{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13833/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13833","id":"gutenberg_13833","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13833","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Short Stories","Native America","Siksika Indians -- Folklore"],"text":"Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which\n      includes the original frontispiece and cover illustrations.\n      See 13833-h.htm or 13833-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/3/13833/13833-h/13833-h.htm)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/3/8/3/13833/13833-h.zip)\n\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\n      Many Blackfeet names and words in the printed book from which\n      this e-text is taken had vowels with breves or macrons over them,\n      diacritical marks that cannot be reproduced in this e-text. The\n      first time such a word appears within a story the marks are\n      represented using [=x] for a vowel with a macron and [)x] for\n      a vowel with a breve (example: M[=a]-m[)i]n\u00b4). Subsequent\n      appearances of the word do not have the vowels so marked.\n\n\n\n\n\nBLACKFEET INDIAN STORIES\n\nby\n\nGEORGE BIRD GRINNELL\n\nAuthor of _Blackfeet Lodge Tales_, _Trails Of The Pathfinders_, etc.\n\n1915\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: Cold Maker]\n\n\n\nTO THE READER\n\nThose who wish to know something about how the people lived who told\nthese stories will find their ways of life described in the last\nchapter of this book.\n\nThe Blackfeet were hunters, travelling from place to place on foot.\nThey used implements of stone, wood, or bone, wore clothing made of\nskins, and lived in tents covered by hides. Dogs, their only tame\nanimals, were used as beasts of burden to carry small packs and drag\nlight loads.\n\nThe stories here told come down to us from very ancient times.\nGrandfathers have told them to their grandchildren, and these again\nto their grandchildren, and so from mouth to mouth, through many\ngenerations, they have reached our time.\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n  TWO FAST RUNNERS\n  THE WOLF MAN\n  KUT-O-YIS\u00b4, THE BLOOD BOY\n  THE DOG AND THE ROOT DIGGER\n  THE CAMP OF THE GHOSTS\n  THE BUFFALO STONE\n  HOW THE THUNDER PIPE CAME\n  COLD MAKER'S MEDICINE\n  THE ALL COMRADES SOCIETIES\n    THE BULLS SOCIETY\n    THE OTHER SOCIETIES\n  THE FIRST MEDICINE LODGE\n  THE BUFFALO-PAINTED LODGES\n  MIKA\u00b4PI--RED OLD MAN\n  RED ROBE'S DREAM\n  THE BLACKFEET CREATION\n  OLD MAN STORIES\n    THE WONDERFUL BIRD\n    THE RABBITS' MEDICINE\n    THE LOST ELK MEAT\n    THE ROLLING ROCK\n    BEAR AND BULLBERRIES\n    THE THEFT FROM THE SUN\n    THE SMART WOMAN CHIEF\n    BOBCAT AND BIRCH TREE\n    THE RED-EYED DUCK\n  THE ANCIENT BLACKFEET\n\n\n\n\n\nTWO FAST RUNNERS\n\n\nOnce, a long time ago, the antelope and the deer happened to meet on\nthe prairie. They spoke together, giving each other the news, each\ntelling what he had seen and done. After they had talked for a time\nthe antelope told the deer how fast he could run, and the deer said\nthat he could run fast too, and before long each began to say that\nhe could run faster than the other. So they agreed that they would\nhave a race to decide which could run the faster, and on this race\nthey bet their galls. When they started, the antelope ran ahead of\nthe deer from the very start and won the race and so took the deer's\ngall.\n\nBut the deer began to grumble and said, \"Well, it is true that out\nhere on the prairie you have beaten me, but this is not where I\nlive. I only come out here once in a while to feed or to cross the\nprairie when I am going somewhere. It would be fairer if we had a\nrace in the timber. That is my home, and there I can run faster than\nyou. I am sure of it.\"\n\nThe antelope felt so glad and proud that he had beaten the deer in\nthe race that he was sure that wherever they might run he could beat\nhim, so he said, \"All right, I will run you a race in the timber. I\nhave beaten you out here on the flat and I can beat you there.\" On\nthis race they bet their dew-claws.\n\nThey started and ran this race through the thick timber, among the\nbushes, and over fallen logs, and this time the antelope ran slowly,\nfor he was afraid of hitting himself against the trees or of falling\nover the logs. You see, he was not used to this kind of travelling.\nSo the deer easily beat him and took his dew-claws.\n\nSince that time the deer has had no gall and the antelope no\ndew-claws.\n\n\n\n\nTHE WOLF MAN\n\n\nA long time ago there was a man who had two wives. They were not\ngood women; they did not look after their home nor try to keep\nthings comfortable there. If the man brought in plenty of buffalo\ncow skins they did not tan them well, and often when he came home at\nnight, hungry and tired after his hunting, he had no food, for these\nwomen would be away from the lodge, visiting their relations and\nhaving a good time.\n\nThe man thought that if he moved away from the big camp and lived\nalone where there were no other people perhaps he might teach these\nwomen to become good; so he moved his lodge far off on the prairie\nand camped at the foot of a high butte.\n\nEvery evening about sundown the man used to climb up to the top of\nthis butte and sit there and look all over the country to see where\nthe buffalo were feeding and whether any enemies were moving about.\nOn top of the hill there was a buffalo skull, on which he used to\nsit.\n\nOne day one of the women said to the other, \"It is very lonely here;\nwe have no one to talk with or to visit.\"\n\n\"Let us kill our husband,\" said the other: \"then we can go back to\nour relations and have a good time.\"\n\nEarly next morning the man set out to hunt, and as soon as he was\nout of sight his wives went up on top of the butte where he used to\nsit. There they dug a deep hole and covered it over with light\nsticks and grass and earth, so that it looked like the other soil\nnear by, and placed the buffalo skull on the sticks which covered\nthe hole.\n\nIn the afternoon, as they watched for their returning husband, they\nsaw him come over the hill loaded down with meat that he had killed.\nWhen he threw down his load outside the lodge, they hurried to cook\nsomething for him. After he had eaten he went up on the butte and\nsat down on the skull. The slender sticks broke and he fell into the\nhole. His wives were watching him, and when they saw him disappear,\nthey took down the lodge and packed their dogs and set out to go to\nthe main camp. As they drew near it, so that people could hear them,\nthey began to cry and mourn.\n\nSoon some people came to meet them and said, \"What is this? Why are\nyou mourning? Where is your husband?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" they replied, \"he is dead. Five days ago he went out to hunt\nand he did not come back. What shall we do? We have lost him who\ncared for us\"; and they cried and mourned again.\n\nNow, when the man fell into the pit he was hurt, for the hole was\ndeep. After a time he tried to climb out, but he was so badly\nbruised that he could not do so. He sat there and waited, thinking\nthat here he must surely die of hunger.\n\nBut travelling over the prairie was a wolf that climbed up on the\nbutte and came to the hole and, looking in, saw the man and pitied\nhim.\n\n\"Ah-h-w-o-o-o! Ah-h-w-o-o-o-o!\" he howled, and when the other wolves\nheard him they all came running to see what was the matter.\nFollowing the big wolves came also many coyotes, badgers, and\nkit-foxes. They did not know what had happened, but they thought\nperhaps there was food here.\n\nTo the others the wolf said, \"Here in this hole is what I have\nfound. Here is a man who has fallen in. Let us dig him out and we\nwill have him for our brother.\"\n\nAll the wolves thought that this talk was good, and they began to\ndig, and before very long they had dug a hole down almost to the\nbottom of the pit.\n\nThen the wolf who had found the man said, \"Hold on; wait a little; I\nwant to say a few words.\" All the animals stopped digging and began\nto listen, and the wolf said, \"We will all have this man for our\nbrother; but I found him, and so I think he ought to live with us\nbig wolves.\" All the others thought that this was good, and the\nwolf that had found the man went into the hole that had been dug,\nand tearing down the rest of the earth, dragged out the poor man,\nwho was now almost dead, for he had neither eaten nor drunk anything\nsince he fell in the hole. They gave the man a kidney to eat, and\nwhen he was able to walk the big wolves took him to their home. Here\nthere was a very old blind wolf who had great power and could do\nwonderful things. He cured the man and made his head and his hands\nlook like those of a wolf. The rest of his body was not changed.\n\nIn those days the people used to make holes in the walls of the\nfence about the enclosure into which they led the buffalo. They set\nsnares over these holes, and when wolves and other animals crept\nthrough them so as to get into the pen and feed on the meat they\nwere caught by the neck and killed, and the people used their skins\nfor clothing.\n\nOne night all the wolves went down to the pen to get meat, and when\nthey had come close to it, the man-wolf said to his brothers, \"Stop\nhere for a little while and I will go down and fix the places so\nthat you will not be caught.\" He went down to the pen and sprung all\nthe snares, and then went back and called the wolves and the\nothers--the coyotes, badgers, and kit-foxes--and they all went into\nthe pen and feasted and took meat to carry home to their families.\nIn the morning the people found the meat gone and all their snares\nsprung, and they were surprised and wondered how this could have\nhappened. For many nights the nooses were pulled tight and the meat\ntaken; but once when the wolves went there to eat they found only\nthe meat of a lean and sickly bull. Then the man-wolf was angry,\nand he cried out like a wolf, \"Bad-food-you-give-us-o-o-o!\nBad-food-you-give-us-o-o-o-o!\"\n\nWhen the people heard this they said to one another, \"Ah, it is a\nman-wolf who has done all this. We must catch him.\" So they took\ndown to the piskun[1] pemmican and nice back fat and placed it\nthere, and many of them hid close by. After dark the wolves came,\nas was their custom, and when the man-wolf saw the good food, he ran\nto it and began to eat. Then the people rushed upon him from every\nside and caught him with ropes, and tied him and took him to a\nlodge, and when they had brought him inside to the light of the\nfire, at once they knew who it was. They said, \"Why, this is the man\nwho was lost.\"\n\n     [Footnote 1: A pen or enclosure, usually--among the\n     Blackfeet--at the foot of a cliff, over which the buffalo\n     were induced to jump. Pronounced p[)i]\u00b4sk[)u]n.]\n\n\"No,\" said the man, \"I was not lost. My wives tried to kill me. They\ndug a deep hole and I fell into it, and I was hurt so badly I could\nnot get out; but the wolves took pity on me and helped me or I would\nhave died there.\"\n\nWhen the people heard this they were angry, and they told the man to\ndo something to punish these women.\n\n\"You say well,\" he replied; \"I give those women to the punishing\nsociety. They know what to do.\"\n\nAfter that night the two women were never seen again.\n\n\n\n\nKUT-O-YIS\u00b4, THE BLOOD BOY\n\n\nAs the children whose ancestors came from Europe have stories about\nthe heroes who killed wicked and cruel monsters--like Jack the Giant\nKiller, for example--so the Indian children hear stories about\npersons who had magic power and who went about the world destroying\nthose who treated cruelly or killed the Indians of the camps. Such a\nhero was K[)u]t-o-y[)i]s\u00b4, and this is how he came to be alive and\nto travel about from place to place, helping the people and\ndestroying their enemies.\n\nIt was long, long ago, down where Two Medicine and Badger Rivers\ncome together, that an old man lived with his wife and three\ndaughters. One day there came to his camp a young man, good-looking,\na good hunter, and brave. He stayed in the camp for some time, and\nwhenever he went hunting he killed game and brought in great loads\nof meat.\n\nAll this time the old man was watching him, for he said in his\nheart, \"This seems a good young man and a good hunter. Perhaps I\nwill give him my daughters for wives, and then he will stay here and\nhelp me always.\"\n\nAfter a time the old man decided to do this, and he gave the young\nman his daughters; and because these three were his only children he\ngave his son-in-law his dogs and all his property, and for himself\nand his wife he kept only a little lodge. The young man's wives\ntanned plenty of cow skins and made a big fine lodge, and in this\nthe son-in-law lived with his wives.\n\nFor some time after this the son-in-law was very good and kind to\nthe old people. When he killed any animal he gave them part of the\nmeat, and gave them skins which his mother-in-law tanned for robes\nor for clothing.\n\nAs time went on the son-in-law began to grow stingy, and pretty soon\nhe gave nothing to his father-in-law's lodge, but kept everything\nfor his own.\n\nNow, the son-in-law was a person of much mysterious power, and he\nkept the buffalo hidden under a big log-jam in the river. Whenever\nhe needed food and wished to kill anything, he would take his\nfather-in-law with him to help. He would send the old man out to\nstamp on the log-jam and frighten the buffalo, and when they ran out\nfrom under it the young man would shoot one or two with his arrows,\nnever killing more than he needed. But often he gave the old people\nnothing at all to eat. They were hungry all the time, and at length\nthey began to grow thin and weak.\n\nOne morning early the young man asked his father-in-law to come and\nhunt with him. They went to the log-jam and the old man drove out\nthe buffalo and his son-in-law killed a fat buffalo cow. Then he\nsaid to his father-in-law, \"Hurry back now to the camp and tell your\ndaughters to come and carry home the meat, and then you can have\nsomething to eat.\" The old man set out for the camp, thinking, as he\nwalked along, \"Now, at last, my son-in-law has taken pity on me; he\nwill give me some of this meat.\"\n\nWhen he returned with his daughters they skinned the cow and cut it\nup and, carrying it, went home. The young man had his wives leave\nthe meat at his own lodge and told his father-in-law to go home. He\ndid not give him even a little piece of the meat. The two older\ndaughters gave their parents nothing to eat, but sometimes the\nyoungest one had pity on them and took a piece of meat and, when she\ncould, threw it into the lodge to the old people. The son-in-law had\ntold his wives not to give the old people anything to eat. Except\nfor the good heart of the youngest daughter they would have died of\nhunger.\n\nAnother day the son-in-law rose early in the morning and went over\nto the old man's lodge and kicked against the poles, calling to him,\n\"Get up now and help me; I want you to go and stamp on the log-jam\nto drive out the buffalo.\" When the old man moved his feet on the\njam and a buffalo ran out, the son-in-law was not ready for it, and\nit passed by him before he shot the arrow; so he only wounded it. It\nran away, but at last it fell down and died.\n\nThe old man followed close after it, and as he ran along he came to\na place where a great clot of blood had fallen from the buffalo's\nwound. When he came to where this clot of blood was lying on the\nground, he stumbled and fell and spilled his arrows out of his\nquiver, and while he was picking them up he picked up also the clot\nof blood and hid it in his quiver.\n\n\"What are you picking up?\" called the son-in-law.\n\n\"Nothing,\" replied the old man. \"I fell down and spilled my arrows,\nand I am putting them back.\"\n\n\"Ah, old man,\" said the son-in-law, \"you are lazy and useless. You\nno longer help me. Go back now to the camp and tell your daughters\nto come down here and help carry in this meat.\"\n\nThe old man went to the camp and told his daughters of the meat that\ntheir husband had killed, and they went down to the killing ground.\nThen he went to his own lodge and said to his wife, \"Hurry, now, put\nthe stone kettle on the fire. I have brought home something from the\nkilling.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said the old woman, \"has our son-in-law been generous and\ngiven us something nice to eat?\"\n\n\"No,\" replied the old man, \"but hurry and put the kettle on the\nfire.