN STO R IE S
’
and s t ill y ou say N o Then t he girl s ai d
‘
.
,

“
F ather listen t o me That A bo v e Person the
, .
,

Sun said to me D o no t marry any of thes e

, ,
‘

men for y ou belong t o m e L is t en to what I

,
.

s a y and y ou shall be happy a nd live t o a gr e a t

,

‘
age.
’
A nd aga i n he sa i d t o me Take heed , ,

you must no t marry ; you are mine .

“ ” “
A h ! replied her father ; i t mus t always be
”
as he says ; and they spoke no more abou t i t .

There was a poor young m an He w a s v ery .

poor His father his mother an d all his rel a

.
, ,

tion s were dead He had no lo d ge no wife t o

.
,

tan h i s robe s or make his mocc a sins Hi s .

clo thes were always ol d an d worn He h a d .

no home To d ay he s t opped in on e lodge ;

.
-

then t o morrow he a t e and slept in another

-
.

Thus he live d He h a d a good fa c e bu t on h is

.
,

c heek w a s a bad s car .

After they had held th o se dan c e s som e of ,

the young men m et this poor S c arfa c e a n d t hey ,

“
laughed at him and said Wh y d o no t y ou a sk ,

that girl t o marry you ? ! ou a re so ric h an d

”
handsome .

Scarface did not l augh He looke d a t them .

90
 THE FI RST ME D I C IN E LO D GE
and sa l d I will do a s y ou say ; I w i ll go and
ask her .

A ll the young men thought t his w a s funny ;

they laughed a goo d d eal a t S carfa c e as he was
walking a way .

Scarface wen t d own b y th e ri v er an d waited

t her e ne ar th e p la c e wh ere t he women went to
,

get w at e r B y a nd by t he girl c am e th ere

. .

“
Scarface spoke t o her and sa i d Girl st op ; I
, , ,

w a nt t o speak with y ou I do n ot wish t o do any

.

t hing se c retly but I speak t o you here openly

, ,

”
where t he Sun looks d own and all may se e .

“ ”
Speak t hen said t he girl
, , .

I ha v e s een t he d ays sa id Sc arfa c e I

, .

h ave s e en h ow y ou h av e r efused all t hose men ,

who are young and r i ch and bra v e To day .

-

s ome of these young men l aughed and s aid to

me Wh y do n ot you ask h er ?
,
‘
I am poor ’
.

I h a v e no lodge no food no clo th es n o robes

, , ,
.

I h a v e no relations A ll of t h e m ha v e died
. .

Ye t now t o day I s ay t o you take p i ty B e my

-
, .

”
w i fe .

The girl hid her fa c e in he r r obe a n d brus h e d

t he ground wi th th e poin t of h er mo cca sin ,

91
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STORIE S
back and forth back and forth for she was
, ,

th i nk i ng
.

After a ti me sh e spoke an d said I t i s true ,

I have re fused all those rich young men ; yet

now a p oor one asks me and I am glad I w i ll , .

be your w ife and my people will be glad You

, .

are poor but that does not matter My father

, .

w i ll g iv e you dogs ; my mother w i ll make us a

lodge ; my relat i ons w i ll g i ve us robes and furs ;
”
you will no longer be poor .

Then the young man was glad and he started ,

forward t o k i ss her but she put out her hand

,

“
and held h i m back and said , Wait ; the Sun ,

has spoken to me He said I may no t marry ;

.

that I belong to h i m ; that if I l i sten to h i m I

shall live t o grea t age So now I s a y go to .
,

‘
the Sun ; sa y to him She whom you spoke w i th
,

has l i stened to your words ; sh e has never done

wrong but now she wants to marry I want
, .

her for my wife ’

A sk h i m to take that scar
.

from your face ; that w i ll be his S i gn and I shall ,

know he is pleased B ut if he re fuses or if

.
,

you canno t find his lodge then do not return ,

”
to me .

92
 BLACKFEE T I NDIAN STO RIE S
and when he had reached the top turned to ,

look back a t the camp He wondered if he

.

should ever se e i t again ; if h e should return

to the girl a nd to the people .

”
Pity me 0 Sun ! he praye d ; an d t urning
,

away he se t off t o look for t he t rail t o th e Sun s

,
’

lodge .

F or many days h e wen t on He c rossed .

great prair i es and followed up t imbered rivers ,

and crossed t he mountains E very day h i s .

sack of food grew l i ghter bu t a s he went along

,

he looked for berries a nd roo t s and sometimes,

he k i lled an animal The s e things gave him

.

food .

One nigh t h e ca me t o th e h ome of a wolf .

” “
Hah ! sa id the wolf w hat are you d oing so
far from your home ?
“
I am looking for t h e p l ace where the S u n
’ “
lives repl i ed S c arfa ce
, .I have been sen t t o
”
speak wi th him .

“
I have t ravelled over much c oun t ry sa i d ,

“
the wolf ; I know all the pra i ries the valleys , ,

and the mounta i ns ; but I have ne v er seen the

’
Sun s h ome B ut wait a momen t I know a
. .

94
 T HE FIR ST M EDIC I NE L O D G E

person who is very wise and who may be able ,

”
to tell you the road A sk the bear . .

The next day Scarface went on again s t op ,

ping now and then to res t and to pick berries ,

’
and when n i gh t c ame he was a t the bear s lodge .

”
Where i s your home ? asked the bear .

Why are y ou travell i ng so f a r alone ?

” “
Ah replied the man I h ave come t o y ou
, ,

for h e l p Pity me B ecause of what t ha t g i rl

. .

sai d t o me I am looking for the Sun I wish

, .

”
t o a sk him for her .

“
I d o not know where h e l i v es said the ,

“
bear. I have travelled by many ri v ers and I
know the moun t ains yet I h ave no t seen h i s ,

lodge F arther on ther e is s ome on e that

.
—
—
s triped fac e who knows a gre at deal ; a sk h i m ”
.

When t he young man go t there t he badger ,

was in h is hole B ut Scarfa c e called to him

.
,

“
Oh cunning striped face ! I w i sh to S peak
,

”
with you .

The badger pu t his head ou t of the hole a nd

“ ”
sai d
, Wha t do you want my brother ? ,

“ ” ’
I wish to find the Sun s home s ai d S c ar ,

“ ”
fa c e
. I wi s h t o speak with him .

95
 BLACKFE E T IN D IAN STORI E S
I do not know where he l i ves answered ,

the badger I never t ravel very far

. Over .

there in the t i mber i s the wolverene He i s .

always t ravell i ng about and knows many ,

th i ngs Perhaps he c an tell you

. .

Scarface went over t o t he forest and looked all

about for the wolverene but could not see him ;
,

“ ”
s o he s a t down on a log to res t A las alas ! .
,

“
he cried ; wolverene t ake pity on me My
, .

food is gone my moccas i ns are worn out ; I

,

”
fear I S hall d i e .

Some on e close t o him said What is it my , ,

”
brother ? and l ooking around he sa w the ,

wolverene sitting there .

“
She whom I wish to marry b e l on g S t o the '

Sun sa i d Scarface ; I am trying to find where

,

”
he l i ves s o tha t I m ay a sk him for her
, .

” “
A h sa i d the wolverene I know where h e
, ,

l ives I t is nearly n i gh t now but t o morrow

.
,
-

I will show y ou the t rail t o the big wa t er He .

”
lives on the other S i de of it .

E arly in the morn i ng they se t ou t and the ,

wolverene showed Scarface the t ra i l and he ,

followed i t unt i l he came t o t he wa t er s edge

’
.

96
 BLACKFEE T IND IAN STORIE S
Person Ge t on ou r b acks a n d we will t ake y ou
.
,

”
there .

Scarface st oo d u p N ow h e fel t s t rong a n d

.

full of courage He waded ou t into the wate r

.

’
and lay d own on t he swans backs and they ,

swam away I t was a fearful j ourney for tha t

.
,

water w a s deep and black and i n i t l i ve strange ,

people and great an i mals which m i ght reach up

and se i ze a person and pull h i m down under the
water ; ye t the swans c arr i ed S ca rface safely
t o the o t her side There was seen a broa d hard
.
,

tra i l leading ba ck from the water s edge ’

.

“ ” “
There sa i d the swans ; you are now close
,

’
t o t he Sun s lo d ge F ollow t h at t r a il and soon
.
,

”
you wil l se e i t .

Scarface s tar t e d t o wal k along t he t rail and ,

aft er he ha d gone a li ttle way h e c ame t o some

beau t ifu l t hings lying in t he t rail There was .

a w a r S h irt a s hield a bow an d a quiver of

, , ,

arrows He had ne v er seen such fine weapons

. .

He looked at them bu t he did no t tou c h them

, ,

and a t las t walked around them a nd went on .

A l i ttle farther along he met a young man a ,

v ery h an d some person His hair was long ; h i s .

98
 THE FIRST M EDICIN E LO D G E

c l othing was mad e of strange S kins an d his ,

moc c as i ns were sewed with bright feathers .

The young man spoke to h i m and asked ,

”
D id y ou se e some weapons lying in the tra i l ?
“ ” “
Yes repl i ed Scarface I saw them
, , .

”
D id you touch them ? said the young man .

”
N o said Scarface ; I supposed some on e
,

”
h ad left th em t here and I did n ot t ouch them
, .

! ou d o not meddle with the property of

”
others sai d the young man
, What is your .

”
name a n d where are you going ?
, S carface
“
told him Then said the young man
. My ,

name is E arly R iser ( the morning star! The .

S u n is my fa th er C ome I will take you to

.
,

ou r lodge My father is n ot at h ome now bu t

.
,

”
he will re turn a t n i ght .

At length t hey came t o the lodge It was .

l arge a n d h andsome a n d on i t were p ainted

,

strang e medi cine animals On a t ripod behind .

’
t he l o d ge were the Sun s w eapons and his war
clothing Sc arface was a shamed to go into the
.

“
l odge bu t Morning Star said F riend do no t
, , ,

be afraid ; we a re glad you have come .

Wh en t hey wen t in a woman was si tt ing

99
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
there the Moon the Sun s wife and the mother
, ,
’

of Morn i ng Star She spoke to Scarface kindly

.

and gave h i m food to eat and when he had eaten ,

“
sh e asked , Why have y ou come s o far from
your people ?
So Scarface told h er abou t the beau tiful g i rl
that he wishe d to marry and said She belongs ,

”
to the Sun I have come t o a sk him for her
. .

When it was almos t night and t i me for the ,

Sun to come home the Moon h i d Scarface under

,

a pile of robes A s soon as the Sun got to the

.

“
doorway he said A strange person is here, .

“ “
Yes father said Morn i ng Star
, , a young ,

man has come to se e you He is a good young .

man for he found some of my things in the tra i l

,

”
and d i d not touch them .

Scarfa c e c ame out from un d er t he robes and

th e Sun entered the lodge a nd sa t down He .

spoke t o Scarface a nd sai d I am glad you ,

have come to our lodge Stay with us as long .

as y ou l ike Sometimes my son is l onely B e

. .

”
h i s fr i end .

The next d ay the t wo young men were t alk

ing abou t going hun t ing and t he Moon spoke
1 00
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STORIE S
they had done and they showed her the birds
,
’

heads sh e was glad She cried over the t wo

, .

young men and called Scarface My son and ,

’9

when the Sun came home at n i ght sh e told him

about it and he t oo was glad
,
.

“
My son he said t o Scarfa c e
, I w i ll not ,

forge t wha t y ou ha ve this day done for me .

Tell me now what I ca n do for y ou ; wh at is

”
your trouble ?
“ ”
A las alas ! replied S c arfa c e Pi ty me I
, , .

c ame h ere t o a sk y ou for tha t girl I want to .

marry h er I asked her and sh e was glad but

.
,

sh e says t h at she belongs t o y ou a nd t hat y ou ,

”
told her no t t o marry .

‘
Wha t you sa y is t rue replie d the Sun
, .

I have seen the days and all t hat S he has done .

N ow I give her to you She is yours I am . .

glad tha t S h e h a s been wise and I know that ,

sh e has ne v er done wrong The Sun t akes care

.

of good women ; they shall l i ve a l ong time ,

and so S hall their husbands and ch i ldren .

N ow soon you w i ll go home I w i sh t o t ell

, .

you someth i ng a nd y ou must be wise and l i sten .

I am the only chief ; every thing is mine ; I

1 02
 T HE FIRST M EDICINE LO D G E
made the earth the mountains the pra i ries
, , ,

the rivers and the forests ; I made the people

,

and all the animals Th i s is why I say that I

.

alone am ch i ef I can ne v er die I t is t rue the

. .

winter makes me old and weak bu t every su m ,

mer I grow young aga i n .

“
Wha t on e of all the animals is the smart
” “
est ? the Sun wen t on I t is the raven for he
.
,

always finds food ; h e is never hungry Wh i ch .

o n e of all the animals is the most t o be rever

e n ce d ? I t is t he bu ffalo ; of all the animals I

l ike him bes t He is for the people ; he i s your
.

food an d your shel t er Wha t par t of h i s body

.

i s sacred ? I t is the t ongue ; that belongs t o me .

What else is sacred ? B err i es They t oo are .

”
m i ne C ome w i th me now and se e the world
. .

The Sun t ook S c arfa c e t o the edge of the S ky

and they looke d down and sa w t he world I t i s .

flat and round a nd all around the edge it goes

,

“
stra i gh t down Then sa i d the Sun
. I f any ,

man is sick or in danger h i s wife may prom i se

to bu i l d me a lodge if he reco v ers I f the woman
.

is good then I shall be pleased and help the

,

man ; but i f sh e is no t good or if sh e lies then I

, ,

1 03
 B LACKFE E T INDIAN STO RIE S
S hall be angry ! ou shall bu i ld the lodge l i ke
.

the world round with walls but first you must

, , ,

bu i ld a sweat lodge of on e hundred st i cks I t

-
.

shall be arched l i ke the S ky and one hal f of i t ,

-

shall be pa i nted red for me the other hal f you,

”
shall pa i nt black for t he n i gh t He told Scar .

face all abou t mak i ng t he Medic i ne L odge an d ,

when he had finished speak i ng h e rubbed some ,

me di cine on the young man s face and the scar ’

that had been there disappeared He gave

h i m t wo ra v en feathers saying ! ,
T h ese are a
S i gn for the g i rl that I g iv e her t o you They .

must always be worn by the husband of the

”
wom a n who bu i lds a Me di cine L odge .

N ow Scarface w a s ready t o re t urn home .

The Sun and Morn i ng Star gave h i m many good

presents ; the Moon cr i ed and k i ssed h i m and
was sorry t o se e h i m go Then t he Sun showed
.

h i m the short tra i l I t was the Wol f R oad

.

the M i lky Way H e followe d i t and s oon

.

r eache d t he groun d .

Itwas a very hot d ay A ll the lodge sk i ns

.

were r a ised and the people sa t i n the shade .

1 04
 B LACKFEE T I N DIAN STO R IE S

a sk h im ques ti ons Wh e r e did you ge t all

.

”
these fin e t h i ngs ? H e did no t answer There .

i n the crowd s t oo d that young woman and , ,

tak i ng th e t w o rav en fea thers from his head he ,

“
gave them t o her and s aid The trail was long ,

and I nearly die d bu t by those h elpers I found

,

h i s lo d ge H e is gla d He sen d s th ese feathers

. .

”
t o you They a re t he S ign
. .

Grea t was h er gla d n es s t hen Th ey were .

m a rried and ma d e the firs t Medicine L odge as ,

the Sun ha d sai d The Sun was glad He ga v e

. .

them great age They were never S ick When

. .

they were very ol d on e morning t heir ch ildren

,

“ ”
called t o them , A wake r ise an d e at , They .

di d n ot mo v e .

I n the night t oge t h e r in s l eep without pain

, , , ,

t heir shadows h ad depar t e d to t he Sandhills .

1 06
 —
TH E B UFFA L O P A I N T E D L O D GE S

H E ol d lodge s of th e Piegans w e r e made of

bu ffalo S kin a n d were p ain t ed with pict
—
ure s of d ifl e re n t kin d s birds or a nimals or
'

, ,

tree s or moun t ains It i s believed t ha t in

, .

mos t ca ses t he first paint er of a ny lodge was

t augh t how he s h ould pa i n t i t in a d re am bu t ,

t h i s w a s no t a lw ays t he case .

Two of t he mos t impo rt ant lodges in t he

B l a ckfee t ca mp a re known a s t he I n fs kim ’ ’

lodges B o t h are pain t ed wi t h figures of b u f

.

falo one with black bu ffalo and the o ther w i th

, ,

yellow bu ffalo Ce r t ain of t he I n fs kfm a re kept

.
’

in these lodges a n d ca n be kep t in no others .

This story t e l ls h ow t hese t wo lodges c ame

to be made .

The pa i nt e r s we re t old wha t t o d o long long

,

“
ago in abou t t h e sec ond gener ati on a fter t he
,
”
first p e ople .

I n those days the old P i egans l i ved in the

1 07
 BLACKF E E T I NDIAN STO R IE S
north close t o t he R ed D eer R iver The camp
, .

moved and the lodges were pi t ched on the r i ver

, .

One day t wo ol d men who were c lose fr i ends

had gone ou t from the camp t o find some s t ra i gh t
cherry shoo t s wi t h wh ic h t o make arrows .

Af t er they ha d gathered their Shafts they sa t ,

down on a h i gh bank by the r i ver and began to

peel t he bark from the shoots The river was .

h i gh One of these men w a s nam e d Weasel

.

Hear t and t he o t her F isher .

A s they sa t there Weasel Hear t c h anced t o

,

look down into the wa t er and s a w someth i ng .

“
He sa i d to his comra d e F riend do you not , ,

se e something down t here where the water

”
goes aroun d ?
F isher said N o ; I see no thing e xcept b u f
,

”
falo for he w a s looking a c ross t he ri v er to the
,

other side and no t down i nto the water

,
.

“ “
N o said Weasel Hear t ; I do not mean over
,

there on t he prairie L ook down into that deep

.

hole i n the river a n d you will se e a lodge there

,
.

F isher looked as h e ha d been t old and sa w ,

the lodge .

Weasel He a r t said There is a lo d ge pa i nted

,

1 08
 BLACKFEE T IN DIAN STO RIE S
F isher sa t a long t i me wa i t i ng for h i s friend ,

but at last he looked down t he stream and sa w

a man on the shore walking t oward h i m He .

came along the bank until h e h a d re a che d his

fr i end . It w a s Wease l He a r t .

“
Fi sher sai d t o h im I h a ve been waiting a
,

long time a nd I was afrai d that something bad

,
”
had happened t o you .

Weasel Heart asked h i m D id y ou se e me ? ,

“
I saw you said Fi sher , when you went ,

in t o t hat lo d ge D i d you when y ou c ame ou t

.
,

o f t he lodge s e e t h ere in th e w at er another lodge

,

”
p ain t ed with yellow bu ffalo ? I s it st i ll th e re ?
“
Weasel Hear t said I sa w it ; i t i s t here
, .

”
Go you int o the water as I d i d .

Then F isher went up the s t ream a s his frien d

had gone a nd en t er ed t he wa t er a t the same
place and sw a m down as We a sel Heart had
done and when Weasel Hear t showed him the
,

place he dived down an d d i sappeared as Weasel

Heart had d i sappeared He entered the yellow .

pa i nted bu ffalo lodge a nd h is frien d sa w h i m go

-
,

i nto it .

I n the lodge were t wo per s ons a m a n a nd hi s ,

1 10
 THE —
B FFALO PAIN TED
U LO D GE S
w ife The man sa i d t o h i m You are welcome ;
.
,

” “
sit there He spoke further say i ng My son
.
, , ,

y o u have seen t h i s lodge of m i ne ; I gi v e i t to

you L ook c arefully at it ins i de a nd outside
.
, ,

and fix up your lodge in tha t way I t may be .

a help to you hereafter .Then Fi sher went ou t .

Weasel Heart wa i ted for h i s friend as long

as F isher ha d w a ited for him and when F isher
,

came out of the wa t er i t was a t th e pla c e where

Weasel Hear t had come ou t Then t he two .

fr i ends went home to t he camp .

When the t wo had come to a h i ll n e ar t he

camp they me t a young man and by him sen t ,

word that the people should make a sweat h ouse -

for them After the sweat house ha d been

.
-

made word was sen t t o them and they en t ered

, ,

the camp and went into the sweat h ouse and -

took a sweat and all the t i me wh i le they were

,

sweating sand was fall i ng from the i r bod i es

, .

Some t i me after tha t the people moved camp

and went out and k i lled bu ffalo and these t wo ,

men made two lodges and pa i nted them j ust

,

as the lodges were pa i n t ed that they h a d seen i n

t he ri ver .

111
 BLACKF EE T INDIAN STO RIE S
These t wo men had strong power wh i ch came
t o them from the Under water People
-
.

On c e the people w i shed t o cross the river ,

but the s tream w a s deep an d i t w a s always

hard for them to get across O ften the dogs .

and the travo i s were swep t away and the people

lost many of their th i ngs A t th i s time the
.

tr i be wished t o cross and Fi sher and Weasel

,

“
Hear t sa i d t o each other The people want
,

to cross the river bu t i t is high and they cannot

,

do so L et us try to make a cross i ng s o that

.
,

”
i t will be easier for them So Weasel Heart
.

alone c rossed the river and sat on the bank

o n the other side and F isher sa t opposite to
,

him on the bank where t he camp was

Then Fi sher sa i d t o the people Pa c k up
,

your th i ngs now and ge t ready to cross I w i ll .

make a place where y ou can c ross easily .

Weasel Heart and F isher filled the i r pipes

and smoked and then each started to cross
,

the river A s each stepped into the water the

.
,

river began to go down and the cross i ng gre w

more and more shallow The people w i th all
.

the i r dogs followed close behind F isher a s h e ,

112
 —
M I KA P I RE D O L D M AN
’

N Mon ta n a running in t o t he Missouri R i v er

,

from t he south is a l ittle s t ream t h at t he

,

“ ”
B la c kfe et c all I t F ell on Them .Once l ong , ,

long ago while a numbe r of women w e re di g

,

g i ng in a bank ne ar t his s tream for th e red

ear th th a t th ey use d as pa in t th e b a nk gave
,

way a nd fell on t hem burying an d killing t hem

, .

Th e w h i t e people call thi s Arm e l l s Cr eek

’
.

It w a s on this st re a m near t he moun t ains

th at t he Piegans were ca m p e d wh e n Mik a p i ’

wen t t o war This w a s l ong ago

. .

E a r l y in the morning a her d of bu ffalo had

been seen feed i ng on t he S lope s of t he moun
tains a n d some hun t ers wen t ou t t o kill them
,
.

Tr av elling carefully up the rav ines and keep i ng ,

o u t of s i gh t of t he her d t hey ca me close t o them

, ,

near enough t o shoo t t hei r arr ow s a nd they ,

began t o kill fa t c ows B u t wh i le they were

.

do i ng t his a w a r p a rty of Snake s t h at h ad been

1 14
 —
MI KA P I R E D OL D MAN
’

h i dden on the moun t ains i de a t t acke d th em and ,

the Piegans began t o run back t ow ar d the i r

c amp .

One of them c alled F oxE y e wa s a brave

, ,

man an d shou t e d t o the oth ers t o sto p and wa i t

, ,

s ay i ng L e t us fight these people ; t he Snake s

,

are not brave ; we can drive them back B ut .

t h e o ther Piegans would not listen t o h im ; th ey

“
m ad e excuses saying We h a v e no shields ;
, ,

o u r w ar medicine is no t h ere ; t here ar e many

of t hem ; why shoul d we stop here t o d ie ?
They ran on to t he cam p but F oxE y e would ,

no t run Hiding behind a rock h e p rep a red

.

t o figh t bu t a s he w a s looking fo r som e enemy

,

t o shoo t a t hold i ng his arr ow on t he s t ring a

, ,

S nake h ad crep t u p on t he b ank abo v e him ;

t he Piegan he a r d t h e t w a ng of the bowstring ,

a nd t he long fin e a rrow p a sse d through hi s

,

body His bow and a rrow d rop p e d from hi s

.

h an d s and he fell forw ard de ad N ow t oo late

, ,
.
, ,

t h e w arriors c am e rushing ou t fr om t he Piegan

camp t o h elp h i m bu t t he Snakes scalp ed t he i r
,

enemy s cattered up the mounta in a n d s oon

, ,

were h i dd en in th e t imber .

1 15
 BLACKF E E T INDIAN STO RIE S

F ox E ye ha d t wo wives and t heir fa t her and

,

mother a nd all their n ear relat i ons were dead .

A ll F oxE ye s relations had die d So it hap

’
.

pene d t ha t t hese p oor widows ha d no on e to

—
help them no on e to t ake v enge a nce for the
k i lling of their husband .

A ll d ay long and often far int o th e nigh t th ese

, ,

t w o sa t on a near b y hill a n d waile d a n d th e i r

-
,

mourning was sa d .

There was a young m a n nam ed Mika p i ’

.

E v ery morning when h e a woke h e heard the

mourning of thes e poor widows a nd all through ,

the d ay h e could n ot forge t their sorrow He .

pitied t h em On e day he sen t his mother to

.

them t o tell them th at he wished to speak with

,

t hem When they ha d c ome to the lodge they

.

en t er ed a nd sa t down close by the doorway and

covered their h e a ds .

“ ” ’
L is t en ! sai d M i ka pi F or d ay s a n d nights
.

I h a v e heard your mourning a nd I t oo h ave ,

mourne d Your husban d was my c lose fr i end

.
,

an d now h e is dead and no relations are le ft to

,

avenge h im So now I sa y to y ou I will take

.
,

t he load from your hearts ; I w i ll go to war an d

116
 BLACKFE E T I NDIAN STO RIE S

When M ika p i had come t o the Grea t Place

'

o f F all i ng Water
!
i t began to r ain har d and
, , ,

looking abou t for a p lace to sleep he sa w a hole ,

in the r ocks and crep t in and lay down at the

farthe r en d . The rain did no t stop and when ,

i t grew da rk h e c ou l d no t t ra v el because of the

darkness a n d t he storm s o he lay down t o ,

sleep again ; bu t be fore he had fallen aslee p he

heard something a t the mouth of the ca ve a nd ,

t hen something c reeping toward him Then .

soon some thing t ouched h i s breast and h e put ,

o u t hi s hand a nd felt a person Then he sat up . .

Mik a p i s t re tc hed ou t hi s h and and put its

'

’
p alm on th e p erson s bre a s t and moved h is h and
quickly from s id e t o side and then t ouched ,

the per s on wi t h t he point of his finger which ,

“ ”
in s i gn l anguage means Who a re you ? , The
stranger t ook M ik a p i s h an d and m a de hi m
’ ’

feel of his own right han d The t humb and .

fingers were clo s e d ex c ep t t he forefinger wh i ch ,

was exte nd ed When Mi k a p i s h and was on

.
' ’

’
the s t r a nger s ha n d t he person moved h i s han d
forw a r d with a z igz a g mot i on meaning Snake , .

T he Gr ea t Fa lls o f t he Missou r i .

118
 MI KA ’
PI — R E D OL D MAN

M ik a p i was glad Here had come t o h i m

’

’
.

o n e of the t ribe he w a s seek i ng yet he thought ,

i t bette r t o wait for a t i me before fight i ng h i m ;

s o when in signs the Snake asked M I k a pi who
‘ ‘
’
, ,

he w a s he repl i ed by making the sign for pad ,

d lin g a c anoe tha t he was a R i ver person for

, ,

he knew that the Snakes and the R iver people ,

o r Pen d d Or e il l e s
’
were a t peace Then the , .

two lay down for the n i ght but M ika p i d i d ,

’

not S leep Through the long n i ght he watched

.

for the firs t light s o that he m i ght k i ll his enemy ;

,

and j us t a t daybreak M ika p i withou t no i se '

, ,

strung his bow fitted an a rrow t o the string

, ,

and sent the th i n shaft through h i s enemy s ’

hear t The Snak e half rose up and fell back

.

dea d M ika p i scalped him took h i s bow and

.
’
,

arrows a nd h i s bundle of moccas i ns and went ,

o u t of the c ave and looked all about D ay .

l i ght had come but no one was i n s i ght Per

,
.

haps l i ke h i mself the Snake had gone t o war

, ,

alone Mika p i d i d not forge t to be c areful

.
'

because he had been fortunate He travelled .

only a little way and then h i d h i mself and ,

waited for nigh t before go i ng on After drink .

119
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

i ng from the river he ate and cl i mbing up on ,

a h i gh rock wall he slept

, .

He dreame d th at h e fought wi th s trange peo

ple a nd was woun d e d He fel t blood tr i ckl i ng
.

from h i s wounds and when h e a woke h e knew

,

tha t h e had been warned to t urn back Other .

s i gn s were b a d He sa w a n eagle rising c arry

.

ing a snake which drop ped from its claws

,
.

The se tt ing su n too was pain t ed a sure w arn ,

i ng t hat danger was near I n sp it e of all these

.