\"\n\nAfter a time the water began to boil and the old man turned his\nquiver upside down over the pot, and immediately there came from it\na sound of a child crying, as if it were being hurt. The old people\nboth looked in the kettle and there they saw a little boy, and they\nquickly took him out of the water. They were surprised and did not\nknow where the child had come from. The old woman wrapped the child\nup and wound a line about its wrappings to keep them in place,\nmaking a lashing for the child. Then they talked about it, wondering\nwhat should be done with it. They thought that if their son-in-law\nknew it was a boy he would kill it; so they determined to tell their\ndaughters that the baby was a girl, for then their son-in-law would\nthink that he was going to have another wife. So he would be glad.\nThey called the child Kut-o-yis\u00b4--Clot of Blood.\n\nThe son-in-law and his wives came home, bringing the meat, and\nafter a little time they heard the child in the next lodge crying.\nThe son-in-law said to his youngest wife, \"Go over to your mother's\nand see whether that baby is a boy or a girl. If it is a boy, tell\nyour parents to kill it.\"\n\nSoon the young woman came back and said to her husband, \"It is a\ngirl baby. You are to have another wife.\"\n\nThe son-in-law did not know whether to believe this, and sent his\noldest wife to ask the same question. When she came back and told\nhim the same thing he believed that it was really a girl. Then he\nwas glad, for he said to himself, \"Now, when this child has grown\nup, I shall have another wife.\" He said to his youngest wife, \"Take\nsome back fat and pemmican over to your mother; she must be well fed\nnow that she has to nurse this child.\"\n\nOn the fourth day after he had been born the child spoke and said to\nhis mother, \"Hold me in turn to each one of these lodge poles, and\nwhen I come to the last one I shall fall out of my lashings and be\ngrown up.\" The old woman did as he had said, and as she held him to\none pole after another he could be seen to grow; and finally when he\nwas held to the last pole he was a man.\n\nAfter Kut-o-yis\u00b4 had looked about the lodge he put his eye to a hole\nin the lodge-covering and looked out. Then he turned around and said\nto the old people, \"How is it that in this lodge there is nothing to\neat? Over by the other lodge I see plenty of food hanging up.\"\n\n\"Hush,\" said the old woman, raising her hand, \"you will be heard.\nOur son-in-law lives over there. He does not give us anything at all\nto eat.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the young man, \"where is your piskun--where do you kill\nbuffalo?\"\n\n\"It is down by the river,\" the old woman answered. \"We pound on it\nand the buffalo run out.\"\n\nFor some time they talked together and the old man told Kut-o-yis\u00b4\nhow his son-in-law had abused him. He said to the young man, \"He has\ntaken from me my bow and my arrows and has taken even my dogs; and\nnow for many days we have had nothing to eat, except sometimes a\nsmall piece of meat that our daughter throws to us.\"\n\n\"Father,\" said Kut-o-yis\u00b4, \"have you no arrows?\"\n\n\"No, my son,\" replied the old man, \"but I still have four stone\narrow points.\"\n\n\"Go out then,\" said Kut-o-yis\u00b4, \"and get some wood. We will make a\nbow and some arrows, and in the morning we will go down to where the\nbuffalo are and kill something to eat.\"\n\nEarly in the morning Kut-o-yis\u00b4 pushed the old man and said, \"Come,\nget up now, and we will go down and kill, when the buffalo come\nout.\" It was still very early in the morning.\n\nWhen they reached the river the old man said, \"This is the place to\nstand and shoot. I will go down and drive them out.\"\n\nHe went down and stamped on the log-jam, and presently a fat cow ran\nout and Kut-o-yis\u00b4 killed it.\n\nNow, after these two had gone to the river the son-in-law arose and\nwent over to the old man's lodge, and knocked on the poles and\ncalled to the old man to get up and help him kill. The old woman\ncalled out to the son-in-law, saying, \"Your father-in-law has\nalready gone down to the piskun.\" This made the son-in-law angry,\nand he began to talk badly to the old woman and to threaten to harm\nher.\n\nPresently he went on down to the log-jam, and as he got near the\nplace he saw the old man at work there, bending over, skinning a\nbuffalo; for Kut-o-yis\u00b4, when he had seen the son-in-law coming, had\nlain down on the ground and hidden himself behind the carcass.\n\nWhen the son-in-law had come pretty close to where the buffalo lay\nhe said to his father-in-law, \"Old man, stand up and look all about\nyou. Look carefully and well, for it will be the last time that you\nwill ever see anything\"; and while the son-in-law said this he took\nan arrow from his quiver.\n\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 spoke to the old man from his hiding-place and said,\n\"Tell your son-in-law that he must take his last look, for that you\nare going to kill him now.\" The old man said this as he had been\ntold.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the son-in-law, \"you talk back to me. That makes me still\nangrier at you.\" He put an arrow on the string and shot at the old\nman, but did not hit him. Kut-o-yis\u00b4 said to the old man, \"Pick up\nthat arrow and shoot it back at him\"; and the old man did so. Now,\nthey shot at each other four times, and then the old man said to\nKut-o-yis\u00b4, \"I am afraid now; get up and help me. If you do not, I\nthink he will kill me.\" Then Kut-o-yis\u00b4 rose to his feet and said to\nthe son-in-law, \"Here, what are you doing? I think you have been\ntreating this old man badly for a long time. Why do you do it?\"\n\n\"Oh no,\" said the son-in-law, and he smiled at Kut-o-yis\u00b4 in a\nfriendly way, for he was afraid of him. \"Oh no; no one thinks more\nof this old man than I do. I have always been very good to him.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Kut-o-yis\u00b4. \"You are saying what is not true, and I am\ngoing to kill you now.\"\n\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 shot the son-in-law four times and he fell down and\ndied. Then the young man told his father to go and bring down to him\nthe daughters who had acted badly toward him. The old man did so and\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 punished them. Then he went up to the lodges and said to\nthe youngest woman, \"Did you love your husband?\" \"Yes,\" said the\ngirl, \"I loved him.\" So Kut-o-yis\u00b4 punished her too, but not so\nbadly as he had the other daughters, because she had been kind to\nher parents.\n\nTo the old people he said, \"Go over now to that lodge and live\nthere. There is plenty of food, and when that is gone I will kill\nmore. As for me, I shall make a journey. Tell me where there are any\npeople. In what direction shall I go to find a camp?\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the old man, \"up here on Two Medicine Lodge Creek there\nare some people--up where the piskun is, you know.\"\n\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 followed up the stream to where the piskun was and there\nfound many lodges of people. In the centre of the camp was a big\nlodge, and painted on it the figure of a bear. He did not go to this\nlodge, but went into a small lodge where two old women lived. When\nhe had sat down they put food before him--lean dried meat and some\nbelly fat.\n\n\"How is this, grandmothers?\" he said. \"Here is a camp with plenty of\nfat meat and back fat hanging up to dry; why do you not give me some\nof that?\"\n\n\"Hush; be careful,\" said the old women. \"In that big lodge over\nthere lives a big bear and his wives and children. He takes all the\nbest food and leaves us nothing. He is the chief of this place.\"\n\nEarly in the morning Kut-o-yis\u00b4 said to the old women, \"Harness up\nyour dogs to the travois now and go over to the piskun, and I will\nkill some fat meat for you.\"\n\nWhen they got there, he killed a fat cow and helped the old women to\ncut it up, and they took it to the lodge. One of those old women\nsaid, \"Ah me, the bears will be sure to come.\"\n\n\"Why do you say that?\" he asked.\n\nThey said to him, \"We shall be sorry to lose this back fat.\"\n\n\"Do not fear,\" he said. \"No one shall take this back fat from you.\nNow, take all those best pieces and hang them up, so that those who\nlive in the bear lodge may see them.\"\n\nThey did so. Pretty soon the old bear chief said to one of his\nchildren, \"By this time I think the people have finished killing. Go\nout now and look about; see where the nicest pieces are, and bring\nin some nice back fat.\"\n\nOne of the young bears went out of the lodge and stood up and looked\nabout, and when it saw this meat hanging by the old women's lodge\nclose by, it went over toward it.\n\n\"Ah,\" said the old women, \"there are those bears.\"\n\n\"Do not be afraid,\" said Kut-o-yis\u00b4.\n\nThe young bear went over to where the meat was hanging and stood up\nand began to pull it down. Kut-o-yis\u00b4 went out of the lodge and\nsaid, \"Wait; wait! What are you doing, taking the old women's meat?\"\n\nThe young bear answered, \"My father told me that I should go out and\nget this meat and bring it home to him.\"\n\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 hit the young bear over the head with a stick and it ran\nhome crying.\n\nWhen it had reached the lodge it told what had happened and the\nfather bear said, \"I will go over there myself; perhaps this person\nwill hit me over the head.\"\n\nWhen the old women saw the father and mother bear and all their\nrelations coming they were afraid, but Kut-o-yis\u00b4 jumped out of the\nlodge and killed the bears one after another; all except one little\nshe-bear, a very small one, which got away.\n\n\"Well,\" said Kut-o-yis\u00b4, \"you may go and breed more bears.\"\n\nHe told the old women to move over to the bear-painted lodge and\nafter this to live in it. It was theirs.\n\nTo the old women Kut-o-yis\u00b4 then said, \"Now, grandmothers, where are\nthere any more people? I want to travel about and see them.\"\n\nThe old women said, \"At the Point of Rocks--on Sun River--there is a\ncamp. There is a piskun there.\"\n\nSo Kut-o-yis\u00b4 set off for that place, and when he came to the camp\nhe went into an old woman's lodge.\n\nThe old woman gave him something to eat--a dish of bad food.\n\n\"Why is this, grandmother?\" asked Kut-o-yis\u00b4. \"Have you no food\nbetter than this to give to a visitor? Down there I see a piskun;\nyou must kill plenty of buffalo and must have good food.\"\n\n\"Speak lower,\" said the old woman, \"or you may be heard. We have no\ngood food because there is a great snake here who is the chief of\nthe camp. He takes all the best pieces. He lives over there in that\nsnake-painted lodge.\"\n\nThe next morning when the buffalo were led in, Kut-o-yis\u00b4 killed\none, and they took the back fat and carried it to their lodge. Then\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 said, \"I think I will visit that snake person.\" He went\nover and went into the lodge, and there he saw many women that the\nsnake person had taken to be his wives. The women were cooking some\nservice berries. Kut-o-yis\u00b4 picked up the dish and ate the berries\nand threw the dish away. Then he went up to the big snake, who was\nlying there asleep, and pricked him with his knife, saying, \"Here,\nget up; I have come to visit you. Let us smoke together.\"\n\nThen the snake was angry and he raised up his head and began to\nrattle, and Kut-o-yis\u00b4 cut off his head and cut him in pieces. He\ncut off the heads of all the snake's wives and children; all except\none little female snake which got away by crawling into a crack in\nthe rocks.\n\n\"Oh, well,\" said Kut-o-yis\u00b4, \"you can go and breed snakes so there\nwill be more. The people will not be afraid of little snakes.\"\n\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 said to the old woman, \"Now, grandmother, go into this\nsnake lodge and take it for your own and everything that is in it.\"\n\nThen he said to them, \"Where are there some more people?\" They told\nhim there were some camps down the river and some up in the\nmountains, but they said, \"Do not go up there. It is bad because\nthere lives [=A]i-s[=i]n\u00b4-o-k[=o]-k[=i]--Wind Sucker. He will kill\nyou.\"\n\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 was glad to know that there was such a person, and he\nwent to the mountains.\n\nWhen he reached the place where Wind Sucker lived, he looked into\nhis mouth and saw there many dead people. Some were skeletons and\nsome had only just died. He went in, and there he saw a fearful\nsight. The ground was white as snow with the bones of those who had\ndied. There were bodies with flesh on them; some who had died not\nlong before and some who were still living.\n\nAs he looked about, he saw hanging down above him a great thing that\nseemed to move--to grow a little larger and then to grow a little\nsmaller.\n\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 spoke to one of the people who was alive and asked, \"What\nis that hanging down above us?\"\n\nThe person answered him, \"That is Wind Sucker's heart.\"\n\nThen Kut-o-yis\u00b4 spoke to all the living and said to them, \"You who\nstill draw a little breath try to move your heads in time to the\nsong that I shall sing; and you who are still able to move stand up\non your feet and dance. Take courage now; we are going to dance to\nthe ghosts.\"\n\nThen Kut-o-yis\u00b4 tied his knife, point upward, to the top of his\nhead and began to dance, singing the ghost song, and all the others\ndanced with him; and as he danced up and down he kept springing\nhigher and higher into the air, and the point of his knife cut Wind\nSucker's heart and killed him.\n\nThen Kut-o-yis\u00b4, with his knife, cut a hole between Wind Sucker's\nribs, and he and all those who were able to move crawled out through\nthe hole. He said to those who could still walk that they should go\nand tell their people to come here, to get the ones still alive but\nunable to travel.\n\nTo some of these people that he had freed he said, \"Where are there\nany other people? I want to visit all the people.\"\n\n\"There is a camp to the westward, up the river,\" they replied; \"but\nyou must not take the left-hand trail going up because on that trail\nlives a woman who invites men to wrestle with her and then kills\nthem. Avoid her.\"\n\nNow, really, this was what Kut-o-yis\u00b4 was looking for. This was what\nhe was doing in the world, trying to kill off all the bad things.\nHe asked these people just where this woman lived and how it was\nbest for him to go so that he should not meet her. He did this\nbecause he did not wish the people to know that he was going where\nshe was.\n\nHe started, and after he had travelled some time he saw a woman\nstanding not far from the trail. She called to him, saying, \"Come\nhere, young man, come here; I want to wrestle with you.\"\n\n\"No,\" he replied, \"I am in a hurry; I cannot stop.\"\n\nThe woman called again, \"No, no; do not go on; come now and wrestle\nonce with me.\"\n\nAfter she had called him the fourth time, Kut-o-yis\u00b4 went to her.\n\nNow on the ground where this woman wrestled with people she had\nplaced many sharp, broken flint-stones, partly hiding them by the\ngrass. The two seized each other and began to wrestle over these\nsharp stones, but Kut-o-yis\u00b4 looked at the ground and did not step\non them. He watched his chance and gave the woman a quick wrench,\nand threw her down on a large sharp flint which cut her in two; and\nthe parts of her body fell asunder.\n\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 then went on, and after a time came to where a woman had\nmade a place for sliding downhill. At the far end of it she had\nfixed a rope which, when she raised it, would trip people up, and\nwhen they were tripped they fell over a high cliff into a deep\nwater, where a great fish ate them.\n\nWhen this woman saw Kut-o-yis\u00b4 coming she cried out to him, \"Come\nover here, young man, and slide with me.\"\n\n\"No,\" he replied, \"I am in a hurry; I cannot wait.\" She kept calling\nto him, and when she had called him the fourth time he went over\nwhere he was to slide with her.\n\n\"This sliding,\" said the woman, \"is very good fun.\"\n\n\"Ah, yes,\" said Kut-o-yis\u00b4, \"I will look at it.