’
th i ngs M ika pi de t ermined t o go on He t hought .

o f the poor widows mourning ; he t hough t of

the welcom e of the people if he should return

w i th scalps ; he though t also of t wo young S i s
ters whom he wished t o marry I f he c oul d .

return wi th proof of bra v e deeds they woul d ,

th i nk well of him .

’
M i ka pi travelled onward .

The su n had already disappeared behind the

sharp poin t ed dark peaks of the mounta i n s .

I t was nearly nigh t A s t he light grew d i m

.
,

the far stretching prairie began to be h i dden .

B y a s tream in a valley where grew large an d

1 20
 BLACKFEE T IND IAN STO RIE S
The man who had used the kn ife s c alped h i s
enemy and slowly h i dden by the grass crept
, , ,

down t he hill tha t he ha d j ust as c ende d and ,

when h e r eache d t he c over of a l ow place

’
M i ka pi rose t o his fee t and crept away He had .

another Snake s c alp t ied to h i s belt His heart .

was glad bu t he was no t satisfied

, .

Several nigh t s h a d p asse d S in ce th e signs

~
warne d h im to turn b a ck bu t no t with s ta nd i ng
,

the w a rnings he ha d suc c eeded Perhap s h i s

,
.

success had made h i m too confiden t He longed .

“
for more of it One more scalp I S hall t ake
.
,

“
he sai d and then I will return t o the people
,
.

He climbed far up the moun t ains i de and h i d

among the pines a nd slept bu t when day c ame ,

he awo k e and crep t ou t t o a p oin t w h ere he

coul d se e t he camp He sa w t he smoke ris i ng
.

as t he women k i ndled their morning fire s ; he

sa w t he people go i ng about t hrough t he ca mp ,

and then presently he sa w many people rush

up on the h i ll where he had le ft the dea d enemy .

He c ould no t hear their angry cr i es nor the i r ,

mournful wa i l i ngs but he knew how badly they

,

felt and he sung a song for he was happy

, ,
.

1 22
 —
MI KA P I R E D
’
OL D MA N

Once more the sun had d i sappeared beh i nd

the mounta i ns and as darkness grew M ik a p i
,
’

came down from where he had been h idi ng and

c arefully approached the camp N ow was a .

time of danger N ow w at chers migh t be h i d

.

den a nywhere looking for t he approa c h of ene

,

mies ready to ra i se a c ry to warn the c amp

, .

E ach bush or clump of rye gras s or willow

th i cke t m i ght h i de an enemy Very slowly .
,

look i ng and l i stening M ika p i c rept a round

,
’

the outsk i rts of the camp He made no no i se

.
,

he di d no t show h i mself Presently he heard

.

some on e c lear hi s throa t and then a c ough ,

and a little bush mo v ed Here wa s a watcher

. .

C ould he k i ll him and get away ? He sat and

wa i ted t o se e w hat would happen for he knew ,

where his enemy was but the enemy knew noth

,

i ng of h i m The great moon rose over the

.

eastern prairie and cl i mbed h i gh and began to

tra v el across the sky Se v en Persons swung
.

aroun d and poin t ed downward I t w a s about .

the middle of the nigh t A t length t he person

.

in the bush grew tired of watch i ng ; he t hought

no enemy could be near and he rose an d s t retched
1 23
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STORIE S
ou t his a rms and yawned but even as he stood
,

an a r r ow p ierced h i m through beneath the ,

arm s H e gav e a loud cry and tried to run but

.
,

anothe r a rrow s t ruck h i m and he fell ,

.

A n d now from ou t the camp rushed t he war

r i ors t ow ar d t he s oun d bu t e v en as they came
,

M ik a p i ha d t aken th e s c al p from his enemy

'

and s tar ted t o run away in t o the darkness The .

moon w as br i gh t an d close behind him were

,

the Snake s He heard arrows fly i ng by h i m

.
,

and p resently on e passed through his a rm He .

pulle d i t ou t a nd threw i t from him A nother .

stru ck his l eg a n d he fell an d a grea t shout

, ,

arose from t he Snake s N ow their enemy was

.

down a n d re v enge for t he t wo li v es lately taken

was cer t ain .

B u t M ika p i s h elper s were no t far off I t

’ ’
.

wa s at th e v ery ve rge of a high c u t wall o v er

'
hanging t he ri v er tha t M ika pi fell a nd even as ,

the Sn akes shou ted he rolle d o ver t he br i nk

i n t o t he d ark rushing w at er below The Snakes .

ran along th e edge of t he ri v er looking in t o the ,

’
water with bent bows watching for the enemy s
,

head or body to appear but t hey sa w noth i ng

,
.

1 24
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STORIE S

mo the r in t heir ol d age ? P i ty me now O ,

Sun ; h elp me 0 Great A bove Person ! G i ve

,

”
me l ife !
Someth i ng was c oming through t he brush
near hi m break i ng t he s t icks as i t walked
, .

Was i t the Snakes following his t rail ? M ika pi ’

strung h i s bow and drew his a rrows from t he

quiver He wa i ted
. .

N o i t was not a Snake ; i t was a bear a big

, ,

grizzly bear standing there look i ng down at

,

“
M ika p i '
Wha t is my bro ther do i ng here ?
.
”

“ ”
said t he be a r Why does he pray for life ?
.

L ook a t my leg sa i d M ik a p i ; swollen

“
,
'

and sore See my wounde d arm ; I can h ardly

.

hol d t he bow F ar away i s the home of my.

people and my s trength is gone Surely here

, .

I mus t die for I c a nno t walk an d I h ave no

, ,

fo o d f
’

“
Take c our a ge my b r o th er s aid t he bear
, , .

K eep u p a strong he ar t for I wil l h elp you , ,

”
and you shall have life .

When he had sai d t hi s he lif t e d M ik a p i in '

h i s arms and t ook h i m t o a place where there

was th i ck mud and there he took grea t hand ,

1 26
 MI KA ’
PI —RED OLD MAN
fuls of the mud and plastered i t on the wounds ,

and wh i le he was putt i ng on the mud he sang a

’
med i c i ne song Then he c arried M i ka pi t o a
.

place where there were many service berries ,

and he broke O ff grea t branches of the frui t a n d

“
gave t hem t o him saying E at my brother
, , , ,

”
eat. He k ep t breaking O ff branches full of
large rip e berries until Mika p i wa s full a n d
,
’

could ea t no more .

Then sa i d the be a r N ow lie d own on my

,

back and hold t i ght by my hair and we will go

; an d when M i k a p i had go t on h is back
” ’
on

and was re a dy the bear s t arted A ll t hrough .

t he n i ght he t r av elled on without stopping and ,

when morning came t hey rested for a t ime a nd

ate more berries an d aga i n the bear pu t mud
,

upon the man s wounds I n this way they

’
.

t ra v elled on until on the fourth day they had

, , ,

come close t o the lodges of the Piegans and the

p eople sa w them com i ng and wondered ,
.

“ ”
Ge t off now my brother get off said the
, , ,

bear . There i s the camp of your p eople I .

”
shall le av e you ; and at once h e t urne d an d
wen t off u p th e mounta i n .

1 27
 BLACKFE E T INDIAN STO RIE S
’
A ll the people came out to meet M i ka p i and ,

they c arr i ed h i m to h i s father s lodge He ’

.

unt i ed the s c alps from his belt and ga v e them

t o t he p oor widows saying , These ar e the,

”
scalps of your enemies ; I wipe aw ay you r te ars .

Then e v ery on e rej oice d A ll M ika p i s women

.
’ ’

r elat ions wen t through the c amp shou ting ou t ,

h i s name a n d singing songs abou t him an d all ,

prepare d t o d an c e t he dan c e of t riumph and

rej o i c i ng
.

F irs t c am e th e wi d ows They carrie d the

.

scalps t ie d on p oles a nd their faces were painted

,

black . Then came t he medicine men with ,

their medicine p i pes unwrapped an d then the ,

ban ds of the A ll F riends dressed i n their war

costumes ; t hen c ame the ol d men ; an d las t of ,

all the women a n d children They wen t all

,
.

through t he vill age st opping here an d there t o

,

dan c e and Mi ka p i sa t outside the lodge an d

,
'

s a w all t he people d an ce by him He forgot .

h i s pain a nd was happy and although he could

,

not dan c e he sung w i th them

, .

Soon they made the med i c i ne lodge and first ,

of all t he warriors M i k a p i was chosen to cu t

’
,

1 28
 RE D R OB E S D RE AM
’

O N G long ago R ed R obe and Talki ng R ock

, ,

were young men i n the B lackfeet camp .

I n their c h i ldhood days a nd early you t h the i r

l ife had b e en h a r d Talk i ng R ock was an orphan
.

withou t a s i ngle rel at ion a nd R ed R obe had only

h i s ol d grandmother .

Th i s ol d woman by hard work and sa c r i fice

, ,

had m a naged to rear the boys She tanned robes .

for the hun t ers m a de them moccas i ns worked

,

with porcupine quills a nd d id everything sh e

,

could t o get a little food or worn o u t robes and

h i de from which sh e made clothes for her boys
,
.

They never had new br i ghtly painted calf ,

robes l i ke other ch i ldren They went barefoot

, .

i n summer and in winter t heir toes o ft en S howed

,

through t he worn ou t S k i n of the i r moccas i ns .

They had no flesh Their r i bs could be counted

.

beneath the skin ; t heir ch e cks were hollow ;

they look e d always hungry .

1 30
 RED R OB E S DREAM
’

When they grew to be twelve or fifteen years

ol d they began to do better for now they ,

could d o more and more for themselves They .

herded horses and performe d small services for

t he wealthy men ; then too they hunted and , ,

k illed a little mea t N ow for their work three

.
, ,

or four dogs were given them so with t he two ,

the ol d woman owned t hey were able t o pack

,

t hei r s mall lodge and other possessions when

the camp move d instead of carry i ng everyth i ng
,

on th eir b a cks.

N ow t hey began t o do their best t o make l ife

easier for the good old woman who had worked
so har d t o k eep them from s ta r v ing a nd freez i ng .

Time passe d The boys grew old enough

.

t o go ou t and f a s t They h ad t heir d reams

. .

E ach found his se cr e t h elpe r of mysterious

power an d each became a warrior Still they
, .

were very poor compare d with o ther young

,

men of th ei r a ge They ha d bows but only a

.
,

few a rrow s They were no t able to pay some

.

grea t medicine man t o make shields for t hem .

A s yet they went to war only as servants .

A bou t th i s time R ed R obe fell in love .

1 31
 BLACKFEE T IND IAN STO RIE S
I n t he camp was a beaut iful g i rl named
’ — —
M a m fn the Wing whom all the young men
-

wished to marry bu t perhaps R ed R obe loved

,

her more t han all the res t Her father was a .

r ich o l d medicine m a n who ne v er invited any

excep t chiefs and grea t warriors to feas t w i th
h i m an d R e d R obe seldom entered his lodge
, .

He used t o dres s a s well as he c ould t o braid ,

h i s hair carefully to paint his face n i cely and to

, ,

stand for a long time near the lodge look i ng

entre at ingly at her as S h e came and wen t about
her work or fleshed a robe under the shelter
,

of some tr a v ois o v er which a hide was spread .

Then whene v er they met he thought the look ,

sh e ga v e him in p a ssing was friendly

— perhaps
more than that .

Wherever M a mm wen t h er mother or some

-

woman of th e family wen t with her so R ed ,

R obe c ould ne v er speak t o her but he was ,

O ften near by One day when S he was gather

.
,

ing wood for t he lodge and her compan i on was

,

ou t of sigh t behind some willow bushes some

d i stance away R ed R obe had a chance to tell
,

'
M a m in what was i n h i s heart He walked
-
.

1 32
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
to sorrow to be beaten by her father who would
, ,

blame the poor woman for all the d i sgrace ; and

s o too soon they parted for they heard her com
, , ,

—
pan i on c oming t he sound of her heavy foot
steps .

Three B ulls chief of the camp was a great

, ,

man He had a fierce temper and when he

.
,

spoke p eople hurried to do wha t he ordered for

, ,

they feared h i m He ne v er t alked loud n or.

called any one by an ill n a me When any on e .

d i spleased him or re fused to d o w h a t he sa i d he

j ust smiled and then k i lled the person He was .

brave I n battle w i th enem i es he w a s t he equal

.

of twenty men r ushing here there in t o the

, , ,

—
th i ckest of the figh t s and k i ll i ng always with
,

that S i lent terrible sm i le on h i s fa c e B ecause

, .

he was such a grea t warrior and also be c ause ,

he was generous helping the poor feast i ng any

, ,

who came to h i s lodge he w a s the head ch i ef of ,

the B lackfeet .

Three B ulls had several wives and many ch i l

dren some of them grown and marr i ed Gray
, .

ha i rs were now many i n h i s head H i s face .

wr i nkles showed that old age w a s not fa r d i stant .

1 34
 RE D R OB E S D REAM
’

No on esupposed that he would ever take a n

other wife ; so when the news spread through the
camp tha t he had asked the O ld med i cine man
for his daugh t er M a every on e w a s su r
prise d When R ed R obe h ear d t he news h i s
.

hear t n early broke The ol d me d i c ine man

.

agreed t o l e t the ch i ef h ave t he girl He d ared .

not refuse nor d id he wish t o for many good

, ,

presents were t o be gi v en him in t hree days ’

t i me When th at was done he told h i s d a u gh

.
,

t er sh e would be taken t o t he c hief s l odge ; let

,
’

her prep are for the change .

Th at day R e d R obe h ad planne d t o s t art

wi th a p arty t o w ar ; bu t when h e h e ard th i s
news h e asked h is fr i end Talk i ng R ock t o take
wor d t o t he le a der th at he had changed h is m i nd
and would no t go He ask e d his friend t o stay
.

with him ins t ead of j oining th e w a r par ty a nd

, ,

Talking R ock agreed t o do so .

Ou t in fron t of t he camp w a s a l arge spring ,

and t o t h at p la c e R ed R obe w e n t an d stoo d lean

ing agains t a large stone a nd look i ng sadly d own
in t o the blue wa t er Soon a s he had thought
.
, ,

M a m in c ame t o t he spr i ng for a skin of wa ter

-
’ '
.

1 35
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STORIE S
He took her hands as he had done before and
, ,

began to beg her to go away w i th h i m that very

n i ght before i t was too late The g i rl cried b i t
,
.

t e rl y but a t first S he d i d no t s p eak

,
.

The two were stand i ng in plain s i ght of the

camp and the people in it and some one went to ,

the ch i e f s lodge and told h i m wha t was tak i ng

’

place .

“
Go to the S pr i ng sa i d the ch i ef and tell
, ,

that young man to let the g i rl go ; S h e i s to be

”
my w i fe .

The person d i d as he was told bu t the two ,

young people pa i d no a t tention to him They .

d i d not care wha t any one sa i d nor i f the whole ,

camp s a w t hem t here t ogether A ll they could .

th i nk abou t was t h i s t err i b l e th i ng wh i ch would ,

make t hem unhappy s o long as they l i ved R ed .

R obe kept ask i ng the girl to go and at last sh e ,

consen t ed to do as he wished They had the i r .

arms abou t each o th er no t th i nking of the crowd

,

that w a s watch i ng them and were qu i ckly plan

,

n i ng for their meet i ng and for the i r go i ng away

that n i ght when Three B ulls qu i etly walked up
,

to them and stabbed the young man w i th a flin t

1 36
 BLACKFE E T IND IAN STO RIE S
and tha t the t ra i l of the mo v ing c amp S houl d
pass o v er t h e h eap of a she s .

Som e t im e befor e th is a f t e r Red R ob e h ad ,

m ade h i s long fas ting a n d h i s drea m h ad ,

c om e t o h im a n d he h ad r e t urn ed t o h is gr a nd
’
mo th er s l odge h e h a d t old his t rue friend
,

some t hing of w hat had be e n s ai d t o h im by

his dream .

“
I f I should d i e h e sai d a n d y ou ar e near
, , ,

d o n ot d es ert m e GO t o the p l ace w h ere I fell

.
,

a n d if my body s h oul d h a ve been d es troye d look

ca refully a roun d t he pl ace If y ou c an fin d even .

a S hre d of my flesh or a bi t of my bone it w i ll ,

be w el l S o s a id my d r e am Here a re four
. .

a r r ows w h ich t h e d re a m t ol d me t o make I f

, .

you c an fin d a bi t of my bo d y fles h or bone or , ,

e v en ha ir c o ve r i t with a robe a nd s t anding

, ,

o v er it s h oo t t hree arrow s on e after a nother up

,

into t he air c rying a s ea ch on e lea v es t he bow

, , ,

‘ ’
L ook ou t ! When you fi t the four th a rrow on
‘
the bows tring a nd s hoo t it upw a rd c ry L ook , ,

ou t, R e d R obe th e a rrow will strike you ! and

,
’

as y ou s a y this t urn a nd run away from the

,

place no t looking back as you go I f you do

, .

1 38
 RED R OBE S ’
D REA M

t h i s my friend j us t as I ha v e t old y ou I shall

, , ,

”
live aga i n .

A s the c amp moved Thre e B ulls stood and ,

wa t ched it fil i ng o v er the p la c e of t he fire and ,

s a w t he a shes sca tt ere d by th e t ra i ling ends of

lo d ge p oles a nd t r av ois a nd by the fee t of h un

,

d reds of p eop le a nd dogs S t ill h e w a s n o t sa t .

isfi e d a n d for a long t im e after th e la s t of t he

,

p eople ha d p a s sed he rem a ine d th e re Then he .

wen t on ac ross the fla t a n d u p a n d o v er a ridge ,

but p r esen tly he re t urned on c e t wi c e four , , ,

t i mes t o t he cres t of the hill a n d looked ba c k at

,

t he p la c e wh e r e th e ca mp had been ; bu t at last

h e fel t s ure that n o on e r em a ine d at th e pl ace ,

a nd went on .

Ye t T alking R ock was th e re He h a d been .

h id d en in t he brush all the time w at ching the ,

chief E v en after Th r e e B ulls ha d passed over

.

t he ridge h e r e maine d cr ouched in th e bushes

, ,

and sa w him c ome back a ga i n an d again t o peer

o v er its c res t St i ll fur ther on t here w as a n
.

other h i gher ridge a n d wh e n t he young m a n

,

s a w T h ree B ulls climb t ha t and disapp ear o n

t he t rai l of the ca mp he c a m e fo rt h
, .

1 39
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
Go i ng t o the p l ac e where hi s fr i end had la i n
Talk i ng R ock sa t down and mourned wa i l i ng ,

long and loud B ack on the h i lls the wolves

.

and coyo t es heard him and they too became

sorrowful add i ng the i r c r i es t o h i s
, .

The young man had l i ttle fa i th in th e power

of t he four arrows that he kept so c are fully

wrapped in a separa t e bundle i n h i s qu i ver He .

looked at the place where R ed R obe s body had ’

been burnt I t was l i ke any o ther place on the

.

grea t t rail tha t had been made dust a n d grass ,

blades m i ngled toge t her a nd scratches m a de by

,

the dragg i ng poles I t d i d not seem poss i ble

.

tha t anyth i ng of his frien d s bo d y remained ; yet ’

he mus t se a r c h a nd breaking a green w i llow

,

twig he began c a refully t o work over the dust ,

s t op p i ng his cry i ng for t he te ars bl i nded h i s

,

eyes s o that he c ould n ot se e .

A ll the long morn i ng and f a r in t o t he after

noon Talk i ng R ock swep t the dus t this way and
,

t hat turning it o v er and over i n a c ircle t h a t

, ,

grew always wider and j us t as he w a s abou t t o

,

g i ve up the S earch he found a b i t of charre d and

,

blackened bone Was th i s a part of his frien d s

’
.

1 40
 BLAC K FE E T IN DIAN STO RIE S
He c ould not believe what he sa w and h ad to ,

p i nch himself and t o h old his fr i end hard in h i s

arms t o beli ev e t ha t all this was re al .

Th e camp h a d not move d far a nd th e l odges

,

were p i tc hed on the nex t stream t o t he south .

Soon af te r d ark th e t wo friends e n t ere d i t an d

,

wen t t o th eir lo d ge The p oo r old gr a ndmo ther

.

coul d no t beli ev e h er eyes when sh e saw the

young m a n S he had r e ared an d lo v ed so d e arly ;
bu t when he s p o k e s h e knew t h at i t w as he and ,

running o ve r t o h im sh e h eld h i m in h er arms

and kiss ed h im c rying from j oy Af t e r a l i t tle
, .

t ime th e young m an s a i d t o h e r Gr a n d mo th er
, , ,

’
go t o the ch ief s l odge a n d sa y t o h im that I ,

R e d R obe nee d some dr ie d m eat

, T he ol d .

wom a n he si t at e d at t his st r a nge re ques t bu t ,

R ed R obe said ! Go do no t fear h im ; Thre e

,

”
B ulls is now the on e to know fear .

When t he ol d woman entere d th e gr e a t l o d ge

’
an d in rep ly t o t he c hief s l ook s aid R e d R obe ,

”
sent me here He wan t s some dried meat
.
,

only Thre e B ulls of a ll who were in t he lodge ,

“ ”
showe d no s urpris e It is w hat I expe c ted he
.
,

“
sai d ; in sp i t e of all my care h e l i v es ag a i n a n d ,

1 42
 RE D R OBE S DRE A M
’

I can do nothing Turning to his wi v es he

.

“
said Giv e her meat
, .

“
D i d you se e M a a s ke d R e d R obe ,

when his gr andmother had r e turne d wit h the

mea t an d h ad t old h im wh at t he chief had sai d .

“
N 0 sh e wa s no t in the lodge bu t t wo women
, ,

were approa c hing a s I le ft i t I think t hey were

.

the g i rl and her mother

“
Go b a ck on c e more sa i d th e young m a n
, ,

and t e ll Th r ee B ul ls t o se n d m e th at young
”
wom a n .

B u t now the p oo r o ld gr a n d mo th e r was afraid .

”
I dare no t tell h im that she excl a i med
, He .

would kill me a n d y ou Hi s a nger would be

, .

fearful .

“
D O no t fe ar sa i d Red R ob e d o n ot fear
, , ,

my mo ther hi s a nger a n d h is power a re no

,

l onger t o be feare d He is as feeble and as help

.

less a s on e of t hos e ol d bull s on e s ees on the

sunny side of th e c oul ée spending his la s t d ays
,

”
before th e wo lv e s pu l l him down .

The ol d woman wen t t o t h e lo d g e a nd t old

the ch i ef what R e d R obe further w i shed M a .

'
m in w as t here her h ead cover ed wi t h h er robe
’

, ,

1 43
 BLACKFEE T IND IAN STORIE S
cryi n g quietly and Three B u lls t old h er t o a rise
,

and go w i th the me s senger T i m i dly at firs t

.
,

and then w ith steps that broke in t o a r un ,

Ma hurried toward the lodge of her s weet

hear t and entere d i t With a cry of j oy she
.

threw h erself in t o h i s arms and Ta l king R ock

,

went ou t and left t h em alone .

Gre at n ow was t he hap piness of th es e young

people L ong w a s t heir l i fe full of plenty and
.
,

o f grea t honor . R ed R obe be c ame a chief r e ,

’
sp e c t e d a nd lo v ed by all the people M a m in
’
-
.

bore h im many ch i ldren who grew up t o be t he

,

suppor t of their old age .

1 44
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
almos t dead on the water and when they pulle d
,

h i m up on the raft a nd looked at h i s paws they ,

found a lit t le mu d in them When Old Man

.

ha d d ried t his mud he sca t tered i t over the

,

w at er a n d land was formed This is the s t ory

.

t o l d by t he B la c kfee t I t is very much l i ke one

.

t ol d by some E astern I ndians who are related ,

t o t he B l a ckfeet
.

Af t er t he land h a d been m a de Old Ma n tra v,

e l l e d a bou t on i t making th ings an d fix i ng up

,

t h e ea r th so as t o sui t him F irs t h e marked

.
,

ou t p la c es w h er e he wis hed the r i vers t o r un ,

s ome times making the m r u n s moo thl y a nd ,

again in s ome pla c e s p u tt ing falls on th em

, ,
.

He m ade the moun tain s a n d the p r airi e t he ,

t i mber a n d the s m al l t r ees a n d bus hes a nd ,

some time s h e ca rrie d al ong wi th h im a lo t of

rocks from w h ic h he buil t s om e of t he moun
,

— —
t ains as th e Sw eet Gr ass Hills whi c h s t and
o u t on t he pr a irie by th emsel v es .

Ol d Man c ause d gr a ss t o grow on th e p lains ,

so tha t t he a n i mals migh t have someth i ng to

feed on . He marked ofi c er t a i n p l e ce s of land ,

where he ca u s ed di fferen t k i nds of roo t s an d b e r

1 46
 TH E BLACKFE E T CREA TI ON
r ies t o g r owé —a place for c amas ; and one for
w i ld carrots ; one for w i ld turn i ps sweet roo t ,

and bitter root ; on e for service berries bull ,

berries cherries plums and rosebuds

, , , .

He made all k i nds of an i m als that t ravel on

the ground When h e m a de t he big horn with
.
-

its great h orns he pu t i t ou t on the pra i rie I t

, .

d i d n ot seem t o t ravel eas i ly t here ; it was awk

war d a nd could not go fast so he t ook i t by on e ,

of i t s h orns and led it up in t o the rough hills and

among the ro cks and le t it go there an d it

, ,

ski ppe d abou t among t he c l i ffs and e a sily wen t

up fe a rful places So Old Man said to t he b i g
.

“
h orn This is th e pla c e for you ; t his is wha t
,

y o u a re fitted for ; t he rough country a nd the

’9
moun t ains . Wh i l e h e w a s in t he mount ain s
h e made the a ntelope an d turned it loose t o se e
,

h ow i t tra v elle d The a ntelope ran so fas t t ha t

.

it fell over some rocks and hurt itsel f He sa w .

t hat t h i s would no t do and took the antelope ,

down on the prairie a nd se t it free there and it ,

ran away fast and gracefully and he said t o i t , ,

“
Th i s i s the place that su i ts you .

At last on e day Old Man deci d e d tha t he

, ,

1 47
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STOR I E S
would make a woman and a ch il c and he mo d
’

e l l e d some clay in human shape and a fter he had ,

made these shapes an d pu t them on the ground ,

“ ”
he said to t he clay ! ou s hall be peop l e
, He .

spread h i s robe over the clay figures an d went

away The nex t morning he went back to the
.

place and l i fted up the robe and saw that the,

clay shapes had changed a l i ttle When he .

looked at them the nex t morn i ng they had ,

changed s ti ll more ; and when on the fourth day

he wen t t o the place and took o ff the covering ,

”
he sa i d to the images Stand up and walk
, ,

and they d i d s o They walked down to the river

.

w i th h i m who had made them and he told them ,

h i s name .

A s they were standing there look i ng a t t h e

wa t er as i t flowed by the woman asked Ol d
,

“
Man saying How is i t ; shall we l i ve always ?
, ,

”
Wi ll there be no end to us ?
“
Old Man sa i d I h av e not thought of that
, .

We must dec i de it I will take th i s bu ffalo ch i p

.

and throw i t in the river I f i t floats people w i ll

.
,

become ali v e again four days after they have

d ie d ; they will d i e for four days only B ut if .

1 48
 BLACKFE E T IND IAN STO RIE S
certa i n times of the year they should peel the
bark o ff some t rees and ea t i t ; that the l i ttle
—
an i m als t ha t live in t he groun d rats squ i rrels , ,

—
skunks and be a v e rs were goo d t o ea t He also .
,

taugh t t hem something abou t th e roo t s t h a t

were good for me di cine t o c ure S ickness .

I n t hose days t h e re we re bu ffalo an d t hese ,

black a nim als were a rme d for th ey had long

,

horns On c e as t he p eople wer e mo ving about

.
, ,

the bu ffalo sa w t hem a nd rushe d upon t hem

and hooked t hem a n d killed t hem and the n a t e ,

them One d ay as th e c rea t or w a s t r a velling

.
,

about h e c a me u p on some of his ch il d ren t ha t

,

he h ad m a de lying t here dead t orn t o p ieces an d

,

par tly eat en by t he bu ffalo When h e sa w t h i s

.
,

“
he fel t badly He said I h av e no t m a de t hese
.
,

people r i ght I will c hange this ; from now on

.

”
the people S h all ea t th e bu ffalo .

He wen t t o some of the peop le w h o w e re s t il l

a live a nd s aid t o them How is i t that y ou peo
, ,

p le do nothing t o t hese an i m als t ha t are k i lli ng

” “
you ? The peopl e replied Wha t c an we do ?
,

These animals are armed and ca n kill us and ,

we h av e no way t o k i ll them .

1 50
 THE BLACKFEE T CREATI O N
The creator sai d That i s not hard I w i ll
, .

make you someth i ng that w i ll k i ll these an i mals .