\"\n\nAs he went near the place he looked carefully and saw the hidden\nrope. He began to slide, and holding his knife in his hand, when he\nreached the rope he cut it just as the woman raised it and pulled on\nit, and the woman fell over backward into the water and was eaten\nup by the big fish.\n\nFrom here he went on again, and after a time he came to a big camp.\nA man-eater was the chief of this place.\n\nBefore Kut-o-yis\u00b4 went to the chief's lodge he looked about and saw\na little girl and called her to him and said, \"Child, I am going\ninto that lodge, to let that man-eater kill and eat me. Therefore,\nbe on the watch, and if you can get hold of one of my bones take it\nout and call all the dogs to you, and when they have come to you\nthrow down the bone and say, 'Kut-o-yis\u00b4, the dogs are eating your\nbones.'\"\n\nThen Kut-o-yis\u00b4 entered the lodge, and when the man-eater saw him he\ncalled out, \"Oki, oki!\" (welcome, welcome!) and seemed glad to see\nhim, for he was a fat young man. The man-eater took a knife and\nwalked up to Kut-o-yis\u00b4 and cut his throat and put him into a great\nstone pot to cook. When the meat was cooked he pulled the kettle\nfrom the fire and ate the body, limb by limb, until it was all\neaten.\n\nAfter that the little girl who was watching came into the lodge and\nsaid, \"Pity me, man-eater, my mother is hungry and asks you for\nthose bones.\" The old man gathered them together and handed them to\nher, and she took them out of the lodge. When she had gone a little\nway, she called all the dogs to her and threw down the bones to the\ndogs, crying out, \"Look out, Kut-o-yis\u00b4, the dogs are eating you,\"\nand when she said that, Kut-o-yis\u00b4 arose from the pile of bones.\n\nAgain he went into the lodge, and when the man-eater saw him he\ncried out, \"How, how, how! the fat young man has survived!\" and he\nseemed surprised. Again he took his knife and cut the throat of\nKut-o-yis\u00b4 and threw him into the kettle. Again when the meat was\ncooked he ate it, and when the little girl asked for the bones again\nhe gave them to her. She took them out and threw them to the dogs,\ncrying, \"Kut-o-yis\u00b4, the dogs are eating you,\" and again Kut-o-yis\u00b4\narose from the bones.\n\nWhen the man-eater had cooked him four times Kut-o-yis\u00b4 again went\ninto the lodge, and seizing the man-eater, he threw him into the\nboiling kettle, and his wives and all his children, and boiled them\nto death.\n\nThe man-eater was the seventh and last of the bad things to be\ndestroyed by Kut-o-yis\u00b4.\n\n\n\n\nTHE DOG AND THE ROOT DIGGER\n\n\nThis happened long ago.\n\nIn those days the people were hungry. No buffalo could be found, no\nantelope were seen on the prairie. Grass grew in the trails where\nthe elk and the deer used to travel. There was not even a rabbit in\nthe brush. Then the people prayed, \"Oh, Napi, help us now or we must\ndie. The buffalo and the deer are gone. It is useless to kindle the\nmorning fires; our arrows are useless to us; our knives remain in\ntheir sheaths.\"\n\nThen Napi set out to find where the game was, and with him went a\nyoung man, the son of a chief. For many days they travelled over the\nprairies. They could see no game; roots and berries were their only\nfood. One day they climbed to the crest of a high ridge, and as they\nlooked off over the country they saw far away by a stream a lonely\nlodge.\n\n\"Who can it be?\" asked the young man. \"Who camps there alone, far\nfrom friends?\"\n\n\"That,\" said Napi, \"is he who has hidden all the animals from the\npeople. He has a wife and a little son.\" Then they went down near to\nthe lodge and Napi told the young man what to do. Napi changed\nhimself into a little dog, and he said, \"This is I.\" The young man\nchanged himself into a root digger and he said, \"This is I.\" Pretty\nsoon the little boy, who was playing about near the lodge, found the\ndog and carried it to his father, saying, \"See what a pretty little\ndog I have found.\"\n\nThe father said, \"That is not a dog; throw it away!\" The little boy\ncried, but his father made him take the dog out of the lodge. Then\nthe boy found the root digger, and again picking up the dog, he\ncarried both into the lodge, saying, \"Look, mother; see what a\npretty root digger I have found.\"\n\n\"Throw them away,\" said his father; \"throw them both away. That is\nnot a root digger; that is not a dog.\"\n\n\"I want that root digger,\" said the woman. \"Let our son have the\nlittle dog.\"\n\n\"Let it be so, then,\" replied the husband; \"but remember that if\ntrouble comes, it is you who have brought it on yourself and on our\nson.\"\n\nSoon after this the woman and her son went off to pick berries, and\nwhen they were out of sight the man went out and killed a buffalo\ncow and brought the meat into the lodge and covered it up. He took\nthe bones and the skin and threw them in the water. When his wife\ncame back he gave her some of the meat to roast, and while they were\neating, the little boy fed the dog three times, and when he offered\nit more the father took the meat away.\n\nIn the night, when all were sleeping, Napi and the young man arose\nin their right shapes and ate some of the meat.\n\n\"You were right,\" said the young man. \"This is surely the person who\nhas hidden the buffalo.\"\n\n\"Wait,\" said Napi; and when they had finished eating they changed\nthemselves again into the root digger and the dog.\n\nNext morning the wife and the little boy went out to dig roots, and\nthe woman took the root digger with her, while the dog followed the\nlittle boy.\n\nAs they travelled along looking for roots, they passed near a cave,\nand at its mouth stood a buffalo cow. The dog ran into the cave, and\nthe root digger, slipping from the woman's hand, followed, gliding\nalong over the ground like a snake. In this cave were found all the\nbuffalo and the other game. They began to drive them out, and soon\nthe prairie was covered with buffalo, antelope, and deer. Never\nbefore were so many seen.\n\nSoon the man came running up, and he said to his wife, \"Who is\ndriving out my animals?\" The woman replied, \"The dog and the root\ndigger are in there now.\"\n\n\"Did I not tell you,\" said her husband, \"that those were not what\nthey looked like. See now the trouble that you have brought upon\nus!\" He put an arrow on his string and waited for them to come out,\nbut they were cunning, and when the last animal, a big bull, was\nstarting out the stick grasped him by the long hair under the neck\nand coiled up in it, and the dog held on by the hair underneath\nuntil they were far out on the prairie, when they changed into their\ntrue shapes and drove the buffalo toward the camp.\n\nWhen the people saw the buffalo coming they led a big band of them\nto the piskun, but just as the leaders were about to jump over the\ncliff a raven came and flapped its wings in front of them and\ncroaked, and they turned off and ran down another way. Every time a\nherd of buffalo was brought near to the piskun this raven frightened\nthem away. Then Napi knew that the raven was the person who had kept\nthe buffalo hidden.\n\nNapi went down to the river and changed himself into a beaver and\nlay stretched out on a sandbar, as if dead. The raven was very\nhungry and flew down and began to pick at the beaver. Then Napi\ncaught it by the legs and ran with it to the camp, and all the\nchiefs were called together to decide what should be done with the\nbird. Some said, \"Let us kill it,\" but Napi said, \"No, I will punish\nit,\" and he tied it up over the lodge, right in the smoke hole.\n\nAs the days went by the raven grew thin and weak and its eyes were\nblinded by the thick smoke, and it cried continually to Napi asking\nhim to pity it. One day Napi untied the bird and told it to take its\nright shape, and then said, \"Why have you tried to fool Napi? Look\nat me. I cannot die. Look at me. Of all peoples and tribes I am the\nchief. I cannot die. I made the mountains; they are standing yet. I\nmade the prairies and the rocks; you see them yet.\n\n\"Go home now to your wife and your child, and when you are hungry\nhunt like any one else. If you do not, you shall die.\"\n\n\n\n\nTHE CAMP OF THE GHOSTS\n\n\nThere was once a man who loved his wife dearly. After they had been\nmarried for a time they had a little boy. Some time after that the\nwoman grew sick and did not get well. She was sick for a long time.\nThe young man loved his wife so much that he did not wish to take a\nsecond woman. The woman grew worse and worse. Doctoring did not seem\nto do her any good. At last she died.\n\nFor a few days after this, the man used to take his baby on his back\nand travel out away from the camp, walking over the hills, crying\nand mourning. He felt badly, and he did not know what to do.\n\nAfter a time he said to the little child, \"My little boy, you will\nhave to go and live with your grandmother. I shall go away and try\nto find your mother and bring her back.\"\n\nHe took the baby to his mother's lodge and asked her to take care\nof it and left it with her. Then he started away, not knowing where\nhe was going nor what he should do.\n\nWhen he left the camp, he travelled toward the Sand Hills. On the\nfourth night of his journeying he had a dream. He dreamed that he\nwent into a little lodge in which was an old woman. This old woman\nsaid to him, \"Why are you here, my son?\"\n\nThe young man replied, \"I am mourning day and night, crying all the\nwhile. My little son, who is the only one left me, also mourns.\"\n\n\"Well,\" asked the old woman, \"for whom are you mourning?\"\n\nThe young man answered, \"I am mourning for my wife. She died some\ntime ago. I am looking for her.\"\n\n\"Oh, I saw her,\" said the old woman; \"she passed this way. I myself\nhave no great power to help you, but over by that far butte beyond,\nlives another old woman. Go to her and she will give you power to\ncontinue your journey. You could not reach the place you are seeking\nwithout help. Beyond the next butte from her lodge you will find\nthe camp of the ghosts.\"\n\nThe next morning the young man awoke and went on toward the next\nbutte. It took him a long summer's day to get there, but he found\nthere no lodge, so he lay down and slept. Again he dreamed. In his\ndream he saw a little lodge, and saw an old woman come to the door\nand heard her call to him. He went into the lodge, and she spoke to\nhim.\n\n\"My son, you are very unhappy. I know why you have come this way.\nYou are looking for your wife who is now in the ghost country. It is\na very hard thing for you to get there. You may not be able to get\nyour wife back, but I have great power and I will do for you all\nthat I can. If you act as I advise, you may succeed.\"\n\nOther wise words she spoke to him, telling him what he should do;\nalso she gave him a bundle of mysterious things which would help him\non his journey.\n\nShe went on to say, \"You stay here for a time and I will go over\nthere to the ghosts' camp and try to bring back some of your\nrelations who are there. If it is possible for me to bring them\nback, you may return there with them, but on the way you must shut\nyour eyes. If you should open them and look about you, you would\ndie. Then you would never come back. When you come to the camp you\nwill pass by a big lodge and they will ask you, 'Where are you going\nand who told you to come here?' You must answer, 'My grandmother,\nwho is standing out here with me, told me to come.' They will try to\nscare you; they will make fearful noises and you will see strange\nand terrible things, but do not be afraid.\"\n\nThe old woman went away, and after a time came back with one of the\nman's relations. He went with this relation to the ghosts' camp.\nWhen they came to the large lodge some one called out and asked the\nman what he was doing there, and he answered as the old woman had\ntold him. As he passed on through the camp the ghosts tried to\nfrighten him with many fearful sights and sounds, but he kept up a\nstrong heart.\n\nPresently he came to another lodge, and the man who owned it came\nout and spoke to him, asking where he was going. The young man said,\n\"I am looking for my dead wife. I mourn for her so much that I\ncannot rest. My little boy too keeps crying for his mother. They\nhave offered to give me other wives, but I do not want them. I want\nthe one for whom I am searching.\"\n\nThe ghost said, \"It is a fearful thing that you have come here; it\nis very likely that you will never go away. Never before has there\nbeen a person here.\"\n\nThe ghost asked him to come into his lodge, and he entered.\n\nThis chief ghost said to him, \"You shall stay here for four nights\nand you shall see your wife, but you must be very careful or you\nwill never go back. You will die here in this very place.\"\n\nThen the chief ghost walked out of the lodge and shouted out for a\nfeast, inviting the man's father-in-law and other relations who were\nin the camp to come and eat, saying, \"Your son-in-law invites you\nto a feast,\" as if he meant that the son-in-law had died and become\na ghost and arrived at the camp of the ghosts.\n\nNow when these invited ghosts had reached the lodge they did not\nlike to go in. They said to each other, \"There is a person here\"; it\nseemed as if they did not like the smell of a human being. The chief\nghost burned sweet pine on the fire, which took away this smell, and\nthen the ghosts came in and sat down.\n\nThe chief ghost said to them, \"Now pity this son-in-law of yours. He\nis looking for his wife. Neither the great distance that he has come\nnor the fearful sights that he has seen here have weakened his\nheart. You can see how tender-hearted he is. He not only mourns\nbecause he has lost his wife, but he mourns because his little boy\nis now alone, with no mother; so pity him and give him back his\nwife.\"\n\nThe ghosts talked among themselves, and one of them said to the man,\n\"Yes; you shall stay here for four nights, and then we will give you\na medicine pipe--the Worm Pipe--and we will give you back your wife\nand you may return to your home.\"\n\nNow, after the third night the chief ghost called together all the\npeople, and they came, and with them came the man's wife. One of the\nghosts was beating a drum, and following him was another who carried\nthe Worm Pipe, which they gave to him.\n\nThen the chief ghost said, \"Now be very careful; to-morrow you and\nyour wife will start on your journey homeward. Your wife will carry\nthe medicine pipe and for four days some of your relations will go\nalong with you. During this time you must keep your eyes shut; do\nnot open them, or you will return here and be a ghost forever. Your\nwife is not now a person. But in the middle of the fourth day you\nwill be told to look, and when you have opened your eyes you will\nsee that your wife has become a person, and that your ghost\nrelations have disappeared.\"\n\nBefore the man went away his father-in-law spoke to him and said,\n\"When you get near home you must not go at once into the camp. Let\nsome of your relations know that you have come, and ask them to\nbuild a sweat-house for you. Go into that sweat-house and wash your\nbody thoroughly, leaving no part of it, however small, uncleansed.\nIf you fail in this, you will die. There is something about the\nghosts that it is difficult to remove. It can only be removed by a\nthorough sweat. Take care now that you do what I tell you. Do not\nwhip your wife, nor strike her with a knife, nor hit her with fire.\nIf you do, she will vanish before your eyes and return here.\"\n\nThey left the ghost country to go home, and on the fourth day the\nwife said to her husband, \"Open your eyes.\" He looked about him and\nsaw that those who had been with them had disappeared, and he found\nthat they were standing in front of the old woman's lodge by the\nbutte. She came out of her lodge and said to them, \"Stop; give me\nback those mysterious medicines of mine, whose power helped you to\ndo what you wished.\" The man returned them to her, and then once\nmore became really a living person.\n\nWhen they drew near to the camp the woman went on ahead and sat\ndown on a butte. Then some curious persons came out to see who this\nmight be. As they approached the woman called out to them, \"Do not\ncome any nearer. Go and tell my mother and my relations to put up a\nlodge for us a little way from the camp, and near by it build a\nsweat-house.\" When this had been done the man and his wife went in\nand took a thorough sweat, and then they went into the lodge and\nburned sweet grass and purified their clothing and the Worm Pipe.\nThen their relations and friends came in to see them. The man told\nthem where he had been and how he had managed to get his wife back,\nand that the pipe hanging over the doorway was a medicine pipe--the\nWorm Pipe--presented to him by his ghost father-in-law.