He wen t ou t and c u t some stra i ght s erv i ce

berry shoo t s a nd brought t hem in an d peeled
, ,

the bark from them He t ook a larger pie c e of

.

wood and flattened i t and ti e d a string to i t

, ,

and made a bow N ow he was t he mas t er of all

.

b i rds and he wen t ou t and caught on e and t ook ,

feathers from i ts wings and ti ed them t o the

shaft of wood He tied four feathers along the
.

shaft and t r i ed t he arrow at a mark and found

tha t i t did no t fly well He took off t hese fe a t h
.

ers and pu t on three a nd when he again tr i ed

,

i t at the m ark he found that it went s t ra i ght .

He picked up some hard s t ones and broke ,

sharp p i e c es from them When he tried them .

he found t hat the black fl i nt stones m a de the

best arrow po i n t s He showed them h ow to u se
.

t hese th i ngs
.

Then he spoke t o the people an d said The , ,

next t i m e you go ou t t ake these th i ngs w i th

,

you and use t hem a s I t ell you D o no t run

, .

from these a n i mals When they rush a t you

.
,

and ha v e come pretty close shoo t t he a rrows at ,

1 51
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
them as I have taught you and you w i ll see ,

that they w i ll run from y ou or w i ll run around

”
you in a ci rcle .

He also broke o ff p i eces of stone and fixed ,

them i n a handle and told them that when they

,

k i lled the bu ffalo they should cut up the flesh

w i th these stone kn i ves .

One day after t h i s some people went on a

,

l i ttle h i ll to look about and the bu ffalo saw

,

them and c alled out to each other A h there i s , ,

some more of o u r food and rushed upon ,

them The people d id no t run They began

. .

to shoo t at the bu ff alo w i th the bows and arrows

tha t had been g i ven t hem and the bu ffalo began
,

to fall They sa y t h at when the first bu ffalo

.

h it with a n arrow fel t i t prick h i m he called out ,

“
to his fellows , Oh my fr i ends a great fly i s
, ,

”
b i t i ng me.

Wi th th e flint kni v es that had been g i ven

them t hey cu t up the bod i es of the dead bu ffalo .

A bout th i s t ime Old Man came u p and sa i d to

them I t i s not healthful to eat raw flesh I w i ll
, .

S how you someth i ng better than that He .

gathered soft dry rotten wood and made punk

,

1 52
 BLACKF E E T INDIAN STO RIE S
He took them t o the edge of a cl i ff and showed
them how t o heap u p piles of stone runn i ng back ,

from t he cl i ff like this 0

a

w i th th e p oin t of t he V t owar d t he cl i ff He sa i d .

“
t o t he peop l e N ow d o y ou h ide behind these
, ,

p i les of stones a n d when I l ea d th e bu ffalo th i s

,

way a s t hey ge t opposi t e t o y ou s ta nd up

, , .

Then h e wen t on t owar d a h erd of bu ffalo and

began t o call them an d t he bu ffalo s ta rt ed to
,

ward him a nd followed h i m unt i l they were ins i de

,

t he a rms of t he V Then h e ran t o on e side

a n d h i d a nd as t he people rose up th e bu ffalo
,

ran on in a s tr aight l ine and j umped o v er the

cli ff an d some of them were killed by t he fall .

” “
There he said , go and take the flesh of
,

”
t hose animals Then t he people t rie d t o do so
. .

They tried t o t e ar t he limbs apar t bu t t hey ,

could n ot They t rie d t o bi t e p i e c e s ou t of the

.

bod i es bu t t hey c ould no t d o th at Old Man

, .

wen t to t he e d ge of the cli ff and broke some

p i eces of stone with sharp e d ges and showed ,

them how t o c u t the flesh with these Of the .

bu ffalo tha t went o v er t he cli ff some were not ,

dead but were hur t so they c ould no t run

, ,

1 54
 THE BLACKFEE T CREA TI ON
away The people cut stri ps of green hide and
.

t i ed stones i n the m id d l e and w i th these ham

,

mers broke in the skulls of the bu ffalo and

k i lled them .

When they had t aken t he sk i ns from these

animals t hey se t up poles and pu t the h i des
,

over t hem a n d so m ad e a shel t er t o sleep under

, .

I n lat er t im es t he c r eat or marked off a p i ece

of l a n d for th e fi v e tribes B lackfeet B loods
, , ,

Piegans Gros Ven t res and S arsis a n d said to

, , ,

“
t hese t ribes Wh en people c ome t o c ross th i s
,

l ine a t the bo rd er of your lan d t ake your bows

,

an d arrows your l an c es and you r w a r clubs and

,

give them b att le an d keep them ou t I f they

, .

ga i n a foo t ing he re t rouble for you w i ll follow

, .

1 55
 OL D MA N ST O R I E S

’
ND ER the name N a p i Old Man have , ,

been confused two wholly d i fferent per

sons talke d of by the B l a ckfee t The Sun the .
,

creat or of the uni v erse gi v er of l ig ht heat

, , ,

and l ife and re v erenced by e v ery on e is o ften

, ,

calle d Ol d Man bu t t here is ano t her personal i ty

,

who be a r s t he same name but who is very d if ,

fe r e n t in h i s character This las t N a pi i s a

.
'

m i xture of wi sd om and fool i shness ; h e i s mal i

c iou s , s elfish c hild i sh and weak He d el i ghts
, , .

l I l t ormen t ing people Ye t t he mean things he

.

does are so fool i sh t h at he is c ons t an tly gett i ng

h i mself in t o s c rapes and is of t en obl i ged to a sk
,

the animals to help h i m ou t of h i s troubles .

H i s bad deeds almos t always bring t he i r ow n

pun i shment .

I nterpreters commonly t r a n sl a t e th i s word

'
N a p i as Old Man but i t i s also the term for
,

wh i te man ; and the C heyenne and A rapahoe

1 56
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

Old Man c alled ou t t o the b i rd Li ttle ,

brother t e a ch me how t o do t ha t
, .

“
I f I S h ow y o u h ow t he bird answered
, ,

you mus t no t send you r eyes ou t of your head

m ore t han four t imes in a day I f you do y ou .
,

”
w i ll be sorry .

I t S hall be as you say lit t le bro t her I t is, .

for you to g i ve and I will l i sten t o what you

,

sa y .

When th e bir d had taugh t Old Man how to do

this h e w a s glad He began t o d o i t and d i d
, .
,

“
it four t imes r i gh t aw ay Then he said Why
.
,

d i d tha t bird tell me to d o t his only four t i mes ?

’5
He h a s no sense I will do i t again
. So once .

more he m a de h is eyes go out but now when he ,

c alle d t o them t hey woul d n ot c ome b a ck .

“
He shouted ou t t o th e bird L i ttle bro ther , ,

”
c ome here and help me t o ge t ba ck my eyes
, .

The li t tle bird did no t answer h im ; it had flown

away N ow Old Man fel t all over the branches
.

of t he t ree with his hands bu t he could not find ,

h is eyes So h e went away a nd wandered over

.

the prair i e for a long time c ry i ng and c all i ng ,

to the animals to h elp h i m .

1 58
 OL D MAN STO RIE S
AS he was blind he could find no thing t o eat
, ,

and he began to be v ery hungry .

A wolf teased h im a grea t deal and ha d much

fun I t had foun d a dead bu ff alo and taking a
.
,

p ie c e of t he meat i t would hold the meat close to

,

’
Old Man s face Then Old Man would sa y I ,

smell some th i ng d e a d I wish I c ould find it ;

,

I am almos t starved He fel t all around for it .

Once w h en the wolf w a s doing th i s Old Man ,

c augh t him a nd plucking ou t on e of th e wolf s

,
’

eyes he pu t i t in h is own head Then h e c ould

, .

se e and w a s a ble t o find h i s ow n eyes but never

, ,

again could h e d o t he t rick the li ttle b i r d had

t augh t h im .

’
THE R A BB I T S MEDICINE

ONCE , when Old Man w a s t r av elling abou t he ,

heard some sing i ng tha t soun d e d v ery queer .

He had ne v er before heard anything l i ke i t and ,

looke d all abou t t o se e w h ere i t c ame from .

Aft e r a t ime he sa w tha t the c o tt ontail r abb i ts

were s i ng i ng an d mak i ng med i cine They had .

bu i l t a fire and r aked ou t some ho t a shes and

, ,

they would li e down in th ese ash es a nd s i ng ,

1 59
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STORIE S

whi l e on e of the others covered them up They .

coul d stay there only for a short t i me though , ,

for the ashes were h o t .

“ ”
Li ttle brothers said Old Man
, here i s ,

—
something wonderful tha t you can l i e in those
ho t ashes and coals wi t hout burning I a sk you .

t o t each me how t o d o t his .

We w i ll show y ou how t o d o i t Old Man , ,

“
said t he rabb i ts ! ou mus t sing o u r song
.
,

and stay in the ashes only a shor t time They

taught Old Man t he i r song and he began to ,

s i ng and lay d own and they covered him w i th

,

coals an d ashes an d the hot ashes did not burn

,

him .

“
Tha t i s goo d he said
, ! ou have strong
.

medi c ine N ow so th a t I may know i t all do

.
, ,

you l i e down a nd le t me c over y ou Up .

A ll the rabbits lay down in the ashes and Old ,

Man c overed them up a n d then he pulled the,

whole fire o v er t hem One ol d rabb i t got ou t

.
,

and Old Man was j us t about t o put her back

“
when she said P i ty me ; my ch i ldren need me
, .

“ “
I t is good
, repl i ed Old Man ! ou may .

go so t h a t there w i ll be more rabbits ; but these

,

1 60
 BLACKFE E T IND IAN STOR IE S
ra c e with you ou t t o tha t fa r butte on t he
pra i ri e an d if you be at me you ca n hav e a
,

”
rabb i t .

“
Good said the c oyo t e and t hey s t arted
, , .

Old Man ran very fast and the c oyote l i mpe d ,

along beh i nd h i m but prett y close until t hey

, ,

got near the butt e Then the c oyo t e t urned .

around and ran back very fast for he was no t ,

lame at all I t took Old Man a long t ime t o get

.

back and j ust before he re a ched the fire the

, ,

coyo t e finis h e d eating the las t rabb it and ran

away .

T HE L OST E LK M EA T

OL D M A N had been a long t i me without foo d

and was very hungry He w a s try i ng to think .

how he could get something t o eat when he s a w ,

a band of elk come up on a ridge He wen t .

over t o t hem and spoke t o them a nd sa i d ,

“
B rothers I am lonely be ca use I have no one
,

”
to follow me .

GO ahead Old Man said the elk ; we w i ll

, ,

”
follow you Old Man led them about for a
.

long t i me and when it was dark he came near a

,

1 62
 OL D MAN STO RIE S
hi gh s teep c ut bank He ran around t o on e
, .

s i de where t he hill sloped and then went bac k

, ,

r i ght under t he s teep cl i ff and called out C ome ,

on, tha t i s a n i ce j ump You w i ll laugh . SO .

all the elk j umped off a nd were k i lled ex c ept ,

o n e cow .

“
They ha v e all jumped but you said Old ,

”
Man C ome on y ou will l i ke it
.
, .

“ ”
Take p i ty on me said the c ow , I am very .

”
h e a vy and I am afra i d to j ump
, .

”
Go away then sa i d Old Man ; go and l i ve
, , .

”
Then some day there w i ll be plenty of elk again .

Old M a n bu i lt a fire and cooked some of the

me at an d then he skinned all the elk and cut
, ,

up the me at a nd hung it up t o dry The t ongues .

he hung on a pole .

The nex t day he star t e d off a nd was gone all

d ay and at n i ght as he w a s coming home he
, , ,

was very hungry He was think i ng to h i msel f

.

tha t he would ha v e some roas t ed ribs and a

tongue an d o ther goo d things ; but when he
reached the pla c e th e m e a t was all gone ; the
,

wolves had eaten i t .

“
It was lucky I hung up those t ongues sa i d ,

1 63
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

Old Man or I should not have had anything to

,

eat. B ut when he took down the tongues they

were all hollow The m i ce had eaten ou t t he
.

meat leaving only the s k ins

, .

T HE R OL L I NG R O CK

ONCE when Old Man was travelling about and

felt t i red he s a t down on a rock to rest
, After .

he was rested he started on h i s way and b e ,

cause the su n was hot he threw his robe o v er

“
t he rock and said to i t Here I g i ve y ou my
, ,

robe because you are poor and have le t me res t

”
o n you . K eep i t always .

He had not gone fa r when i t began t o rain ,

“
a nd meet i ng a coyote he said t o him Li ttle
, ,

brother run back t o tha t rock and a sk him to

,

lend me h i s robe We will c over ourselves with

.

”
it and keep dry .

The coyo t e ran b ack t o th e rock but presently ,

r eturned withou t the robe .

“ ”
Where is the robe ? asked Old Man .

” “
Why sa i d the coyote the rock sa i d that
, ,

you had g i ven h i m the robe a nd he was go i ng

”
to keep i t .

1 64
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

ened and as he ran he threw away h i s robe and

,

everyth i ng tha t he had on s o that he m i gh t run ,

fas t er The rock was ga i n i ng on him all t he

.

time .

N o t far a way on t he pr a irie a b a nd of bu ffalo

bulls were feed i ng and Old Man cried ou t t o
,

“
them s ay i ng Oh my brothers help me help
, , , , ,

”
me ; stop t hat ro ck The bulls ran a nd t ried
.

to stop i t butting agains t i t bu t i t c rushed

, ,

their hea d s Some d eer a nd antelope t ried to

.

help Old Man but t hey t oo were killed Other

, .

an i mals c ame t o help him but could no t s t op ,

the rock ; i t was now close t o Old M a n s o c lose ,

t ha t it began t o h it hi s heels He w a s j ust .

go i ng t o gi v e up when he s a w c ir c ling o v er h i s
head a flock of n i ght hawks -
.

“ ”
Oh my l ittle bro thers he crie d hel p me ;
, , ,

”
I am almost dead The bull b a ts flew down
.

o n e a fter ano t her aga i nst t he ro c k a nd every ,

t i me on e of them h i t i t he chipped off a piece ,

and a t last on e h i t it fair in t he m i ddle an d

broke it i nto t wo p i eces .

Then Old Man was glad He wen t t o wh ere .

there wa s a nes t of n i ght hawks a nd p ulled t heir

-

1 66
 OLD MAN STO RIE S
mouths ou t w i de and p i nched off the i r b i lls to ,

make them pretty and queer look i ng That i s .

the rea s on they look so t o day -

.

B EA R AN D B UL L B E R R I E S

S C A T T E RE Dover the prair i e in northern M on

t ana close to t he mounta i ns are many great
, ,

—
r ocks boulders wh i ch thousands of years ago ,

when the grea t i c e shee t covered northern N orth

-

A merica were carried from the mounta i ns out

,

over the prair i e by t he ice a nd left t here when

it melted .

A round mos t of t hese grea t boulders the

bu ffalo used to walk from t i me t o ti me rub ,

b i ng aga i nst the rough surface of the rock to

s cratch thems e lves as a cow rubs i t self aga i nst
,

a pos t or as a horse rolls on the ground for —

the pleasant feeling tha t the rubb i ng of the

sk i n g i ves it .

A s the b u fl a l o w alked around these boulders

t h ei r hoofs loosened the s o i l and th i s l oosened
,

— —
s o i l t he dus t wa s blown away by t he constant
w i nds of summer So around mos t of these
.
,

boulders much of th e so i l i s gone lea v ing a deep

, ,

1 67
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RI E S
trench at the bottom of wh i ch are stones and
,

gravel too large to be moved by the w i nd

, .

Th i s story expla i ns how these rocks came to

be l i ke that
Once Old Man was c ross i ng a river and the
stream w a s deep so that he was carr i ed away by
,

the current and lost h i s bow and arrows and

,

other weapons When he go t t o the shore he

.

began to loo k about for someth i ng to use in

'

mak i ng a bow and arrows for he was hungry ,

and wanted to k i ll some food .

He took the first wood he could find a nd made

a bow and arrows and a handle for h i s kn ife .

When he had finished these things he starte d

o n h is way .

Presently as he looked o v er a hill he sa w

,

down below h i m a bear d i gg i ng roots Old Man .

thought he would have some fu n with the bear ,

“
and he called ou t aloud He h a s no t a i l
, Then .

he dodged back ou t of s i gh t The bear looked .

all about but s a w no on e a nd aga i n began to

, ,

d i g roots Then Old Man aga i n peeped over

.

the h i ll and saw the bear at work and aga i n ,

called out , He has no ta i l Th i s t ime the

1 68
 BLACKFE E T INDIAN STO RIE S
it on his he a d and t urned around and bel l owe d
loudly a nd the be a r was fri ghtened and t urned
,

around a nd ran a way as h ar d as h e c ould Then .

Old Man le aned up a gains t t he r o ck a nd ,

brea t hed h ar d fo r a l ong t ime bu t at las t he

,

“
go t his wind b ac k He said t o t he rock This
.
’

is t he way you rocks shal l al w ay s b e af t e r t his ,

”
wi th a big h ole all around y ou .

B y t his t ime he w a s pre tty t ire d a n d th irs ty ,

and he t hough t he would go d own t o the river

an d d rink Wh en he go t t o t he e d ge of the
.

wa t e r he go t down on his knees t o drink and ,

there before h i m in the water he sa w bull

berries grea t bunches of them He said t o him
, .

“ ”
sel f I will dive in a nd ge t those bull berries
,
-

and he took off his moccasins and clothing and

d i ve d in but he could no t find the b u l l b e rrie s
, ,

and presently he c ame up He looked in t o the

.

water again and aga i n s a w the b u l l b e rrie s He

,
.

sa i d to h i mself Those b u l l b e rrie s must be very

,

deep down .

He went along th e S h ore looking fo r a heavy

stone that would take h i m down i nto the deep
water where the b u l l b e rrie s were a n d when he ,

1 70
 OL D MAN STO RI E S
found on e he t ied the stone to h i s neck and
again dived in Th i s time he sank to the bot
.

tom for the s t one ca rried him down He felt

, .

about w i th h i s h a nds try i ng t o reach the bull

berries bu t c ould feel nothing and began t o
,

drown He t ried t o ge t free from t he s t one

.
,

bu t that was hard t o do ; ye t at las t he broke

t he s t ring and ca me t o t he t op of t he water .

He was almos t dead and i t took him a long

,

t i me t o get t o t he shore a nd when he go t t here

,

h e c r awled u p on t o t he bank and lay d own t o

res t and ge t h i s bre at h A s he lay there on h i s
.

back he saw above h i m t h e t hick growing bull

,

berries whose reflecti ons he had seen i n the

“
water He sa i d to h i mself A nd I was almos t
.
,

”
drowned for these .Then he took a st i ck and
with it began to beat the bullberry bushes He .

said t o t he bushes After th i s the people shall

, ,

bea t y ou in t his w ay wh e n t hey w a n t t o gather

”
berr i es .

The B lackfe et women w he n gat hering bull ,

berries spread robes under the bushes and beat

,

the branches with st i cks knocking o ff the berr i es

, ,

wh i ch fall on the robes .

1 71
 B LACKFE E T INDIAN STO RIE S

T HE TH EF T F R OM T HE S UN

ON E t i me when Old Man was on a j ourney he ,

came to the Sun s lodge and went i n and sat

’

down and the Sun a sked h i m to st ay w i th h i m

,

for a time Old Man was glad to do s o One

. .

day the mea t was all gone and the Sun sa i d , ,

Well Old Man wha t d o y ou sa y if we go ou t

, ,

”
a nd k i ll some deer ?
“
I l i ke what y ou s a y said Ol d M a n , D ee r .

”
meat i s good .

The Sun t ook down a b a g tha t was hanging

from a lodge pole and took from it a handsome
pa i r of legg i ngs embroidered wi t h porcup i ne
,

quills and pretty feathers .

“
These a re my hunting leggings s aid t he ,

“
Sun ; they have great power When I want to .

k i ll deer all I have to do is t o put them on and

,
’

walk around a p a t ch Of brush a nd t he legg i ngs

‘
,

s e t it o n fire and driv e ou t the deer s o that I ,

”
c an shoot them .

“ ”
Well well excl a im ed Old Man how won
, , ,

d e rfu l that i s He began to th i nk I wish I ,

”
had such a pair of legg i ngs as tha t ; and after he
1 72
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

Oh , repl i ed Old Man I could not find

,

anything for a pillow s o I put these legg ings

,

under my he a d .

When n i gh t ca me a nd al l ha d gone t o bed ,

aga i n Old Man stole the leggings and ran o ff .

Th i s t i me he d i d not walk a t a l l He kept run .

ning un til it was almost morning and then lay ,

down an d S l ep t When morn i ng c a me h e found

.

’
himse lf sti ll i n th e Sun s lodge .

You se e wh at a fool he w a s ; he d i d no t know

’
t ha t t he w h ole world i s t he Sun s lodge He d i d .

no t know that no matter how far h e ran he

, ,

could not ge t ou t of the Sun s sigh t

’
.

“
Th i s t i me the Sun said Old M a n since you
, ,

like my leggings so much I give them to you

, .

K eep them Then Old M a n was glad a nd he

wen t away .

One day his food was all gone a nd he put on ,

the h u ift in g legg i ngs and went out and se t fire to

a p ie ce of brush He w a s j ust going to k i ll some
’

deer that were running ou t when he saw that ,

the fire was gett i ng close to h i m He ran away .

as fast as he could but the fire ga i ned on h i m

,

and began t o burn h is legs H i s legg i ngs wer e

.

1 74
 OLD MAN STORIE S
al l on fire He came to a r i ver and j umped i n
.

and pulled off the legg i ngs a s soon a s he c ould .

They were burnt to pieces .

Perhaps the Sun d i d this b eca u se Old Man

t ried to steal h i s leggings .

T HE S MA R T W O MA N C H I E F

L ON G ago they t ell me men and women d i d

, ,

not know each other Women were put i n on e

.

place and men i n another They were not to .

gether ; they were apart .

He who made us made women firs t He d id .

not make them very well Th at is why they .

are n ot so strong as men The men he made .

better ; so tha t they were s trong .

The women were the smartest They k new .

the most They were the first to make pisku n s

.
,

and t o know how t o t a n hides and to make

moc c as i ns At that t i me men wore m occa srn s
.

made from the shank of the bu ff alo s leg and ’

robes made of wolfski n Th is was all t heir .

cloth i ng .

One day when Old Man was travell i ng about ,

he c ame to a camp of men and stayed t here ,

1 75
 BLACKFEE T IND IAN STO RI E S

w i th them for a long t i me I t was after thi s

.

that he dis c o v e r ed there were such beings as

women .

One time as he w a s t ra v ell i ng along he saw

, ,

two women driv i ng some bu ff alo over a cl i ff .

When Old Man got ne a r t hem the women were ,

very much fr i ghtene d They d i d no t know

.

what k i nd of an i mal it w a s that w a s com i ng .

Too much sc a red to run a way they lay down to ,

hide When O l d Man came up to them he

.

though t they were dead and said , Here are ,

two women who are dead I t is not good for

.

them to lie ou t here on the prairie I mus t take .

”
them to a certain place . He looked t hem all
over to se e wha t h ad killed them bu t could find ,

no wound He picke d up on e of t he women

.

and c arried her along with h i m in his arms .

She was wondering how sh e could get away .

She let her arms swing loose as if sh e were dead ,

and a t e v ery s t ep Old Man took the arm swung

and h i t h i m i n the nose and pretty soon h i s
,

nose began to bleed and to hurt and at length ,

he put the woman down on the ground and went

back to get the other woman ; bu t while he was
1 76
 BLACKFEE T IND I AN STO RIE S

of the women and i ntended to dress i n th i s way

, ,

and that i s why he t old her that .

Old Man had no moc ca sins ; h i s were all worn

ou t . The women ga v e him some for himself ,

an d also some t o take back to g i ve t o the men ,

’
a nd he wen t back to t he men s camp When he .

reached it word went out th at he had returned

, ,

“
and all the men sa i d to ea c h other He has got ,

”
ba c k ; Old Man has c ome again He gave the
.

men t he message t ha t the woman had sen t and ,

’
soon the men star t ed for t he woman s camp to
get married When t hey came near it they
.
,

wen t up on a b l u ff and stood there look i ng d own

,

on t he c amp Old Man had dressed h i msel f

.

finely a nd ha d pu t on a t r i mmed robe painted

,

red a nd in h i s hand held a lan c e wi t h a bone

,

h ead on each end .

When t he women s a w t h at t he men had come

t hey go t ready to go and select the i r husbands .

The chief of the women sa i d I a m t he ch i ef

, .

I will go firs t an d t ake t h e man I like The rest .

”
wa it here .

The woman chie f star t ed up the h i ll to choose

the ch i ef of the men for her husband She had .

1 78
 OL D MA N STO RIE S
been mak i ng dr i ed meat and her hands a rms
, , ,

and cloth i ng were covered with blood and grease .

She w a s d i rty and Old Man d i d n ot know her

, .

The woman wen t up t o Old Man t o choose h i m ,

but he t urne d his b ac k on her and would not go

w i th her .

She wen t ba ck t o her camp a n d t ol d the

women th a t s he h a d been refused be cause h er
“
clothe s wer e dir ty She s ai d N ow I am going
.
, ,

to put on my ni c e c lothes a n d choose a man .

A ll of you c an go u p and t ake men bu t l et no ,

o n e take t hat man wit h t he r e d robe a n d t he

”
double h eade d lance
-
.

After sh e was nicely dresse d t he chief woman

again wen t up on t he h i ll N ow Old Man .
,

knew who she w a s a nd h e kept ge t ting in fron t

,

o f her and trying hard to ha v e her take him ,

but she would not notice him and took another

man the on e s t anding nex t to Old Man Then
,
.

the other women began to come and they k ept ,

coming up and choos i ng men bu t no on e t ook ,

Old Man and a t last all th e men were t aken

,

and he was left s t anding ther e alone .

This m a de him so angry t h at h e w a n t e d t o do

1 79
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
someth i ng and he went down to the woman s
,
’

p i skun and began to break down i ts walls s o the ,

chie f of the women turned h i m i nto a pine tree -

.

B O B CA T AN D B I RCH T RE E

ONCE Old Man was tra v ell i ng over the prairie ,

when he s a w far off a fire burn i ng and as he ,

drew ne a r it he s a w many prairie dogs si tti ng in -

a cir c le around the fire There were so many of .

them that there was no place for any on e to sit

down Old Man stoo d there behind the c i rcle
.
,

and presently he began to cry and then he said ,

“
to the pra i r i e dogs L e t me too si t by that
-
, , ,

” “
fire. The pra i rie dogs said A ll right Old
-
, ,

Man d on t cry ; c ome and sit by t he fire

,
’
.

They moved as i de so a s t o make a place for

h i m a n d Old Man sa t down and looked on at
,

wha t t hey were doing .

He sa w th at they we r e playing a game a nd ,

this was t he way th ey d i d i t ! t hey put on e

prairie dog in the fire and co v ered him up with
-

ho t ashes and then after he ha d been there a

, ,

“ ”
l i ttle wh i le he would sa y ,3k 3k and they , , ,

pushed the ashes off h i m an d pulled him ou t .

1 80
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

Oh well you c an go he sa i d ; there w i ll

, , ,

”
be more prair i e dogs by a nd by -
.

When the pr ai rie dogs were roas t e d Old Man -

,

cu t some red willow t w i gs t o p lace them on and ,

then sa t d own a nd began t o e a t H e at e unt i l .

he was fu l l a nd t hen fel t s leepy

, .

“
He s aid t o his nose I a m going to sleep now ; ,

watch ou t and in case any bad th i ng comes

,

”
about wake me up
, Then Old Man slept . .

Pre tty soon his nose snored and Old Man ,

“ ”
woke u p a nd s a i d Wha t is i t ? The nose
,

“
sa id , A raven is fly i ng by over there Old ,

“ ”
Man sa i d Tha t is no thing an d wen t t o sleep
, ,

again .

Soon his no s e s nore d again and Old Man sa i d , ,

”
Wh at is i t now ? The nose sa i d There i s a ,

coyote over t here c om i ng this way O l d Man

, .

“
said A c oyo te is no thing a nd again wen t t o
, ,

sleep .

Presen tly h i s no se snored again but Old Man ,

d i d n ot wake u p A ga i n i t snored and called

.
,

“
ou t
, Wake u p a bob cat i s c oming , Old .

Man paid no attention ; he slep t on .

The bob c a t c rep t up to t he fir e a nd ate all

1 82
 OL D MAN STO RIE S
th e roasted pra i r i e dogs and then wen t off and
-
,

lay down on the flat rock and wen t t o sleep .

A ll this time the nose kept try i ng t o a waken Old

Man an d at las t he awoke an d the nos e s aid
, , ,

“
A bobc at i s ov e r t her e on th a t fla t rock He .

”
has ea t en all your food Then Ol d Man was .

s o angry tha t he c alled ou t loud .