\n\nThat is how the people came to possess the Worm Pipe. That pipe\nbelongs to the band of Piegans known as the Worm People.\n\nNot long after this, once in the night, this man told his wife to do\nsomething, and when she did not begin at once he picked up a brand\nfrom the fire and raised it--not that he intended to strike her\nwith it, but he made as if he would--when all at once she vanished\nand was never seen again.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BUFFALO STONE\n\n\nA small stone, which is often a fossil shell, or sometimes only a\nqueer shaped piece of flint, is called by the Blackfeet\nI-n[)i]s\u00b4k[)i]m, the buffalo stone. This stone has great power, and\ngives its owner good luck in bringing the buffalo close, so that\nthey may be killed. The stone is found on the prairie, and any one\nwho finds one is thought to be very lucky. Sometimes a man who is\ngoing along on the prairie will hear a queer faint chirp, such as a\nlittle bird might make. He knows this sound is made by a buffalo\nstone. He stops and searches for it on the ground, and if he cannot\nfind it, marks the place and comes back next day to look for it\nagain. If it is found, he and all his family are glad. The Blackfeet\ntell a story about how the first buffalo stone was found.\n\nLong ago, one winter, the buffalo disappeared. The snow was deep, so\ndeep that the people could not move in search of the buffalo; so\nthe hunters went as far as they could up and down the river-bottoms\nand in the ravines, and killed deer and elk and other small game,\nand when these were all killed or driven away the people began to\nstarve.\n\nOne day a young married man killed a prairie rabbit. He ran home as\nfast as he could, and told one of his wives to hurry and get a skin\nof water to cook it. She started down to the river for water, and as\nshe was going along she heard a beautiful song. She looked all\nabout, but could see no one who was singing.\n\nThe song seemed to come from a big cotton-wood tree near the trail\nleading down to the water. As she looked closely at this tree she\nsaw a queer stone jammed in a fork where the tree was split, and\nwith it a few hairs from a buffalo which had rubbed against the\ntree. The woman was frightened and dared not pass the tree. Soon the\nsinging stopped and the I-nis\u00b4kim said to the woman, \"Take me\nto your lodge, and when it is dark call in the people and teach them\nthe song you have just heard. Pray, too, that you may not starve,\nand that the buffalo may come back. Do this, and when day comes your\nhearts will be glad.\"\n\nThe woman went on and got the water, and when she came back she took\nthe stone and gave it to her husband, telling him about the song and\nwhat the stone had said.\n\nAs soon as it was dark, the man called the chiefs and old men to his\nlodge, and his wife taught them the song that she had heard. They\nprayed too, as the stone had said should be done. Before long they\nheard far off a noise coming. It was the tramp of a great herd of\nbuffalo. Then they knew that the stone was powerful, and since that\ntime the people have taken care of it and have prayed to it.\n\n\n\n\nHOW THE THUNDER PIPE CAME\n\n\nYou have heard the Thunder, for he is everywhere. He roars in the\nmountains, and far out on the prairie is heard his crashing. He\nstrikes the high rocks, and they fall to pieces; a tree, and it is\nbroken in slivers; the people, and they die. He is bad. He does not\nlike the high cliff, the standing tree, or living man. He likes to\nstrike and crush them to the ground. Of all things he is the most\npowerful. He cannot be resisted. But I have not told you the worst\nthing about him. Sometimes he takes away women.\n\nLong ago, almost in the beginning, a man and his wife were sitting\nin their lodge when Thunder came and struck them. The man was not\nkilled. At first he lay as if dead, but after a time he lived again,\nand, standing up, looked about him. He did not see his wife.\n\n\"Oh,\" he thought, \"she has gone to get wood or water,\" and he sat\ndown again. But when night came he went out of the lodge and asked\nthe people about her. No one had seen her. He looked all through the\ncamp, but could not find her. Then he knew that the Thunder had\ntaken her away, and he went out on the hills and mourned. All night\nhe sat there, trying to think what he might do to get back his wife.\n\nWhen morning came he rose and wandered away, and whenever he met any\nof the animals he asked if they could tell him where the Thunder\nlived. The animals laughed, and most of them would not answer.\n\nThe Wolf said to him, \"Do you think that we would look for the home\nof the only one we fear? He is our only danger. From all other\nenemies we can run away, but from him no one can run. He strikes and\nthere we lie. Turn back; go home. Do not look for the place of that\ndreadful one.\"\n\nThe man kept on and travelled a long distance. At last, after many\ndays, he came to a lodge--a strange lodge, for it was made of\nstone. Just like any other lodge it looked, only it was made of\nstone. This was the home of the Raven chief. The man entered.\n\n\"Welcome, friend,\" said the chief of the Ravens; \"sit down there,\"\nand he pointed to a place. Soon food was placed before the poor man.\n\nWhen he had finished eating, the Raven chief asked, \"Why have you\ncome here?\"\n\n\"Thunder has stolen my wife,\" the man answered. \"I am looking for\nhis dwelling-place that I may find her.\"\n\n\"Are you brave enough to enter the lodge of that dreadful person?\"\nasked the Raven. \"He lives near here. His lodge is of stone like\nthis one, and hanging in it are eyes--the eyes of those he has\nkilled or taken away. He has taken out their eyes and hung them in\nhis lodge. Now, then! Dare you enter there?\"\n\n\"No,\" answered the man, \"I am afraid. Who could look at such\ndreadful things and live?\"\n\n\"No man can,\" said the Raven; \"there is only one old Thunder fears;\nthere is but one he cannot kill. It is we. It is the Ravens. Now I\nwill give you some medicine, and he shall not harm you. You shall\nenter there and try to find among those eyes your wife's, and if you\nfind them tell the Thunder why you came and make him give them to\nyou. Here, now, is a raven's wing. Point this at him and he will be\nafraid and start back; but if that should fail, take this arrow. Its\nshaft is made of elk horn. Take this, I say, and shoot it through\nthe lodge.\"\n\n\"Why make a fool of me?\" the poor man asked. \"My heart is sad. I am\ncrying.\" He covered his head with his robe and wept.\n\n\"Oh,\" said the Raven, \"you do not believe me. Come outside, come\noutside, and I will make you believe.\"\n\nWhen they stood outside the Raven asked, \"Is the home of your people\nfar?\"\n\n\"A great distance,\" said the man.\n\n\"Can you tell how many days you have travelled?\"\n\n\"No,\" he replied, \"my heart was sad; I did not count the days.\nSince I left, the berries have grown and ripened.\"\n\n\"Can you see your camp from here?\" asked the Raven.\n\nThe man did not answer. Then the Raven rubbed some medicine on his\neyes and said, \"Look!\" The man looked and saw the camp. It was near.\nHe saw the people; he saw the smoke rising from the lodges; he saw\nthe painting on some of the lodges.\n\n\"Now you will believe,\" said the Raven. \"Take, then, the arrow and\nthe wing, and go and get your wife.\" The man took these things and\nwent to the Thunder's lodge. He entered and sat down by the doorway.\n\nThe Thunder sat at the back of the lodge and looked at him with\nawful eyes. The man looked above and saw hanging there many pairs of\neyes. Among them were those of his wife.\n\n\"Why have you come?\" said the Thunder in a dreadful voice.\n\n\"I seek my wife,\" said the man, \"whom you have stolen. There hang\nher eyes.\"\n\n\"No man may enter my lodge and live,\" said the Thunder, and he rose\nto strike him. Then the man pointed the raven wing at the Thunder,\nand he fell back on his bed and shivered; but soon he recovered and\nrose again, and then the man fitted the elk-horn arrow to his bow\nand shot it through the lodge of stone. Right through that stone it\npierced a hole and let the sunlight in.\n\n\"Wait,\" said the Thunder; \"stop. You are the stronger, you have the\ngreater medicine. You shall have your wife. Take down her eyes.\"\n\nThe man cut the string that held the eyes, and his wife stood beside\nhim.\n\n\"Now,\" said the Thunder, \"you know me. I have great power. In summer\nI live here; but when winter comes I go far south. I go south with\nthe birds. Here is my pipe. It has strong power. Take it and keep\nit. After this, when first I come in the spring you shall fill this\npipe and light it, and you shall smoke it and pray to me; you and\nthe people. I bring the rain which makes the berries large and ripe.\nI bring the rain which makes all things grow, and for this you\nshall pray to me; you and all the people.\"\n\nThus the people got their first medicine pipe. It was long ago.\n\n\n\n\nCOLD MAKER'S MEDICINE\n\n\nThe last lodge had been set up in the Blackfeet winter camp. Evening\nwas closing over the travel-tired people. The sun had dropped beyond\nthe hills not far away. Women were bringing water from the river at\nthe edge of the great circle. Men gathered in quiet groups, weary\nafter the long march of the day. Children called sleepily to each\nother, and the dogs sniffed about in well-fed content.\n\nLone Feather wrapped his robe more closely around him and walked\nslowly from his lodge door and from the camp, off toward the north.\nHe was thinking of many things, and hardly noticed where he was\ngoing. Presently as he walked, he heard the sound of persons\ntalking. He stopped to listen. The sound came from a lodge made of\nstone, close by the river. Quietly he went toward the lodge and saw\na thin blue line of smoke coming from the top.\n\nAs he approached, an old woman, bent with age and crippled, came\nfrom the lodge door and looked at him.\n\n\"Will you come into my lodge?\" she said, greeting him.\n\nLone Feather looked at her for a moment in silence. She spoke again.\nHe could not understand her speech, for she belonged to another\ntribe. By signs she made him know that she wished him to come into\nher lodge and rest. Lone Feather entered.\n\nFar back from the door crouched two big grizzly bears. She made\nsigns to show that the bears were friendly, and Lone Feather sat\ndown near the door. She stirred the fire, and as she put on fresh\nwood the sparks flew up toward the smoke hole, which was opened only\na little way.\n\nBy signs she told him she would go out and open the smoke hole\nwider, so that the fire might burn more brightly. She was gone for\nsome time, and Lone Feather sat looking into the fire, still\nthinking of many things, when the air became thick with smoke. He\nlooked up and saw that the smoke hole was closed. He sprang up and\nwent to the door, but the door covering was down. He raised it, and\nas he put his head out the old woman hit him with a large stone club\nand he was dead.\n\nBefore his spirit started for the Sand Hills he saw that with a\nlarge knife she cut up his body and put the pieces into a pot. Soon\nthey were well cooked and the old woman and the two bears feasted on\nhis flesh.\n\nThey threw his bones out of the door, where they fell among many\nothers like them. The ground was strewn with the bones of the\npersons she had trapped and killed.\n\nDay by day other persons disappeared from the winter camp, and more\nand more bones whitened on the ground outside the stone lodge on the\nriver bank.\n\nAs Cold Maker was bringing the snow to the Blackfeet winter camp, he\npassed the Sand Hills. Lone Feather and other ghosts from the\nBlackfeet tribe were telling each other how the old woman had sent\nthem there. Cold Maker heard their stories and he was angry.\n\nWhen he reached the camp he went to the lodge of Broken Bow--a\nbrave young man, but very poor.\n\nHe shivered when Cold Maker entered his lodge and drew his ragged\nrobe about him. They were close friends.\n\n\"Would you like to have a new robe?\" asked Cold Maker.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Broken Bow.\n\n\"Come with me. You may kill two grizzly bears,\" said Cold Maker.\n\n\"My bow is broken. I cannot,\" said Broken Bow sadly.\n\n\"I will help you. Bring only a knife.\"\n\nTogether they went from the lodges toward the north. The sun was\nalready hidden behind the nearby hills.\n\nAfter they had travelled some distance they heard the sound of\nvoices. They listened. Two bears were complaining that they wanted\nmeat. A woman told them they must wait. The men saw the line of thin\nblue smoke rising from the top of the lodge of stone. All about\nwhitening bones covered the ground. They went nearer.\n\nSoon an old woman, bent with age and crippled, came from the door\nand smiled as she saw the two persons coming.\n\n\"Come in and rest,\" she said. Broken Bow did not understand her\nlanguage, but Cold Maker, who understands all tribes, said, \"We are\ncold. Will you let us sit by your fire?\"\n\nThe old woman smiled again.\n\n\"You are welcome,\" she said; \"come in. Do not fear my bears. They\nare friendly. They will not harm you.\" The two friends entered the\nlodge, where a smouldering fire sent a feeble smoke up to the smoke\nhole, that was partly open. She put fresh wood on the fire and said,\n\"I will open the smoke hole wider,\" and went out, dropping the door\ncovering as she went.\n\nThen she closed the smoke hole. The smoke began to fill the top of\nthe lodge. It settled lower and lower. Broken Bow was afraid.\n\n\"Give me your pipe,\" said Cold Maker.\n\nBroken Bow filled his pipe and, handed it to him. He lighted it by a\nbrand from the fire, and sent great puffs of smoke curling upward.\nThis smoke met the other smoke and stopped it. It could not descend\nany lower.\n\nBroken Bow saw the wonderful medicine of his friend. He was no\nlonger afraid, but wondered what Cold Maker would do next. The\ngrizzly bears growled low.\n\nThe old woman outside called to them, \"Friends, is it smoking in\nthere now?\"\n\n\"Not a bit,\" replied Cold Maker. \"We are very comfortable.\"\n\nShe waited. They did not come out. She stood near the door. Her\nstone club was ready. She grew impatient. She wondered what had gone\nwrong with her plans. The two friends were silent. She looked at the\nsmoke hole, but it was closed securely. She lifted the door covering\nto see if the friends within had died. They sat perfectly still. She\nentered to look more closely, and as soon as she was fairly inside\nCold Maker and Broken Bow rushed out and dropped the door covering.\nBefore she could move they piled great heaps of stone in the\ndoor-way. The bears growled. She called for help. Cold Maker and\nBroken Bow went on down the river.\n\nThen Cold Maker took from a little sack a few white eagle-down\nfeathers. He blew them from him. At once a fierce storm blew across\nthe valley. The bitter cold froze the water, but only in this one\nplace. It dammed the stream with fast forming ice. The water rose\nhigher and higher. It spread out over the banks. Cold Maker and\nBroken Bow went far off on the hills and watched it. Little by\nlittle it rose. It reached the stone lodge. The bears roared. The\nwoman screamed. The water reached the top and covered the lodge from\nsight. All sound ceased. A moment more, and the water was quiet.\nOnce more Cold Maker blew from him a few white eagle-down feathers.\nThe storm subsided. It became warm again. The ice melted. The water\nretreated to its channel.\n\nCold Maker and Broken Bow went to the stone lodge. The woman was\nlying beside the pot. The grizzly bears were close to the stones\nwhich blocked the door-way.\n\nCold Maker said, \"Here is your new robe,\" and Broken Bow took from\nthe bears their thick, warm skins.\n\nOn his way home Cold Maker again passed the Sand Hills. Entering\nthe country was an old woman bent with age and crippled.\n\nHe hurried on.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ALL COMRADES SOCIETIES\n\n\nIn the Blackfeet tribe was an association known as the All Comrades.\nThis was made up of a dozen secret societies graded according to\nage, the members of the younger societies passing, after a few\nyears, into the older ones. This association was in part benevolent\nand helpful and in part to encourage bravery in war, but its main\npurpose was to see that the orders of the chiefs were carried out,\nand to punish offences against the tribe at large. There are stories\nwhich explain how these societies came to be instituted, and this\none tells how the Society of Bulls began.\n\n\nTHE BULLS SOCIETY\n\nIt was long, long ago, very far back, that this happened. In those\ndays the people used to kill the buffalo by driving them over a\nsteep place near the river, down which they fell into a great pen\nbuilt at the foot of the cliff, where the buffalo that had not been\nkilled by the fall were shot with arrows by the men. Then the people\nwent into the pen and skinned the buffalo and cut them up and\ncarried the meat away to their camp. This pen they called piskun.\n\nIn those days the people had built a great piskun with high, strong\nwalls. No buffalo could jump over it; not even if a great crowd of\nthem ran against it, could they push it down.\n\nThe young men kept going out, as they always did, to try to bring\nthe buffalo to the edge of the cliff, but somehow they would not\njump over into the piskun. When they had come almost to the edge,\nthey would turn off to one side or the other and run down the\nsloping hills and away over the prairie. So the people could get no\nfood, and they began to be hungry, and at last to starve.\n\nEarly one morning a young woman, the daughter of a brave man, was\ngoing from her lodge down to the stream to get water, and as she\nwent along she saw a herd of buffalo feeding on the prairie, close\nto the edge of the cliff above the great piskun.\n\n\"Oh,\" she called out, \"if you will only jump off into the piskun I\nwill marry one of you.\" She did not mean this, but said it just in\nfun, and as soon as she had said it, she wondered greatly when she\nsaw the buffalo come jumping over the edge, falling down the cliff.\n\nA moment later a big bull jumped high over the wall of the piskun\nand came toward her, and now truly she was frightened.\n\n\"Come,\" he said, taking hold of her arm.\n\n\"No, no,\" she answered, trying to pull herself away.\n\n\"But you said if the buffalo would only jump over, you would marry\none of them. Look, the piskun is full.\"\n\nShe did not answer, and without saying anything more he led her up\nover the bluff and out on the prairie.\n\nAfter the people had finished killing the buffalo and cutting up the\nmeat, they missed this young woman. No one knew where she had gone,\nand her relations were frightened and very sad because they could\nnot find her. So her father took his bow and quiver and put them on\nhis back and said, \"I will go and find her\"; and he climbed the\nbluff and set out over the prairie.\n\nHe travelled some distance, but saw nothing of his daughter. The sun\nwas hot, and at length he came to a buffalo wallow in which some\nwater was standing, and drank and sat down to rest. A little way off\non the prairie he saw a herd of buffalo. As the man sat there by the\nwallow, trying to think what he might do to find his daughter, a\nmagpie came up and alighted on the ground near him. The man spoke to\nit, saying, \"M[)a]m-[=i]-[)a]t\u00b4s[=i]-k[)i]m[)i]--Magpie--you are a\nbeautiful bird; help me, for I am very unhappy. As you travel about\nover the prairie, look everywhere, and if you see my daughter say to\nher, 'Your father is waiting by the wallow.'\"\n\nSoon the magpie flew away, and as he passed near the herd of buffalo\nhe saw the young woman there, and alighting on the ground near her,\nhe began to pick at things, turning his head this way and that, and\nseeming to look for food. When he was close to the girl he said to\nher, \"Your father is waiting by the wallow.\"\n\n\"Sh-h-h! Sh-h-h!\" replied the girl in a whisper, looking about her\nvery much frightened, for her bull husband was sleeping close by.\n\"Do not speak so loud. Go back and tell him to wait.\"\n\n\"Your daughter is over there with the buffalo. She says 'Wait,'\"\nsaid the magpie when he had flown back to the poor father.\n\nAfter a little time the bull awoke and said to his wife, \"Go and\nbring me some water.\" Then the woman was glad, and she took a horn\nfrom her husband's head and went to the wallow for water.\n\n\"Oh, why did you come?\" she said to her father. \"They will surely\nkill you.\"\n\n\"I came to take my daughter back to my lodge. Come, let us go.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the girl, \"not now. They will surely chase us and kill\nus. Wait until he sleeps again and I will try to get away.\" Then she\nfilled the horn with water and went back to the buffalo.\n\nHer husband drank a swallow of the water, and when he took the horn\nit made a noise. \"Ah,\" he said, as he looked about, \"a person is\nsomewhere close by.\"\n\n\"No one,\" replied the girl, but her heart stood still. The bull\ndrank again. Then he stood up on his feet and moaned and grunted,\n\"M-m-ah-oo! Bu-u-u!\" Fearful was the sound. Up rose the other bulls,\nraised their tails in the air, tossed their heads and bellowed back\nto him. Then they pawed the earth, thrust their horns into it,\nrushed here and there, and presently, coming to the wallow, found\nthere the poor man. They rushed over him, trampling him with their\ngreat hoofs, thrust their horns into his body and tore him to\npieces, and trampled him again. Soon not even a piece of his body\ncould be seen--only the wet earth cut up by their hoofs.\n\nThen his daughter mourned in sorrow. \"_Oh! Ah! Ni-nah-ah! Oh! Ah!\nNi-nah-ah!_\"--Ah, my father, my father.\n\n\"Ah,\" said her bull husband; \"now you understand how it is that we\nfeel. You mourn for your father; but we have seen our fathers,\nmothers, and many of our relations fall over the high cliffs, to be\nkilled for food by your people. But now I will pity you, I will give\nyou one chance. If you can bring your father to life, you and he may\ngo back to your camp.\"\n\nThen said the woman, \"Ah, magpie, pity me, help me; for now I need\nhelp. Look in the trampled mud of the wallow and see if you can find\neven a little piece of my father's body and bring it to me.\"\n\nSwiftly the magpie flew to the wallow, and alighting there, walked\nall about, looking in every hole and even tearing up the mud with\nhis sharp beak. Presently he uncovered something white, and as he\npicked the mud from about it, he saw it was a bone, and pulling\nhard, he dragged it from the mud--the joint of a man's backbone.\nThen gladly he flew back with it to the woman.\n\nThe girl put the bone on the ground and covered it with her robe and\nbegan to sing. After she had sung she took the robe away, and there\nunder it lay her father's body, as if he had just died. Once again\nshe covered the body with the robe and sang, and this time when she\ntook the robe away the body was breathing. A third time she covered\nthe body with the robe and sang, and when she again took away the\nrobe, the body moved its arms and legs a little. A fourth time she\ncovered it and sang, and when she took away the robe her father\nstood up.\n\nThe buffalo were surprised and the magpie was glad, and flew about\nmaking a great noise.\n\n\"Now this day we have seen a strange thing,\" said her bull husband.\n\"The people's medicine is strong. He whom we trampled to death, whom\nour hoofs cut to pieces and mixed all up with the soil, is alive\nagain. Now you shall go to your home, but before you go we will\nteach you our dance and our song. Do not forget them.\"\n\nThe buffalo showed the man and his daughter their dance and taught\nthem the songs, and then the bull said to them, \"Now you are to go\nback to your home, but do not forget what you have seen. Teach the\npeople this dance and these songs, and while they are dancing it let\nthem wear a bull's head and a robe. Those who are to be of the\nBulls Society shall wear them.\"\n\nWhen the poor man returned with his daughter, all the people were\nglad. Then after a time he called a council of the chiefs and told\nthem the things that had happened. The chiefs chose certain young\nmen to be Bulls, and the man taught them the dance and the song, and\ntold them everything that they should do.\n\nSo began the Bull Society.\n\n\nTHE OTHER SOCIETIES\n\nFor a long time the buffalo had not been seen. Every one was hungry,\nfor the hunters could find no food for the people.\n\nA certain man, who had two wives, a daughter, and two sons, as he\nsaw what a hard time they were having, said, \"I shall not stop here\nto die. To-morrow we will move toward the mountains, where we may\nkill elk and deer and sheep and antelope, or, if not these, at least\nwe shall find beaver and birds, and can get them. In this way we\nshall have food to eat and shall live.\"\n\nNext morning they caught their dogs and harnessed them to the\ntravois and took their loads on their backs and set out. It was\nstill winter, and they travelled slowly. Besides, they were weak\nfrom hunger and could go only a short distance in a day. The fourth\nnight came, and they sat in their lodge, tired and hungry. No one\nspoke, for people who are hungry do not care to talk. Suddenly,\noutside, the dogs began to bark, and soon the door was pushed aside\nand a young man entered.\n\n\"Welcome,\" said the man, and he motioned to a place where the\nstranger should sit.\n\nNow during this day there had been blowing a warm wind which had\nmelted the snow, so that the prairie was covered with water, yet\nthis young man's moccasins and leggings were dry. They saw this, and\nwere frightened. They sat there for a long time, saying nothing.\n\nThen the young man spoke and asked, \"Why is this? Why do you not\ngive me food?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" replied the father, \"you see here people who are truly poor.\nWe have no food. For many days the buffalo did not come in sight,\nand we looked for deer and other animals, which people eat, and when\nthese had all been killed we began to starve. Then I said, 'We will\nnot stay here to die from hunger,' and we set out for the mountains.\nThis is the fourth night of our travels.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said the young man, \"then your travels are ended. You need go\nno farther. Close by here is our piskun. Many buffalo have been run\nin, and our parfleches are filled with dried meat. Wait a little; I\nwill go and bring you some,\" and he went out.\n\nAs soon as he had gone they began to talk about this strange person.\nThey were afraid of him and did not know what to do. The children\nbegan to cry, and the women tried to quiet them. Presently the young\nman came back, bringing some meat.\n\n\"There is food,\" said he, as he put it down by the woman. \"Now\nto-morrow move your camp over to our lodges. Do not fear anything.\nNo matter what strange things you may see, do not fear. All will be\nyour friends. Yet about one thing I must warn you. In this you\nshould be careful. If you should find an arrow lying about\nanywhere, in the piskun or outside, do not touch it, neither you nor\nyour wives nor your children.\" When he had said this he went out.\n\nThe father took his pipe and filled it, and smoked and prayed to all\nthe powers, saying, \"Hear now, Sun; listen, Above People; listen,\nUnderwater People; now you have taken pity; now you have given us\nfood. We are going to those mysterious ones who walk through water\nwith dry moccasins. Protect us among these to-be-feared people. Let\nus live. Man, woman, and child, give us long life.\"\n\nNow from the fire again arose the smell of roasting meat. The\nchildren ate and played. Those who so long had been silent now\ntalked and laughed.\n\nEarly in the morning, as soon as the sun had risen, they took down\ntheir lodge and packed their dogs and started for the camp of the\nstranger. When they had come to where they could see it, they found\nit a wonderful place. There around the piskun, and stretching far\nup and down the valley, were pitched the lodges of the meat eaters.\nThey could not see them all, but near by they saw the lodges of the\nBear band, the Fox band, and the Raven band. The father of the young\nman who had visited them and given them meat was the chief of the\nWolf band, and by that band they pitched their lodge. Truly that was\na happy place. Food was plenty. All day long people were shouting\nout for feasts, and everywhere was heard the sound of drumming and\nsinging and dancing.\n\nThe newly come people went to the piskun for meat, and there one of\nthe children saw an arrow lying on the ground. It was a beautiful\narrow, the stone point long, slender, and sharp, the shaft round and\nstraight. The boy remembered what had been said and he looked around\nfearfully, but everywhere the people were busy. No one was looking.\nHe picked up the arrow and put it under his robe.\n\nThen there rose a terrible sound. All the animals howled and growled\nand rushed toward him, but the chief Wolf got to him first, and\nholding up his hand said, \"Wait. He is young and not yet of good\nsense. We will let him go this time.\" They did nothing to him.\n\nWhen night came some one shouted out, calling people to a feast and\nsaying, \"Listen, listen, Wolf, you are to eat; enter with your\nfriend.\"\n\n\"We are invited,\" said the chief Wolf to his new friend, and\ntogether they went to the lodge from which the call came.\n\nWithin the lodge the fire burned brightly, and seated around it were\nmany men, the old and wise of the Raven band. On the lodge lining,\nhanging behind the seats, were the paintings of many great deeds.\nFood was placed before the guests--pemican and berries and dried\nback fat--and after they had eaten the pipe was lighted and passed\naround the circle. Then the Raven chief spoke and said, \"Now, Wolf,\nI am going to give our new friend a present. What do you think of\nthat?\"\n\n\"It shall be as you say,\" replied the Wolf; \"our new friend will be\nglad.\"\n\nFrom a long parfleche sack the Raven chief took a slender stick,\nbeautifully ornamented with many-colored feathers. To the end of\nthe stick was tied the skin of a raven--head, wings, feet, and tail.\n\n\"We,\" said the Raven chief, \"are those who carry the raven\n(M[)a]s-to-p[=a]h\u00b4-t[)a]-k[=i]ks). Of all the fliers, of all the\nbirds, what one is so smart as the raven? None. The raven's eyes are\nsharp, his wings are strong. He is a great hunter and never hungry.\nFar off on the prairie he sees his food, or if it is deep hidden in\nthe forest it does not escape him. This is our song and our dance.\"\n\nWhen he had finished singing and dancing he placed the stick in\nthe sack and gave it to the man and said, \"Take it with you,\nand when you have returned to your people you shall say, 'Now\nthere are already the Bulls, and he who is the Raven chief\nsaid, \"There shall be more. There shall be the All Friends\n([=I]k[)u]n-[)u]h\u00b4-k[=a]h-ts[)i]), so that the people may live,\nand of the All Friends shall be the Raven Bearers.\"' You shall\ncall a council of the chiefs and wise old men, and they shall\nchoose the persons who are to belong to the society. Teach them\nthe song and the dance, and give them the medicine. It shall be\ntheirs forever.\"\n\nSoon they heard another person shouting out the feast call, and,\ngoing, they entered the lodge of the chief of the Kit-Foxes\n(S[)i]n\u00b4-o-pah). Here, too, old men had gathered. After they had\neaten of the food set before them, the chief said, \"Those among whom\nyou have just come are generous. They do not look carefully at the\nthings they have, but give to the stranger and pity the poor. The\nkit-fox is a little animal, but what one is smarter? None. His hair\nis like the dead grass of the prairie; his eyes are keen; his feet\nmake no noise when he walks; his brain is cunning. His ears receive\nthe far-off sound. Here is our medicine. Take it.\" He gave the man\nthe stick. It was long, crooked at one end, wound with fur, and tied\nhere and there with eagle feathers. At the end was a kit-fox skin.\nAgain the chief spoke and said, \"Listen to our song. Do not forget\nit, and the dance, too, you must remember. When you reach home teach\nthem to the people.\" He sang and danced. Then presently his guests\ndeparted.\n\nAgain they heard the feast shout, and he who called was the chief\nof the Bear society. After they had eaten and smoked the chief said,\n\n\"What is your opinion, friend Wolf? Shall we give our new friend a\npresent?\"\n\n\"It shall be as you say,\" replied the Wolf. \"It is yours to give.\"\n\nThen spoke the Bear, saying, \"There are many animals and some of\nthem are powerful; but the bear is the strongest and greatest of\nall. He fears nothing and is always ready to fight.\"\n\nThen he put on a necklace of bear claws, a band of bear fur about\nhis head, and a belt of bear fur, and sang and danced. When he had\nfinished he gave the things he had worn to the man and said, \"Teach\nthe people our song and our dance, and give them this medicine. It\nis powerful.