The t racks of the bobca t were all greasy

from t h e foo d i t h ad been eat i ng and Old Man ,

followe d t hese t racks He wen t softly over to

.

where t he bobca t was sleep i ng and se i zed i t ,

be fore i t could wake up t o b i te or s c ratch h i m .

The bobca t cr i ed ou t Wa i t le t me speak a

, ,

”
wor d or t w o but Old Man would no t listen
, .

“
I will t each you to steal my food he sa i d , .

’
He pulled off the lynx s ta i l pounde d his head ,

aga i ns t t he rock so as t o make his face flat ,

pulled him ou t long so as t o make h i m small

bellied and then threw h i m i nto the brush A s
, .

“
he wen t sneak i ng away Old Man said There
, , ,

”
th at is t he way y ou bob c ats shall always be .

I t is for th i s reason that the lynxes t o d ay look -

like that .

Old M a n went to the fire and looked a t the ,

1 83
 BLACKFE E T INDIAN STORIE S

red willow st i cks where the ro a s t ed prairie dogs -

had been and when he s a w them an d th ought

, ,

how his foo d was a l l gone i t made him a ngry ,

“
a t his nose He sai d ! ou fool why d i d you
.
, ,

no t wake me ? He too k t he willow s t ick s and

thrus t them in t he coals and when they had ,

caugh t fire he burn t h i s nose Th i s hur t and .

,

he ran up on a h il l a nd held h i s nose to t he wind ,

and c alled t o t he w i nd t o blow h a rd a n d cool

h i m A har d wind c ame s o hard th at i t blew
.
,

him o fl the hill and away down t o B ir c h C reek .

A s he was flying along he caugh t a t t he weeds

and brush to stop h i mself bu t noth i ng was ,

strong enough t o hold him At las t h e grasped .

a b i r c h tree He held fas t a nd i t did not g i ve

.
,

way A lthough the w i nd wh i ppe d him about

.
,

th i s w ay and t hat and tumbled him up and

,

down the tree held h i m He kept calling to the

, .

w i nd t o blow more so ftly an d at l a s t i t lis t ened

,

to him a nd went down .

“
Then he sa i d Th i s is a beau t iful t ree I t
, .

has sa v ed me from be i ng blown a way a nd

knocked all t o piec e s I w i ll make it pretty and
.
,

i t shall always be l i ke that So he gashed the .

1 84
 BLACKF E E T INDIAN STO RIE S
Stop for a wh i le and s i ng for us said the ,

“ ”
duck and we can have a dance
, .

“ ” “
NO sa i d Old Man
, I am in a hurry ; I,

c anno t s t op now .

The duck kept persuading him t o s t op a nd ,

when i t had asked h i m the fourth t i me Old Man ,

“
stopped and said to the ducks Well I will s t op , ,

for a l i tt le wh i le and sing for y ou a nd you ca n ,

”
dance .

So th e d u c ks all came out on the bank a n d

stood in a c ircle and Old Man began to S i ng
, .

“
He sang on e song and then sa i d ,N ow t his , ,

nex t song is a medicine song and while y ou ,

dan c e you must keep your eyes shut N O on e .

must look I f any on e opens h i s eyes and l ooks

.
,

”
h i s eyes will t urn red .

The ducks c losed their eyes and Old Man

began to s i ng and they dan c ed around ; bu t Old
,

Man t ook a st i ck and every t i me one of them

,

passed him he knocke d it on t he head and th rew

,

it i nto the c i rcle .

Presently one of t he l i ttles t ducks while

dancing could not feel any one on e i ther S i de of
h i m and he opened h i s eyes and looked and
, ,

1 86
 OLD MAN S T O RIE S
saw what Old Man was do i ng He cr i ed out to .

“ ”
the rest , R un run Old Man is k i ll i ng us ;
, ,

and all the other ducks flew a way but ever s i nce ,

’
that time tha t li ttle duck s eyes hav e been red .

I t is the horned grebe .

Old Man t ook the d uck s a nd wen t off a l i ttle

w ay and buil t a fire a nd hung some of t he ducks
up in fron t of i t t o r o a s t a n d after the fire was
,

burning well he swep t aw ay the ashes and bur i ed

,

some of the d ucks i n t h e ground and aga i n swept

back t he fi re over t hem Then he lay down to .

wait for the birds t o c ook and while they were ,

c ook i ng he fell a sleep .

Wh i le he slept a c oyo t e ca me sneaking along

and sa w Old M a n s leep i ng there a nd t he ducks ,

ro a sting by the fire Very quietly he c rept up

.

t o t he fire a nd t ook t he d ucks on e by on e and

ate them N o t one was left Pre t ty soon he
. .

found those t ha t were ro a st i ng under the fire ,

and dug them ou t and open i ng t hem ate the

, ,

mea t from t he inside of the sk i n a nd filled each

o n e wi t h a shes a nd bur i e d them a ll a gain Then .

he wen t away .

Pretty soon Ol d Man woke up an d sa w t hat

1 87
 BLACKFEE T IND IAN STO RIE S

hi s ducks were gone and when he saw the tracks

,

about the fire he knew tha t t he c oyote had

,

taken them .

“
I t was lu c ky, sai d O ld M a n that I pu t
,

some O f t hose t o r oas t under t he fire He dug

.

them up from under the ashes but when he took

,

a b i g b i te from on e his mouth a nd face were full

,

o f ashes
.

1 88
 B LACKFEE T IND IAN STORIE S
and wh it e antelope
many — gra c eful of them —

and sw i ft of foot F eed i ng on the h i gh pra i r i e

.

or go i ng down into the wooded r i ver valleys to

drink were herds of elk wh i le the w i llow th i ck
,

ets the brushy ravines a nd the lower t i mbered

, ,

foot h i lls sheltered deer

-
The naked B ad L ands
.
,

the rocky slopes of the mount a i ns and the tall ,

buttes that o ften rise above the level prairie

were the refuge of the moun t ain sheep which in ,

t hose days l i ke all the other grass ea t er s of the

,

reg i on grazed on the pra i r i e and sought t h e more

,

broken h i gher c ountry only when alarmed or

,

when they wished t o rest .

These were the an i mals wh i ch the B lackfee t

killed for food be fore the wh i te men came and ,

of these the bu ffalo was the ch i ef B u ff alo .

,

more than a ny other an i m als could be c aptured ,

i n numbers and the B lackfeet l i ke t he other

, ,

I nd i ans of the plains had devised a method for

,

t ak i ng them so that when the bu ffalo were near

,

the B lackfeet never su ffered from hunger Yet .

somet i mes i t happened that the bu ffalo went

away and that the lonely fa r travell i ng scouts
,

sen t ou t by the t r i be could no t find them Then .

1 90
 TH E ANC I E N T B LACKFEE T
the people had t o turn t o t he smaller animals
the elk deer a ntelope and w i ld sheep
, , , .

I n those ol d days before t hey had hors e s t hey

, ,

d i d n ot make long marches when t hey mo v ed .

Their only dom e stic a nimal w a s t he dog which ,

was used c h i efly a s a beas t of burden ei the r ,

carrying lo a ds on i t s back or hauling a t r av ois ,

formed by t wo long sticks c rossing abo ve th e

shoulders a nd d r agging on t he ground be h ind .

B ehind the dog t hese t w o st i cks were uni t e d by

a li t tle platform on which was lashed some small
,

—
burden sometimes a l i ttle baby .

I n those days wh e n t he peop l e mo v ed from

,

o n e place to a no t her a ll w h o were large enough

,

to walk and strong enough t o carry a burden on

the shoulders were la d en Usually men women
, .
, ,

and ch i ldren a like bore lo a ds suited t o the i r

strength Ye t some t imes the men c a rri e d no
.

loads at all for if j ourneying through a country

,

where they feared that some enemy m i gh t a t

tack them the men must be ready to fight and
,

t o defend the i r w i ves and ch i ldren A m a n .

c annot fight well if he i s carrying a burden ;

h e c anno t u se h is arms re ad ily nor run about ,

1 91
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
l i ghtly — forw a rd t o a tt ack b ackward i n retreat
, .

I f he is n ot free t o fight well h i s fam i ly w i ll be

,

i n dange r Whi t e men who ha v e seen I nd i ans

.

j ourneying in th is w ay a nd w h o h av e no t under
,

stood why some women carried heavy loads and

t he men c arrie d nothing h a v e said tha t I nd i an
,

men were idle a nd lazy and forced t heir women

,

t o do all t h e work Those who wrote those

.

things were mistaken in wha t they said They .

d i d no t un d ers t and what they sa w T he t ruth .

is tha t these men were prepared for d anger of

attacks by enemies and were re a dy t o d o their
,

best t o sa v e their fam i lies from h arm .

C arrying on t heir backs a l l t heir property ex ,

cep t t he little w h i c h th e d ogs migh t pack it i s ,

ev i den t t h at the I ndians in t ho s e d ays c ould no t

make long j ourneys .

I n t hose days t hey ha d no bu c kets of woo d or

tin i n w h i ch t o car r y water I ns t e a d they used
.
,

a vesse l li ke a bag or sack made from t he soft

,

membr a n e of on e of the st omachs of the bu ffalo .

Th i s after it had been c leansed and all the open

,

i ngs from i t sa v e on e had been t i ed up the ,

women filled at the stream with a spoon made of

1 92
 BLACKFEE T IND IAN STO RIE S

two rather short h a ndled forked s t i cks the

-
,

women t ook from t he fire on e of the hot stones ,

and pu t it in the wat er in t he hide ke t tle and ,

as i t c ooled t ook i t ou t and put in a nother hot

,

stone T h us t he wat er was soon heat e d and

.
,

bo i le d a n d c ooked whatever w a s in t he kettle .

To be sure there were some ashes and a little

,

dirt in the soup but t ha t w a s n ot regarded a s

,

i mpor t an t .

This was l ong befor e th e I n d i ans knew of

mat c hes or e v en of fli n t an d st ee l I n t hose
, .

days t o make a fire was no t easy an d it t ook a

long time B y h i s knees or feet a man held i n
.

position on t he ground a pie c e of so ft dry wood ,

i n wh i ch t wo or three li ttle hollows h ad been

dug ou t a nd t ak i ng ano ther slender st i ck of
,

hard wood and press i ng the point i n on e of the

,

l i ttle hollows in the st i ck of soft woo d he tw i rled ,

the s t i ck rapidly betwe e n th e palms of h i s

hands s o fast and so long tha t presently the
,

dus t ground from the so fter st i ck fall i ng t o one

,

s i de in a l ittle pile began t o smoke and at last

, ,

a fain t spark was seen a t t he t op of the p i le ,

wh i ch began t o glow and spread i ng be ca me

, , ,

1 94
 T HE ANCIEN T BLACKFEE T

constantly larger He or h i s companion for

.
, ,

o ften two men twirled the st i ck on e rel i eving the ,

—
other caught this spark in a b i t of t i nder per
,

—
haps some dry punk or a l i ttle fine grass a nd by
blowing c oaxed it in t o flame a nd there w a s t he ,

fire.

Thi s fire m aking w a s h ar d work a n d th e peo ,

ple t rie d t o e scape th is work by keeping a spark

of fir e a lway s alive To do t his men some t imes
.
,

carried by a t hong s lung o ve r t he shoulder the

, ,

hollow t i p of a bu ffalo h orn t he o pe ning of ,

whi ch w as clo s e d by a wooden plug When .

going on a j ourney t he m a n l i gh t ed a piece of

,

punk a n d pl a cing i t in t his horn plugged up

, , ,

t he op e n end so that n o a ir c ould get int o the

,

horn T h er e the p unk s mouldered for a l ong

.

t ime a n d nei ther w e n t ou t nor w a s wholly con

,

sumed On c e in a w hi le d uring the d ay the

.

man looke d a t t his punk a nd if he sa w th at i t , ,

was almos t c on s umed h e lighted a noth e r piece

,

and pu t i t in the h orn a nd repl ac ed the plug .

So a t nigh t when h e reached c amp the fire was

st i ll in his horn a n d he c ould readily kindle a
,

blaze and from t his blaze o ther fire s were

,

1 95
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

kindled O ften if the camp was large the first

.
, ,

young men who reached it gathered wood and

perhaps kindled four fires a nd after t he women ,

had re a ched the c amp unpacked the i r dogs a nd

, ,

put up t heir lodges e a ch woman would go to

,

o n e of these fires t o ge t a brand or some coals

with wh i ch t o star t h er own lodge fire .

I n warm weather men an d boy s wo re l ittle

clothing They wen t almost naked ; ye t in cold
.

weather each man or woman was most of the

t ime wrapped i n a w a rm robe of tanned bu ffalo
skin E ven the little c hildren wore robes t he
.
,

smalles t ones those t aken from t he little bu ff alo

cal v es A ll their clothing l i ke their beds a nd
.
,

the i r homes was ma d e of the skins of animals

, ,

’
Shir t s wom e n s d resse s leggings and moccasins
, , ,

were made from the t anned skins of bu ffalo ,

deer ant elope and mount ain sheep Often the

, , .

moc c asins were made from the smoked skin cut

from the t op of an ol d lodge for this skin h ad ,

been smoked so much th a t i t never dried hard

and st i ff after it had been wet The moc c asins
, .

had a st i ff sole of bu ffalo rawhide ; and i n the

bottom of th i s sole were cut on e or two holes ,

1 96
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

centre of the lodge a nd s o furn i shed draught for

,

the fire The lodge lining kept th i s cold air from

.

blow i ng directly on t he occupants of t he lodge

who s a t around the fire O ften the lodge l i n i ng .

was finely painted with p ic tures of animals ,

people an d figures of mys te rious being s of which

,

on e m i gh t no t speak .

The seats and beds in t his hom e w e r e c ov e red

with soft t anned bu ffalo robes an d a t t he head ,

and foo t of e a ch bed was an incl i ned back res t -

of s t ra i ght willow t w i gs s t rung together on long

,

l i ne s of s i new an d suppor t ed i n an inclined posi

ti on by a tripod B u ffalo robes oft en hung o v er
.

these back res ts I n t he spa ces be tween t he

-
.

back res t s which t hough t hey ca me t ogether

-
,

at t he t op were separ at ed at the ground were ,

kept many of the possessions of t he family ; the

p i pe sacks of t obacco of pain t possible sacks
, , ,

— a rfl e ch e s for c lo th ing or food and many

p ,

smaller article s .

The outs i de of the lo d ge w as of t en pa i nted

with mysteriou s figur e s wh i ch t he lodg e owner
bel i e v ed to h ave pow e r to bring good luck to
h i m and to h i s fam i ly Somet i mes these figure s
.