\"\n\nIt was very late. The Seven Stars had come to the middle of the\nnight, yet again they heard the feast shout from the far end of the\ncamp. In this lodge the men were painted with streaks of red, and\ntheir hair was all pushed to one side. After the feast the chief\nsaid, \"We are different from all others here. We are called the\nBraves (M[)u]t\u00b4-s[)i]ks). We know not fear; we are death. Even if\nour enemies are as many as the grass we do not turn away, but fight\nand conquer. Bows are good weapons, lances are better; but our\nweapon is the knife.\"\n\nThen the chief sang and danced, and afterward he gave the Wolf\nchief's friend the medicine. It was a long knife and many scalps\nwere tied on the handle. \"This,\" said he, \"is for the All Friends.\"\n\nTo one more lodge they were called that night and the lodge owner\ntaught the man his song and dance, and gave him his medicine. Then\nthe Wolf chief and his friend went home and slept.\n\nEarly next day the Blackfeet women began to take down the lodge and\nto get ready to move their camp. Many women came and made them\npresents of food, dried meat, pemican, and berries. They were given\nso much that they could not take it all with them. It was long\nbefore they joined the main camp, for it had moved south, looking\nfor buffalo.\n\nWhen they reached the camp, as soon as the lodge was pitched, the\nman called all the chiefs to come and feast with him, and told them\nwhat he had seen, and showed them the different medicines. Then the\nchiefs chose certain young men to belong to the different societies,\nand this man taught them the songs and dances, and gave its medicine\nto each society.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FIRST MEDICINE LODGE\n\n\nThe chief god of the Blackfeet is the Sun. He made the world and\nrules it, and to him the people pray. One of his names is Napi--old\nman; but there is another Napi who is very different from the Sun,\nand instead of being great, wise, and wonderful, is foolish, mean,\nand contemptible. We shall hear about him further on.\n\nEvery year in summer, about the time the berries ripen, the\nBlackfeet used to hold the great festival and sacrifice which we\ncall the ceremony of the Medicine Lodge. This was a time of happy\nmeetings, of feasting, of giving presents; but besides this\nrejoicing, those men who wished to have good-luck in whatever they\nmight undertake tried to prove their prayers sincere by sacrificing\ntheir bodies, torturing themselves in ways that caused great\nsuffering. In ancient times, as we are told in books of history,\nthings like that used to happen among many peoples all over the\nworld.\n\nIt was the law that the building of the Medicine Lodge must always\nbe pledged by a good woman. If a woman had a son or a husband away\nat war and feared that he was in danger, or if she had a child that\nwas sick and might die, she might pray for the safety of the one she\nloved, and promise that if he returned or recovered she would build\na Medicine Lodge. This pledge was made in a loud voice, publicly, in\nopen air, so that all might know the promise had been made.\n\nAt the time appointed all the tribe came together and pitched their\nlodges in a great circle, and within this circle the Medicine Lodge\nwas built. The ceremony lasted for four days and four nights, during\nwhich time the woman who had promised to make the Medicine Lodge\nneither ate nor drank, except once in sacrifice. Different stories\nare told of how the first Medicine Lodge came to be built. This is\none of those stories:\n\nIn the earliest times there was a man who had a very beautiful\ndaughter. Many young men wished to marry her, but whenever she was\nasked she shook her head and said she did not wish to marry.\n\n\"Why is this?\" said her father. \"Some of these young men are rich,\nhandsome, and brave.\"\n\n\"Why should I marry?\" replied the girl. \"My father and mother take\ncare of me. Our lodge is good; the parfleches are never empty; there\nare plenty of tanned robes and soft furs for winter. Why trouble me,\nthen?\"\n\nSoon after, the Raven Bearers held a dance. They all painted\nthemselves nicely and wore their finest ornaments and each one tried\nto dance the best. Afterward some of them asked for this girl, but\nshe said, \"No.\" After that the Bulls, the Kit-Foxes, and others of\nthe All Comrades held their dances, and many men who were rich and\nsome great warriors asked this man for his daughter, but to every\none she said, \"No.\"\n\nThen her father was angry, and he said, \"Why is this? All the best\nmen have asked for you, and still you say 'No.'\" Then the girl\nsaid, \"Father, listen to me. That Above Person, the Sun, said to me,\n'Do not marry any of these men, for you belong to me. Listen to what\nI say, and you shall be happy and live to a great age.' And again he\nsaid to me, 'Take heed, you must not marry; you are mine.'\"\n\n\"Ah!\" replied her father; \"it must always be as he says\"; and they\nspoke no more about it.\n\nThere was a poor young man. He was very poor. His father, his\nmother, and all his relations were dead. He had no lodge, no wife to\ntan his robes or make his moccasins. His clothes were always old and\nworn. He had no home. To-day he stopped in one lodge; then to-morrow\nhe ate and slept in another. Thus he lived. He had a good face, but\non his cheek was a bad scar.\n\nAfter they had held those dances, some of the young men met this\npoor Scarface, and they laughed at him and said, \"Why do not you ask\nthat girl to marry you? You are so rich and handsome.\"\n\nScarface did not laugh. He looked at them and said, \"I will do as\nyou say; I will go and ask her.\"\n\nAll the young men thought this was funny; they laughed a good deal\nat Scarface as he was walking away.\n\nScarface went down by the river and waited there, near the place\nwhere the women went to get water. By and by the girl came there.\nScarface spoke to her, and said, \"Girl, stop; I want to speak with\nyou. I do not wish to do anything secretly, but I speak to you here\nopenly, where the Sun looks down and all may see.\"\n\n\"Speak, then,\" said the girl.\n\n\"I have seen the days,\" said Scarface. \"I have seen how you have\nrefused all those men, who are young and rich and brave. To-day some\nof these young men laughed and said to me, 'Why do not you ask her?'\nI am poor. I have no lodge, no food, no clothes, no robes. I have no\nrelations. All of them have died. Yet now to-day I say to you, take\npity. Be my wife.\"\n\nThe girl hid her face in her robe and brushed the ground with the\npoint of her moccasin, back and forth, back and forth, for she was\nthinking.\n\nAfter a time she spoke and said, \"It is true I have refused all\nthose rich young men; yet now a poor one asks me, and I am glad. I\nwill be your wife, and my people will be glad. You are poor, but\nthat does not matter. My father will give you dogs; my mother will\nmake us a lodge; my relations will give us robes and furs; you will\nno longer be poor.\"\n\nThen the young man was glad, and he started forward to kiss her, but\nshe put out her hand and held him back, and said, \"Wait; the Sun has\nspoken to me. He said I may not marry; that I belong to him; that if\nI listen to him I shall live to great age. So now I say, go to the\nSun; say to him, 'She whom you spoke with has listened to your\nwords; she has never done wrong, but now she wants to marry. I want\nher for my wife.' Ask him to take that scar from your face; that\nwill be his sign, and I shall know he is pleased. But if he refuses,\nor if you cannot find his lodge, then do not return to me.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" cried Scarface; \"at first your words were good. I was glad.\nBut now it is dark. My heart is dead. Where is that far-off lodge?\nWhere is the trail that no one yet has travelled?\"\n\n\"Take courage, take courage,\" said the girl softly, and she went on\nto her lodge.\n\nScarface was very unhappy. He did not know what to do. He sat down\nand covered his face with his robe, and tried to think. At length he\nstood up and went to an old woman who had been kind to him, and said\nto her, \"Pity me. I am very poor. I am going away, on a long\njourney. Make me some moccasins.\"\n\n\"Where are you going--far from the camp?\" asked the old woman.\n\n\"I do not know where I am going,\" he replied; \"I am in trouble, but\nI cannot talk about it.\"\n\nThis old woman had a kind heart. She made him moccasins--seven\npairs; and gave him also a sack of food--pemican, dried meat, and\nback fat.\n\nAll alone, and with a sad heart, Scarface climbed the bluff that\noverlooked the valley, and when he had reached the top, turned to\nlook back at the camp. He wondered if he should ever see it again;\nif he should return to the girl and to the people.\n\n\"Pity me, O Sun!\" he prayed; and turning away, he set off to look\nfor the trail to the Sun's lodge.\n\nFor many days he went on. He crossed great prairies and followed up\ntimbered rivers, and crossed the mountains. Every day his sack of\nfood grew lighter, but as he went along he looked for berries and\nroots, and sometimes he killed an animal. These things gave him\nfood.\n\nOne night he came to the home of a wolf. \"Hah!\" said the wolf; \"what\nare you doing so far from your home?\"\n\n\"I am looking for the place where the Sun lives,\" replied Scarface.\n\"I have been sent to speak with him.\"\n\n\"I have travelled over much country,\" said the wolf; \"I know all the\nprairies, the valleys, and the mountains; but I have never seen the\nSun's home. But wait a moment. I know a person who is very wise,\nand who may be able to tell you the road. Ask the bear.\"\n\nThe next day Scarface went on again, stopping now and then to rest\nand to pick berries, and when night came he was at the bear's lodge.\n\n\"Where is your home?\" asked the bear. \"Why are you travelling so far\nalone?\"\n\n\"Ah,\" replied the man, \"I have come to you for help. Pity me.\nBecause of what that girl said to me, I am looking for the Sun. I\nwish to ask him for her.\"\n\n\"I do not know where he lives,\" said the bear. \"I have travelled by\nmany rivers and I know the mountains, yet I have not seen his lodge.\nFarther on there is some one--that striped face--who knows a great\ndeal; ask him.\"\n\nWhen the young man got there, the badger was in his hole. But\nScarface called to him, \"Oh, cunning striped face! I wish to speak\nwith you.\"\n\nThe badger put his head out of the hole and said, \"What do you want,\nmy brother?\"\n\n\"I wish to find the Sun's home,\" said Scarface. \"I wish to speak\nwith him.\"\n\n\"I do not know where he lives,\" answered the badger. \"I never\ntravel very far. Over there in the timber is the wolverene. He is\nalways travelling about, and knows many things. Perhaps he can tell\nyou.\"\n\nScarface went over to the forest and looked all about for the\nwolverene, but could not see him; so he sat down on a log to rest.\n\"Alas, alas!\" he cried; \"wolverene, take pity on me. My food is\ngone, my moccasins are worn out; I fear I shall die.\"\n\nSome one close to him said, \"What is it, my brother?\" and looking\naround, he saw the wolverene sitting there.\n\n\"She whom I wish to marry belongs to the Sun,\" said Scarface; \"I am\ntrying to find where he lives, so that I may ask him for her.\"\n\n\"Ah,\" said the wolverene, \"I know where he lives. It is nearly night\nnow, but to-morrow I will show you the trail to the big water. He\nlives on the other side of it.\"\n\nEarly in the morning they set out, and the wolverene showed Scarface\nthe trail, and he followed it until he came to the water's edge.\nWhen he looked out over it, his heart almost stopped. Never before\nhad any one seen such a great water. The other side could not be\nseen and there was no end to it. Scarface sat down on the shore.\nThis seemed the end. His food was gone; his moccasins were worn out;\nhe had no longer strength, no longer courage; his heart was sick. \"I\ncannot cross this great water,\" he said. \"I cannot return to the\npeople. Here by this water I shall die.\"\n\nYet, even as he thought this, helpers were near. Two swans came\nswimming up to the shore and said to him, \"Why have you come here?\nWhat are you doing? It is very far to the place where your people\nlive.\"\n\n\"I have come here to die,\" replied Scarface. \"Far away in my country\nis a beautiful girl. I want to marry her, but she belongs to the\nSun; so I set out to find him and ask him for her. I have travelled\nmany days. My food is gone. I cannot go back; I cannot cross this\ngreat water; so I must die.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the swans; \"it shall not be so. Across this water is the\nhome of that Above Person. Get on our backs, and we will take you\nthere.\"\n\nScarface stood up. Now he felt strong and full of courage. He waded\nout into the water and lay down on the swans' backs, and they swam\naway. It was a fearful journey, for that water was deep and black,\nand in it live strange people and great animals which might reach up\nand seize a person and pull him down under the water; yet the swans\ncarried Scarface safely to the other side. There was seen a broad,\nhard trail leading back from the water's edge.\n\n\"There,\" said the swans; \"you are now close to the Sun's lodge.\nFollow that trail, and soon you will see it.\"\n\nScarface started to walk along the trail, and after he had gone a\nlittle way he came to some beautiful things lying in the trail.\nThere was a war shirt, a shield, a bow, and a quiver of arrows. He\nhad never seen such fine weapons. He looked at them, but he did not\ntouch them, and at last walked around them and went on. A little\nfarther along he met a young man, a very handsome person. His hair\nwas long; his clothing was made of strange skins, and his moccasins\nwere sewed with bright feathers.\n\nThe young man spoke to him and asked, \"Did you see some weapons\nlying in the trail?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Scarface, \"I saw them.\"\n\n\"Did you touch them?\" said the young man.\n\n\"No,\" said Scarface; \"I supposed some one had left them there, and I\ndid not touch them.\"\n\n\"You do not meddle with the property of others,\" said the young man.\n\"What is your name, and where are you going?\" Scarface told him.\nThen said the young man, \"My name is Early Riser (the morning star).\nThe Sun is my father. Come, I will take you to our lodge. My father\nis not at home now, but he will return at night.\"\n\nAt length they came to the lodge. It was large and handsome, and on\nit were painted strange medicine animals. On a tripod behind the\nlodge were the Sun's weapons and his war clothing. Scarface was\nashamed to go into the lodge, but Morning Star said, \"Friend, do not\nbe afraid; we are glad you have come.\"\n\nWhen they went in a woman was sitting there, the Moon, the Sun's\nwife and the mother of Morning Star. She spoke to Scarface kindly\nand gave him food to eat, and when he had eaten she asked, \"Why have\nyou come so far from your people?\"\n\nSo Scarface told her about the beautiful girl that he wished to\nmarry and said, \"She belongs to the Sun. I have come to ask him for\nher.\"\n\nWhen it was almost night, and time for the Sun to come home, the\nMoon hid Scarface under a pile of robes. As soon as the Sun got to\nthe doorway he said, \"A strange person is here.\"\n\n\"Yes, father,\" said Morning Star, \"a young man has come to see you.\nHe is a good young man, for he found some of my things in the trail\nand did not touch them.\"\n\nScarface came out from under the robes and the Sun entered the lodge\nand sat down. He spoke to Scarface and said, \"I am glad you have\ncome to our lodge. Stay with us as long as you like. Sometimes my\nson is lonely. Be his friend.\"\n\nThe next day the two young men were talking about going hunting and\nthe Moon spoke to Scarface and said, \"Go with my son where you\nlike, but do not hunt near that big water. Do not let him go there.\nThat is the home of great birds with long, sharp bills. They kill\npeople. I have had many sons, but these birds have killed them all.\nOnly Morning Star is left.\"\n\nScarface stayed a long time in the Sun's lodge, and every day went\nhunting with Morning Star. One day they came near the water and saw\nthe big birds.\n\n\"Come on,\" said Morning Star, \"let us go and kill those birds.\"\n\n\"No, no,\" said Scarface, \"we must not go there. Those are terrible\nbirds; they will kill us.\"\n\nMorning Star would not listen. He ran toward the water and Scarface\nran after him, for he knew that he must kill the birds and save the\nboy's life. He ran ahead of Morning Star and met the birds, which\nwere coming to fight, and killed every one of them with his spear;\nnot one was left. The young men cut off the heads of the birds and\ncarried them home, and when Morning Star's mother heard what they\nhad done, and they showed her the birds' heads, she was glad. She\ncried over the two young men and called Scarface \"My son,\" and when\nthe Sun came home at night she told him about it, and he too was\nglad.\n\n\"My son,\" he said to Scarface, \"I will not forget what you have this\nday done for me. Tell me now what I can do for you; what is your\ntrouble?\"\n\n\"Alas, alas!\" replied Scarface, \"Pity me. I came here to ask you for\nthat girl. I want to marry her. I asked her and she was glad, but\nshe says that she belongs to you, and that you told her not to\nmarry.\"\n\n\"What you say is true,\" replied the Sun. \"I have seen the days and\nall that she has done. Now I give her to you. She is yours. I am\nglad that she has been wise, and I know that she has never done\nwrong. The Sun takes care of good women; they shall live a long\ntime, and so shall their husbands and children.\n\n\"Now, soon you will go home. I wish to tell you something and you\nmust be wise and listen. I am the only chief; everything is mine; I\nmade the earth, the mountains, the prairies, the rivers, and the\nforests; I made the people and all the animals. This is why I say\nthat I alone am chief. I can never die. It is true the winter makes\nme old and weak, but every summer I grow young again.\n\n\"What one of all the animals is the smartest?\" the Sun went on. \"It\nis the raven, for he always finds food; he is never hungry. Which\none of all the animals is the most to be reverenced? It is the\nbuffalo; of all the animals I like him best. He is for the people;\nhe is your food and your shelter. What part of his body is sacred?\nIt is the tongue; that belongs to me. What else is sacred? Berries.\nThey too are mine. Come with me now and see the world.\"\n\nThe Sun took Scarface to the edge of the sky and they looked down\nand saw the world. It is flat and round, and all around the edge it\ngoes straight down. Then said the Sun, \"If any man is sick or in\ndanger his wife may promise to build me a lodge if he recovers. If\nthe woman is good, then I shall be pleased and help the man; but if\nshe is not good, or if she lies, then I shall be angry. You shall\nbuild the lodge like the world, round, with walls, but first you\nmust build a sweat-lodge of one hundred sticks. It shall be arched\nlike the sky, and one-half of it shall be painted red for me, the\nother half you shall paint black for the night.\" He told Scarface\nall about making the Medicine Lodge, and when he had finished\nspeaking, he rubbed some medicine on the young man's face and the\nscar that had been there disappeared. He gave him two raven\nfeathers, saying: \"These are a sign for the girl that I give her to\nyou. They must always be worn by the husband of the woman who builds\na Medicine Lodge.\"\n\nNow Scarface was ready to return home. The Sun and Morning Star gave\nhim many good presents; the Moon cried and kissed him and was sorry\nto see him go. Then the Sun showed him the short trail. It was the\nWolf Road--the Milky Way. He followed it and soon reached the\nground.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nIt was a very hot day. All the lodge skins were raised and the\npeople sat in the shade. There was a chief, a very generous man,\nwho all day long was calling out for feasts, and people kept coming\nto his lodge to eat and smoke with him. Early in the morning this\nchief saw sitting on a butte near by a person close-wrapped in his\nrobe. All day long this person sat there and did not move. When it\nwas almost night the chief said, \"That person has sat there all day\nin the strong heat, and he has not eaten nor drunk. Perhaps he is a\nstranger. Go and ask him to come to my lodge.\"\n\nSome young men ran up to the person and said to him, \"Why have you\nsat here all day in the great heat? Come to the shade of the lodges.\nThe chief asks you to eat with him.\" The person rose and threw off\nhis robe and the young men were surprised. He wore fine clothing;\nhis bow, shield, and other weapons were of strange make; but they\nknew his face, although the scar was gone, and they ran ahead,\nshouting, \"The Scarface poor young man has come. He is poor no\nlonger. The scar on his face is gone.\"\n\nAll the people hurried out to see him and to ask him questions.\n\"Where did you get all these fine things?\" He did not answer. There\nin the crowd stood that young woman, and, taking the two raven\nfeathers from his head, he gave them to her and said, \"The trail was\nlong and I nearly died, but by those helpers I found his lodge. He\nis glad. He sends these feathers to you. They are the sign.\"\n\nGreat was her gladness then. They were married and made the first\nMedicine Lodge, as the Sun had said. The Sun was glad. He gave them\ngreat age. They were never sick. When they were very old, one\nmorning their children called to them, \"Awake, rise and eat.\" They\ndid not move.\n\nIn the night, together, in sleep, without pain, their shadows had\ndeparted to the Sandhills.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BUFFALO-PAINTED LODGES\n\n\nThe old lodges of the Piegans were made of buffalo skin and were\npainted with pictures of different kinds--birds, or animals, or\ntrees, or mountains. It is believed that in most cases the first\npainter of any lodge was taught how he should paint it in a dream,\nbut this was not always the case.\n\nTwo of the most important lodges in the Blackfeet camp are known as\nthe [=I]n[)i]s\u00b4k[)i]m lodges. Both are painted with figures of\nbuffalo, one with black buffalo, and the other with yellow buffalo.\nCertain of the Inis\u00b4kim are kept in these lodges and can be\nkept in no others.\n\nThis story tells how these two lodges came to be made.\n\nThe painters were told what to do long, long ago, \"in about the\nsecond generation after the first people.\"\n\nIn those days the old Piegans lived in the north, close to the Red\nDeer River. The camp moved, and the lodges were pitched on the\nriver. One day two old men who were close friends had gone out from\nthe camp to find some straight cherry shoots with which to make\narrows. After they had gathered their shafts, they sat down on a\nhigh bank by the river and began to peel the bark from the shoots.\nThe river was high. One of these men was named Weasel Heart and the\nother Fisher.\n\nAs they sat there, Weasel Heart chanced to look down into the water\nand saw something. He said to his comrade, \"Friend, do you not see\nsomething down there where the water goes around?\"\n\nFisher said, \"No; I see nothing except buffalo,\" for he was looking\nacross the river to the other side, and not down into the water.\n\n\"No,\" said Weasel Heart; \"I do not mean over there on the prairie.\nLook down into that deep hole in the river, and you will see a lodge\nthere.\"\n\nFisher looked as he had been told, and saw the lodge.\n\nWeasel Heart said, \"There is a lodge painted with black\nbuffalo.\" As he spoke thus, Fisher said, \"I see another lodge,\nstanding in front of it.\" Weasel Heart saw that lodge too--the\nyellow-painted-buffalo lodge.\n\nThe two men wondered at this and could not understand how it could\nbe, but they were both men of strong hearts, and presently Weasel\nHeart said, \"Friend, I shall go down to enter that lodge. Do you sit\nhere and tell me when I get to the place.\" Then Weasel Heart went up\nthe river and found a drift-log to support him and pushed it out\ninto the water, and floated down toward the cut bank. When he had\nreached the place where the lodge stood Fisher told him, and he let\ngo the log and dived down into the water and entered the lodge.\n\nIn it he found two persons who owned the lodge, a man and his wife.\nThe man said to him, \"You are welcome,\" and Weasel Heart sat down.\nThen spoke the owner of the lodge saying, \"My son, this is my lodge,\nand I give it to you. Look well at it inside and outside; and make\nyour lodge like this. If you do that, it may be a help to you.\"\n\nFisher sat a long time waiting for his friend, but at last he\nlooked down the stream and saw a man on the shore walking toward\nhim. He came along the bank until he had reached his friend. It was\nWeasel Heart.\n\nFisher said to him, \"I have been waiting a long time, and I was\nafraid that something bad had happened to you.\"\n\nWeasel Heart asked him, \"Did you see me?\"\n\n\"I saw you,\" said Fisher, \"when you went into that lodge. Did you,\nwhen you came out of the lodge, see there in the water another lodge\npainted with yellow buffalo? Is it still there?\"\n\nWeasel Heart said, \"I saw it; it is there. Go you into the water as\nI did.\"\n\nThen Fisher went up the stream as his friend had gone and entered\nthe water at the same place and swam down as Weasel Heart had done,\nand when Weasel Heart showed him the place he dived down and\ndisappeared as Weasel Heart had disappeared. He entered the\nyellow-painted-buffalo lodge, and his friend saw him go into it.\n\nIn the lodge were two persons, a man and his wife. The man said to\nhim, \"You are welcome; sit there.\" He spoke further, saying, \"My\nson, you have seen this lodge of mine; I give it to you. Look\ncarefully at it, inside and outside, and fix up your lodge in that\nway. It may be a help to you hereafter.\" Then Fisher went out.\n\nWeasel Heart waited for his friend as long as Fisher had waited for\nhim, and when Fisher came out of the water it was at the place where\nWeasel Heart had come out. Then the two friends went home to the\ncamp.\n\nWhen the two had come to a hill near the camp they met a young man,\nand by him sent word that the people should make a sweat-house for\nthem. After the sweat-house had been made, word was sent to them,\nand they entered the camp and went into the sweat-house and took a\nsweat, and all the time while they were sweating, sand was falling\nfrom their bodies.\n\nSome time after that the people moved camp and went out and killed\nbuffalo, and these two men made two lodges, and painted them just as\nthe lodges were painted that they had seen in the river.\n\nThese two men had strong power which came to them from the\nUnder-water People.\n\nOnce the people wished to cross the river, but the stream was deep\nand it was always hard for them to get across. Often the dogs and\nthe travois were swept away and the people lost many of their\nthings. At this time the tribe wished to cross, and Fisher and\nWeasel Heart said to each other, \"The people want to cross the\nriver, but it is high and they cannot do so. Let us try to make a\ncrossing, so that it will be easier for them.\" So Weasel Heart alone\ncrossed the river and sat on the bank on the other side, and Fisher\nsat opposite to him on the bank where the camp was.\n\nThen Fisher said to the people, \"Pack up your things now and get\nready to cross. I will make a place where you can cross easily.\"\n\nWeasel Heart and Fisher filled their pipes and smoked, and then each\nstarted to cross the river. As each stepped into the water, the\nriver began to go down and the crossing grew more and more shallow.\nThe people with all their dogs followed close behind Fisher, as he\nhad told them to do. Fisher and Weasel Heart met in the middle of\nthe river, and when they met they stepped to one side up the stream\nand let the people pass them. Ever since that day this has been a\nshallow crossing.\n\nThese lodges came from the Under-water\nPeople--S[=u]\u00b4y[=e]-t[)u]p\u00b4p[)i]. They were those who had owned them\nand who had been kind to Weasel Heart and Fisher.\n\n\n\n\nMIKA\u00b4PI--RED OLD MAN\n\n\nIn Montana, running into the Missouri River from the south, is a\nlittle stream that the Blackfeet call \"It Fell on Them.\" Once, long,\nlong ago, while a number of women were digging in a bank near this\nstream for the red earth that they used as paint, the bank gave way\nand fell on them, burying and killing them. The white people call\nthis Armell's Creek.\n\nIt was on this stream near the mountains that the Piegans were\ncamped when M[=i]ka\u00b4pi went to war. This was long ago.\n\nEarly in the morning a herd of buffalo had been seen feeding on the\nslopes of the mountains, and some hunters went out to kill them.\nTravelling carefully up the ravines, and keeping out of sight of the\nherd, they came close to them, near enough to shoot their arrows,\nand they began to kill fat cows. But while they were doing this a\nwar party of Snakes that had been hidden on the mountainside\nattacked them, and the Piegans began to run back toward their camp.\n\nOne of them, called Fox Eye, was a brave man, and shouted to the\nothers to stop and wait, saying, \"Let us fight these people; the\nSnakes are not brave; we can drive them back.\" But the other Piegans\nwould not listen to him; they made excuses, saying, \"We have no\nshields; our war medicine is not here; there are many of them; why\nshould we stop here to die?\" They ran on to the camp, but Fox Eye\nwould not run. Hiding behind a rock he prepared to fight, but as he\nwas looking for some enemy to shoot at, holding his arrow on the\nstring, a Snake had crept up on the bank above him; the Piegan heard\nthe twang of the bowstring, and the long, fine arrow passed through\nhis body. His bow and arrow dropped from his hands, and he fell\nforward, dead. Now, too late, the warriors came rushing out from the\nPiegan camp to help him, but the Snakes scalped their enemy,\nscattered up the mountain, and soon were hidden in the timber.\n\nFox Eye had two wives, and their father and mother and all their\nnear relations were dead. All Fox Eye's relations had died. So it\nhappened that these poor widows had no one to help them--no one to\ntake vengeance for the killing of their husband.\n\nAll day long, and often far into the night, these two sat on a\nnear-by hill and wailed, and their mourning was sad.\n\nThere was a young man named Mika\u00b4pi. Every morning when he awoke\nhe heard the mourning of these poor widows, and all through the day\nhe could not forget their sorrow. He pitied them. One day he sent\nhis mother to them, to tell them that he wished to speak with them.\nWhen they had come to the lodge they entered and sat down close by\nthe doorway and covered their heads.\n\n\"Listen!\" said Mika\u00b4pi. \"For days and nights I have heard your\nmourning, and I too have mourned. Your husband was my close friend,\nand now he is dead, and no relations are left to avenge him. So now\nI say to you, I will take the load from your hearts; I will go to\nwar and kill enemies and take scalps, and when I return they shall\nbe yours. I will wipe away your tears, and we shall be glad that Fox\nEye is avenged.\"\n\nWhen the people heard that Mika\u00b4pi was going to war many young\nmen wished to join him, but he refused. \"I shall go alone,\" he said.\nSo when he had taken a medicine sweat and had asked a priest to pray\nfor him in his absence, he left the camp one evening, just as it was\ngrowing dark.\n\nIt is only the foolish warrior who travels in the day. The wise one\nknows that war-parties may be out, or that some camp watcher sitting\non a hill may see him far off and may try to kill him. Mika\u00b4pi\nwas not one of these foolish persons. He was brave and cautious, and\nhe had powerful helpers. Some have said that he was helped by the\nghosts. When he started to war against the Snakes he travelled in\nlow places, and at sunrise he climbed some hill near by and looked\ncarefully over the country in all directions, and during all the\nlong day he lay there and watched, sleeping often, but only for a\nshort time.\n\nWhen Mika\u00b4pi had come to the Great Place of Falling Water,[A] it\nbegan to rain hard, and, looking about for a place to sleep, he saw\na hole in the rocks and crept in and lay down at the farther end.\nThe rain did not stop, and when it grew dark he could not travel\nbecause of the darkness and the storm, so he lay down to sleep\nagain; but before he had fallen asleep he heard something at the\nmouth of the cave, and then something creeping toward him. Then soon\nsomething touched his breast, and he put out his hand and felt a\nperson. Then he sat up.\n\n     [Footnote A: The Great Falls of the Missouri.]\n\nMika\u00b4pi stretched out his hand and put its palm on the person's\nbreast and moved his hand quickly from side to side, and then\ntouched the person with the point of his finger, which in sign\nlanguage means, \"Who are you?