1 98
 T HE ANCIE N T B LACKFEE T

r epre sented an i m als —

bu ffalo deer and or elk—
, ,

rocks moun tains t rees or the pu ff balls that

, , ,
-

grow on th e p r airi e Some t imes a procession

.

of r ave n s m ar ch ing on e after t h e other was

, ,

painte d a round the c ir c umference of the lodge .

The pain ting migh t show t he t racks of a nimal s ,

or a numb er of wat er a nimals ap p a rently ,

c ha sing each o the r a round t he lodge On either .

side of t h e s mo k e h o l e at t he t o p wer e t wo flaps ,

o r wings ,each on e s uppor ted by a single pole .

T h e se we r e t o r egul at e t he d raugh t of th e fire

in ca se of a cha nge of win d and t he p o le s were ,

mo v e d from side t o s i de c hang i ng as th e d ire c

,

t ion of th e wind changed On suc h wing s were .

often p ain t ed groups of white d i sks w h i ch rep

r esen t e d s ome grou p of stars At the b ack of .

t he lodg e high up j us t below t he pl ace w h ere

, ,

t h e l o d ge p o l es c ross was of t en a
, l a rge r oun d
disk rep res e nting t he su n a nd abo v e that a ,

c ross which w as the s ign of t he bu tt erfly th e

, ,

power t h at t hey believe brings sleep F rom t he .

e nds of t h e wing s or t ie d t o t h e t i ps of t he p ole s

,

wh i ch supported t hem hung bu ff alo tail s a n d

, ,

sometimes running down from on e of th ese p oles

1 99
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RI E S

to the ground near the door was a str i ng of the

sheath s of bu ffalo h oofle t s which r attled a s it
,

swung t o and fro in t he breeze .

Their arms were t he bow a n d arr ow a S hor t ,

spea r or lance with a h ead of s h a rpene d stone

,

or bone s t one h a mmer s wi th woo d en han d les

, ,

and kni v es made of bone or s t one a n d if of ,

stone l ashed by r a whide or sinew t o a sp lit

,

woo d en handle .

The hammers were of t wo sor t s ! on e quite

heavy almost like a sledge hammer or maul
,
-
,

and wi t h a shor t handle ; the other much lighter ,

and wi t h a longer more limber h andle This

, .

last was used by men i n war as a mac e or war

club w h ile t h e heavi er hammer was used by
,

women as an a xe to break up fallen t rees for

firewood ; as a hammer to d rive ten t pin s into -

the groun d t o k ill disabled animal s or t o brea k

, ,

up hea vy bones for the marrow they con t ained .

These mauls and h a mmers were usually made

by choosing an o v al s t one a nd pecking a groove
about i t s shor t es t diame t er The h andles were
.

made by green s ticks fitted a s closely a s possi

ble int o t he groove brough t t oge th er a n d lashe d
,

200
 BLACKFE E T IND IAN STORIE S
straightened by bend i ng w i th the hands and ,

someti mes w i th t he teeth and were then passed

,

t hrough a c i rcular hole dr i lled i n a r i b or i n a,

mountain sheep s horn which a c te d in par t a s a

’

gauge of the si z e and also as a smoo ther for if ,

in passing through the hole the arrow fitted

t ightly the shaft re c ei v ed a good pol i sh The
, .

t hree grooves whi c h always were found in t he

B lackfeet arrows were made by pushing the
shaft through a round hole drilled in a r i b ,

whic h however had one or more proj ections

, ,

left on the insi d e These proj ections p ressed

.

int o t he sof t woo d an d made the grooves wh i ch ,

were in e v ery arrow The feathers were t hree

.

in number They were pu t on with a glue made

.
,

by bo i ling s c r aps of dried rawhide and were held

,

in place by wrappings of sinew The hea d s of.

the arrows were made of s t one or bone or horn .

The fl i n t poin t s were O ften h i ghly worked and

very beaut i ful being broken from larger flin t s
,

by sharp blows of a s t one hammer and after ,

they had been shaped t he edges were worked

sharp by flak i ng w i th an i mplemen t of bone or
horn The points made of horn or bone were
.

202
 THE ANCIEN T BLACKFEE T
ground sharp by rubb i ng on a stone A notch .

w a s cut i n the end of the arrow shaft and the

s hank of the arrow po i nt set i n that The arrow .

he ads were firmly fixed t o the shaft by glue a nd

by s i new wrapping .

A lthough t he B l ac kfee t l iv e d almos t al t o

gether on the flesh of birds or an i mals ye t they ,

had som e vegetab l e food Th i s w a s c hiefly ber

.

—
ries of which i n summer the women collec t ed
grea t quant i ties and dr i ed them for w i nt er use
and roots the gathering of which a t the proper
,

se a son of t he ye a r o cc upie d much of the t i me

of women and young g i rls These roots were
.

unear the d by a long sharp pointed st i ck called

,
-
,

a roo t digger Some of the roots were eaten

.

a s soon a s c olle c ted wh i le o thers were dr i ed

,

a nd s t ored for u se in W int er .

After t hey re a ched t he plains t he m a in food ,

of t h e B la c kfeet w a s t he bu ff alo wh i ch they ,

k i ll e d in larg e numbers when every t h i ng went

r i gh t M a ny of t he s t re a ms in t he B lackfeet
.

count ry run through wide deep valleys bordered

,

o n e i ther s id e by c l i ffs or broken pre ci pices fall

, ,

i ng sh a rply from the h i gh prairie abo v e L ong .

203
 BLACKFEE T I NDIAN STO RIE S
ago the B lackfeet must have learned that i t was
poss i ble to make the bu ffalo j ump over these cl ifl s ,

and tha t i n the fall on the rocks below numbers

would be k i lled or cr i ppled N o doubt after .

th i s had been pract i sed for a ti me there came to ,

some one the i dea of bu i lding at the foo t of such

a cl i ff where the bu ff alo were run over a fence ,

wh i ch would form a corral or pound and wh i ch ,

would hold all the bu ffalo t ha t were j umped over

the cli ff This c orral they called p i skun
. .

I t is often sa i d that the bu ffalo were driven

over these p rec i pices but th i s is true only in
,

part Li ke mos t wil d animals bu ffalo are in

.
,

q u isit iv e I t was no
. t d i fficult t o excite the i r
curiosity a nd when they sa w someth i ng they
,

d i d not recognize they were anxious to find ou t

,

what i t was .

When run into the p i skun the b u fl a l o were

'

really drawn by cur i os i ty almost t o the jump i ng

po i nt and between two long d i verg i ng l i nes of
,

people who kept h i dden unt i l after the bu ffalo

,

had passed them and then rose and showed ,

themselves and t ried to fri gh t en the an i mals .

N O W to be sure for the short dis t ance that re

, ,

204
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STO RIE S
the a tt ent i on of some of the an i mals by u tt ering
certa i n calls tossed i nto the a i r h i s bu ffalo robe
,

or some smaller obj ect A s soon as the bu ffalo

.

began to look a t him he re treated slowly in t he

,

d i rec ti on of the piskun bu t c on t inued t o call and

,

to attrac t their atten ti on by showing himsel f

and then disappear i ng Soon some of the
.
,

bu ffalo began to walk toward h i m and others ,

began t o look and to follow those that had first

star t ed so that before long the w h ole herd of
,

fi fty or a hundred an i mals m i ght be walking or

somet i mes t ro tt i ng after him The more rapidly
.

the bu ffalo c ame on the fas t er t he man r a n

,

a nd somet i mes it was a h a rd ma tt er for him t o

—
keep ahead of the herd unt i l he had got f a r
w i th i n the w i ngs and near to the cl i ff I f there .

seemed danger that he would be overt aken he ,

watched h i s chance and e i ther a t some l ow

place qu i ckly dodged ou t of th e l i ne i n wh i ch
the bu ffalo were runn i ng or hid beh i nd on e of
,

the p i les of stones of wh i ch the w i ngs were

formed or if he had t ime sl i pped over the
, , ,

’
rocky wall at the valley s edge so as to ge t ou t ,

of the way of the approach i ng herd .

206
 THE ANCIEN T BLACKFE E T
A s soon a s th e bu ff alo had come well with i n
the diverg i ng l i nes of people who were h i dden
beh i nd the piles of s t ones c alled wings those ,

w h om the bu ffalo passed rose up from t heir places

of c on c ealmen t a nd by yells and shouts and the
,

w av ing of their r obes fr i ghtened the bu ffalo so ,

t h at th ey qu i t e forgo t t he i r c urios i ty in t he
t erro r tha t now repla c ed it When the leaders
.

reache d the brink of the cl ifl they could not ’

,

stop They were pushed over by those beh i nd

.
,

a nd m os t of t he bu ffalo j umped over the cl i ff .

M a ny we r e crippled or injured by the fall a nd ,

a ll were kep t within the fen c e of the p i skun

below A bou t this fen ce the peopl e were c ol
.

l e ct e d T he bu ffalo race d round and round

.

with i n t he p e n t he young and weak being in

,

j ured or killed in the c rowding wh i le above the

,

fen c e men were shoo t ing them with arrows un ti l

presen tly all in t he pen were dead or s o hur t ,

t ha t t he women could go i n t o the pen and k i ll

t hem The p e ople en te r e d a nd took t he flesh
.

a nd hides .

D eer elk and antelope were shot w i th ar

, ,

r ows and a n t elope were often captured i n p i t

,

207
 BLACKFE E T IN D IAN STO RIE S

falls roofed w i th S lender poles and covered with

grass and earth Such p i tfalls were dug i n a
.

reg i on where antelope w e re plenty a nd a long ,

shaped pair of w i ngs ma d e of poles or bushes

,

o r even rock p i les led t o the pi t

, The ante l ope .

i s v ery inquisitive a n d was eas i ly led within the

chu t e and there fri gh t ened as were the bu ffalo
, ,

by people who had been con c ealed and who ros e

up and showed t hemselves after t he an telop e
h ad passed This was done more in order t o
.

secure antelope skins for clo t h i ng th a n thei r

flesh for food .

Fi sh and rep t iles were no t eaten by the B l a ck

feet nor were dogs although dogs wolves a nd
, , , ,

coyotes are e at en by many tr i bes of pla i ns I n

d i ans Mos t small animals and pr a cti cally all
.
,

birds were e aten in ca se of need I n summer

, .
,

when the w i ldfowl wh i ch bred on s o many of

t he lakes in the B lackfeet country los t the i r
fl igh t feathers dur i ng the moult and ag ai n in the
-
, ,

late summer when the young ducks and geese

,

were a lmost fullgrown but could no t yet fly ,

the I nd i ans often went in large parti es to the

shallow lakes wh i ch here and there dotted the
208
 BLACKFEE T INDIAN STORIE S

they h a d before known whether these were

,

metal knives steel arrow po i nts or guns i t i s

, , ,

probable t ha t t hey did no t do much fight i ng .

There seems t o have been no reason why they

should have fought unless th ey quarrelled about
,

small ma tt ers with o ther tr ibes I t became .

qu it e di fferen t when t he I nd i ans p rocured bet

ter arms a n d abo v e all when t hey got horses
, ,

a me a ns of swiftly ge t ting abou t o v er t he coun

try something tha t all people wanted t o have
,

and which all were so eager to obtain t hat t hey

would go in t o d anger for t hem I n t he ol d days
.

of stone arrow heads w h en they had t o t ravel

,

o n foo t an d t o c a rry heavy loa d s on t heir backs ,

the whole t hough t a n d e ff or t of th e t r i be mus t

have been de v o t e d t o t he work of pro c uring a
supply of foo d .

The t r i bal and f a mily l ife of t h e people was

s i mple and fr i endly The man and h i s wives
.

loved e a ch other and lo v ed their ch i ldren R e .

l a t ion ship c ounted for much in an I nd i an c amp ,

and c ous i ns of remo t e d egree were c alled brother

and s i ster C h i ldren were not punishe d ; they
.

were tr ained by persuas i on and adv i ce They .

.

21 0
 TH E ANC IE N T BLACKFEE T

were told by older people h ow they ough t to ac t

in order to make the i r l i ves happy and success
ful and t o be well though t of by the i r fellows .

Young people had much respec t for the i r elders ,

l i stened to wha t they said and strove more or

,

less su c cessfully t o follow t heir t each i ngs .

The B lac kfee t were v ery r eligious They fe ared

.

many natural p owers and influen c es whose work

ings they did no t understand and th ey were
,

—
cons t an tly praying t o the Sun regarde d a s the
—
ruler of t he universe a s well a s t o t hose o t her
power s whi c h they belie v e li v e in t he s tars th e ,

ear th t he mounta i ns t he animals an d th e t rees

, , , .

The B la c kfoot w a s cons t antly afraid t ha t some

evil t hing might happen t o him a n d he t here
,

fore prayed to all the powers for help for —

goo d for t une in his under t akings fo r h ealth , ,

plenty and l ong life for himself a nd a ll his

,

family .

A mong these tr ib e s t h ere a re a number of

se c re t societies known as t he A ll C omrades or
—
A ll F riends groups of men of d i fferent ages ,

whi c h ha v e been alluded t o in th e stor i es .

Originally there were about twel v e of these

21 1
 BLAC K FEE T INDIAN STO RIE S

soc i et i es but a number have been abandoned

,

of recent years .

The tr i be was divided into a number of clans ,

all the members of wh i ch were bel i eved t o be

related and i n old times n o member of a clan
,

was permitted to marry another member of the

clan R elat i ons m i ght not marry
. .

I n olden t i mes when large numbers of peo

,

ple were together the lodges of the camp were

,

p i tched in a great c i rcle the open i ng toward the

,

southeast I n th i s c i rcle each clan camped in

.

i ts ow n particular place w i th relat i on to the

other clans W i th i n the circle was often a
.

smaller c i rcle of lodges each occup i ed by one

,

o r more of the soc i et i es of the A ll C omrades .

Somet i mes i t happened that great numbers of

the B lackfeet came together perhaps even all ,

of the three tr i bes B lackfeet B loods and P i e

, , ,

gans . When th i s was the case each tri be ,

camped by i tsel f with its own c i rcle no matter ,

how near i t m i ght be t o one or other of the

tri bal c i rcles .

We read of some tr i bes of I nd i ans wh i ch b e

lie ve d that a fter death the sp i r i ts of the de
21 2
 BLACKFEE T IND IAN STO RIE S
Wh o n owl ike kni ght an d l ady se em ,
”
An d n ow l i ke d w arf a n d a pe
.

B ooks have been wri tt en abou t th e Blackfee t

I nd i ans wh i ch t ell much mor e abou t h ow t hey
l i ved t han c a n be gi v en h e re
.

END

21 4