\" The stranger took Mika\u00b4pi's hand\nand made him feel of his own right hand. The thumb and fingers were\nclosed except the forefinger, which was extended. When Mika\u00b4pi's\nhand was on the stranger's hand the person moved his hand forward\nwith a zigzag motion, meaning Snake.\n\nMika\u00b4pi was glad. Here had come to him one of the tribe he was\nseeking, yet he thought it better to wait for a time before fighting\nhim; so when, in signs, the Snake asked Mika\u00b4pi who he was he\nreplied, by making the sign for paddling a canoe, that he was a\nRiver person, for he knew that the Snakes and the River people, or\nPend d'Oreilles, were at peace. Then the two lay down for the night,\nbut Mika\u00b4pi did not sleep. Through the long night he watched for\nthe first light, so that he might kill his enemy; and just at\ndaybreak Mika\u00b4pi, without noise, strung his bow, fitted an arrow\nto the string, and sent the thin shaft through his enemy's heart.\nThe Snake half rose up and fell back dead. Mika\u00b4pi scalped him,\ntook his bow and arrows and his bundle of moccasins, and went out of\nthe cave and looked all about. Daylight had come, but no one was in\nsight. Perhaps, like himself, the Snake had gone to war alone.\nMika\u00b4pi did not forget to be careful because he had been\nfortunate. He travelled only a little way, and then hid himself and\nwaited for night before going on. After drinking from the river he\nate and, climbing up on a high rock wall, he slept.\n\nHe dreamed that he fought with strange people and was wounded. He\nfelt blood trickling from his wounds, and when he awoke he knew that\nhe had been warned to turn back. Other signs were bad. He saw an\neagle rising carrying a snake, which dropped from its claws. The\nsetting sun too was painted, a sure warning that danger was near. In\nspite of all these things Mika\u00b4pi determined to go on. He thought\nof the poor widows mourning; he thought of welcome of the people if\nhe should return with scalps; he thought also of two young sisters\nwhom he wished to marry. If he could return with proof of brave\ndeeds, they would think well of him.\n\nMika\u00b4pi travelled onward.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nThe sun had already disappeared behind the sharp pointed dark peaks\nof the mountains. It was nearly night. As the light grew dim, the\nfar stretching prairie began to be hidden. By a stream in a valley\nwhere grew large and small trees were the lodges of a great camp.\nFor a long distance up and down the river rose the smokes of many\nfires.\n\nOn a hill overlooking the valley sat a person alone. His robe was\ndrawn close about him, and he sat there without moving, looking down\non the valley and out on the prairie above it. Perhaps he was\nwatching for enemies; perhaps he was praying.\n\nCreeping through the grass behind this person, something was slowly\ndrawing near to him. There was no noise, the watcher heard nothing;\nstill he sat there, looking out over the prairie, and turning his\nhead neither to the right nor the left. This thing behind him kept\ncreeping closer, and presently it was so near it could touch the\nman. Perhaps then there was some little rustle of the grass, and the\nwatcher turned his head. It was too late. A strong arm around his\nneck bent his head back, a hand covered his mouth, a long stone\nknife was thrust into his breast, and he died in silence. The fading\nlight had kept people in the camp from seeing what had happened.\n\nThe man who had used the knife scalped his enemy, and slowly,\nhidden by the grass, crept down the hill that he had just ascended,\nand when he reached the cover of a low place Mika\u00b4pi rose to his\nfeet and crept away. He had another Snake scalp tied to his belt.\nHis heart was glad, but he was not satisfied.\n\nSeveral nights had passed since the signs warned him to turn back,\nbut notwithstanding the warnings, he had succeeded. Perhaps his\nsuccess had made him too confident. He longed for more of it. \"One\nmore scalp I shall take,\" he said, \"and then I will return to the\npeople.\"\n\nHe climbed far up the mountainside and hid among the pines and\nslept, but when day came he awoke and crept out to a point where he\ncould see the camp. He saw the smoke rising as the women kindled\ntheir morning fires; he saw the people going about through the camp,\nand then presently he saw many people rush up on the hill where he\nhad left the dead enemy. He could not hear their angry cries, nor\ntheir mournful wailings, but he knew how badly they felt, and he\nsung a song, for he was happy.\n\nOnce more the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, and as\ndarkness grew Mika\u00b4pi came down from where he had been hiding and\ncarefully approached the camp. Now was a time of danger. Now\nwatchers might be hidden anywhere, looking for the approach of\nenemies, ready to raise a cry to warn the camp. Each bush or clump\nof rye grass or willow thicket might hide an enemy. Very slowly,\nlooking and listening, Mika\u00b4pi crept around the outskirts of the\ncamp. He made no noise, he did not show himself. Presently he heard\nsome one clear his throat and then a cough, and a little bush moved.\nHere was a watcher. Could he kill him and get away? He sat and\nwaited to see what would happen, for he knew where his enemy was,\nbut the enemy knew nothing of him. The great moon rose over the\neastern prairie and climbed high and began to travel across the sky.\nSeven Persons swung around and pointed downward. It was about the\nmiddle of the night. At length the person in the bush grew tired of\nwatching; he thought no enemy could be near and he rose and\nstretched out his arms and yawned, but even as he stood an arrow\npierced him through, beneath the arms. He gave a loud cry and tried\nto run, but another arrow struck him, and he fell.\n\nAnd now from out the camp rushed the warriors toward the sound, but\neven as they came Mika\u00b4pi had taken the scalp from his enemy and\nstarted to run away into the darkness. The moon was bright, and\nclose behind him were the Snakes. He heard arrows flying by him, and\npresently one passed through his arm. He pulled it out and threw it\nfrom him. Another struck his leg, and he fell, and a great shout\narose from the Snakes. Now their enemy was down and revenge for the\ntwo lives lately taken was certain.\n\nBut Mika\u00b4pi's helpers were not far off. It was at the very verge\nof a high cut wall overhanging the river that Mika\u00b4pi fell, and\neven as the Snakes shouted he rolled over the brink into the dark\nrushing water below. The Snakes ran along the edge of the river,\nlooking into the water, with bent bows watching for the enemy's head\nor body to appear, but they saw nothing. Carefully they looked\nalong the shores and sandbars; they did not find him.\n\nMika\u00b4pi had sunk deep in the water. The swift current carried him\nalong, and when he rose to the surface he was beyond his enemies.\nFor some time he floated on, but the arrow in his leg pained him and\nat last he crept out on a sandbar. He managed to draw the arrow from\nhis leg, and finding at the edge of the bar a dry log, he rolled it\ninto the water, and keeping his hands on it, drifted down the river\nwith the current. Cold and stiff from his wounds, he crept out on\nthe bank and lay down in the warm sunshine. Soon he fell asleep.\n\nWhen he awoke the sun was in the middle of the sky. His leg and arm\nwere swollen and pained him, yet he started to go home, and for a\ntime struggled onward; but at last, tired and discouraged, he sat\ndown.\n\n\"Ah,\" he said to himself, \"true were the signs! How crazy I was to\ngo against them! Now my bravery has been useless, for here I must\nstop and die. The widows will still mourn, and who will care for my\nfather and mother in their old age? Pity me now, O Sun; help me, O\nGreat Above Person! Give me life!\"\n\nSomething was coming through the brush near him, breaking the sticks\nas it walked. Was it the Snakes following his trail? Mika\u00b4pi\nstrung his bow and drew his arrows from the quiver. He waited.\n\nNo, it was not a Snake; it was a bear, a big grizzly bear, standing\nthere looking down at Mika\u00b4pi. \"What is my brother doing here?\"\nsaid the bear. \"Why does he pray for life?\"\n\n\"Look at my leg,\" said Mika\u00b4pi; \"swollen and sore. See my wounded\narm; I can hardly hold the bow. Far away is the home of my people,\nand my strength is gone. Surely here I must die, for I cannot walk,\nand I have no food.\"\n\n\"Take courage, my brother,\" said the bear. \"Keep up a strong heart,\nfor I will help you, and you shall have life.\"\n\nWhen he had said this he lifted Mika\u00b4pi in his arms and took him\nto a place where there was thick mud, and there he took great\nhandfuls of the mud and plastered it on the wounds, and while he\nwas putting on the mud he sang a medicine song. Then he carried\nMika\u00b4pi to a place where there were many service berries, and he\nbroke off great branches of the fruit and gave them to him, saying,\n\"Eat; my brother, eat.\" He kept breaking off branches full of large,\nripe berries until Mika\u00b4pi was full and could eat no more.\n\nThen said the bear, \"Now lie down on my back and hold tight by my\nhair and we will go on\"; and when Mika\u00b4pi had got on his back and\nwas ready the bear started. All through the night he travelled on\nwithout stopping, and when morning came they rested for a time and\nate more berries, and again the bear put mud upon the man's wounds.\nIn this way they travelled on, until, on the fourth day, they had\ncome close to the lodges of the Piegans and the people saw them\ncoming, and wondered.\n\n\"Get off now, my brother, get off,\" said the bear. \"There is the\ncamp of your people. I shall leave you\"; and at once he turned and\nwent off up the mountain.\n\nAll the people came out to meet Mika\u00b4pi, and they carried him to\nhis father's lodge. He untied the scalps from his belt and gave them\nto the poor widows, saying, \"These are the scalps of your enemies; I\nwipe away your tears.\" Then every one rejoiced. All Mika\u00b4pi's\nwomen relations went through the camp, shouting out his name and\nsinging songs about him, and all prepared to dance the dance of\ntriumph and rejoicing.\n\nFirst came the widows. They carried the scalps tied on poles, and\ntheir faces were painted black. Then came the medicine men, with\ntheir medicine pipes unwrapped, and then the bands of the All\nFriends dressed in their war costumes; then came the old men; and,\nlast of all, the women and children. They went all through the\nvillage, stopping here and there to dance, and Mika\u00b4pi sat\noutside the lodge and saw all the people dance by him. He forgot his\npain and was happy, and although he could not dance, he sung with\nthem.\n\nSoon they made the medicine lodge, and first of all the warriors,\nMika\u00b4pi was chosen to cut the rawhide to bind the poles, and as\nhe cut the strips he related the coups he had counted. He told of\nthe enemies he had killed, and all the people shouted his name and\nthe drummers struck the drum. The father of those two sisters gave\nthem to him. He was glad to have such a son-in-law.\n\nLong lived Mika\u00b4pi. Of all the great chiefs who have lived and\ndied he was the greatest. He did many other great things. It must be\ntrue, as the old men have said, that he was helped by the ghosts,\nfor no one can do such things without help from those fearful and\nterrible persons.\n\n\n\n\nRED ROBE'S DREAM\n\n\nLong, long ago, Red Robe and Talking Rock were young men in the\nBlackfeet camp. In their childhood days and early youth their life\nhad been hard. Talking Rock was an orphan without a single relation\nand Red Robe had only his old grandmother.\n\nThis old woman, by hard work and sacrifice, had managed to rear the\nboys. She tanned robes for the hunters, made them moccasins worked\nwith porcupine quills, and did everything she could to get a little\nfood or worn out robes and hide, from which she made clothes for her\nboys. They never had new, brightly painted calf robes, like other\nchildren. They went barefoot in summer, and in winter their toes\noften showed through the worn out skin of their moccasins. They had\nno flesh. Their ribs could be counted beneath the skin; their cheeks\nwere hollow; they looked always hungry.\n\nWhen they grew to be twelve or fifteen years old they began to do\nbetter, for now they could do more and more for themselves. They\nherded horses and performed small services for the wealthy men;\nthen, too, they hunted and killed a little meat. Now, for their\nwork, three or four dogs were given them, so with the two the old\nwoman owned, they were able to pack their small lodge and other\npossessions when the camp moved, instead of carrying everything on\ntheir backs.\n\nNow they began to do their best to make life easier for the good old\nwoman who had worked so hard to keep them from starving and\nfreezing.\n\nTime passed. The boys grew old enough to go out and fast. They had\ntheir dreams. Each found his secret helper of mysterious power, and\neach became a warrior. Still they were very poor, compared with\nother young men of their age. They had bows, but only a few arrows.\nThey were not able to pay some great medicine man to make shields\nfor them. As yet they went to war only as servants.\n\nAbout this time Red Robe fell in love.\n\nIn the camp was a beautiful girl named M[=a]-m[)i]n\u00b4--the\nWing--whom all the young men wished to marry, but perhaps Red Robe\nloved her more than all the rest. Her father was a rich old medicine\nman who never invited any except chiefs and great warriors to feast\nwith him, and Red Robe seldom entered his lodge. He used to dress as\nwell as he could, to braid his hair carefully, to paint his face\nnicely, and to stand for a long time near the lodge looking\nentreatingly at her as she came and went about her work, or fleshed\na robe under the shelter of some travois over which a hide was\nspread. Then whenever they met, he thought the look she gave him in\npassing was friendly--perhaps more than that.\n\nWherever Ma-min\u00b4 went her mother or some woman of the family\nwent with her, so Red Robe could never speak to her, but he was\noften near by. One day, when she was gathering wood for the lodge,\nand her companion was out of sight behind some willow bushes some\ndistance away, Red Robe had a chance to tell Ma-min\u00b4 what was\nin his heart. He walked up to her and took her hands in his, and\nshe did not try to draw them away. He said to her, \"I love you; I\ncannot remember a time when I saw you that my heart did not beat\nfaster. I am poor, very poor, and it is useless to ask your father\nto let me marry you, for he will not consent; but there is another\nway, and if you love me, you will do what I ask. Let us go from\nhere--far away. We will find some tribe that will be kind to us, and\neven if we fail in that we can live in some way. Now, if you love\nme, and I hope you do, you will come.\"\n\n\"Ai,\" replied Ma-min\u00b4, \"I do love you; only you. All the other\nyoung men pass before me as shadows. I scarcely see them, but I\ncannot do what you ask. I cannot go away and leave my mother to\nmourn; she who loves me so well. Let us wait a little. Go to war. Do\nsomething great and brave. Then perhaps you will not uselessly ask\nmy father to give me to you.\"\n\nIn vain Red Robe tried to persuade the girl to do as he wished. She\nwas kind; she threw her arms about him and kissed him and cried, but\nshe would not run away to leave her mother to sorrow, to be beaten\nby her father, who would blame the poor woman for all the disgrace;\nand so, too soon, they parted, for they heard her companion\ncoming--the sound of her heavy footsteps.\n\nThree Bulls, chief of the camp, was a great man. He had a fierce\ntemper, and when he spoke, people hurried to do what he ordered, for\nthey feared him. He never talked loud nor called any one by an ill\nname. When any one displeased him or refused to do what he said he\njust smiled and then killed the person. He was brave. In battle with\nenemies he was the equal of twenty men, rushing here, there, into\nthe thickest of the fights, and killing--always with that silent,\nterrible smile on his face. Because he was such a great warrior, and\nalso because he was generous, helping the poor, feasting any who\ncame to his lodge, he was the head chief of the Blackfeet.\n\nThree Bulls had several wives and many children, some of them grown\nand married. Gray hairs were now many in his head. His face wrinkles\nshowed that old age was not far distant. No one supposed that he\nwould ever take another wife; so when the news spread through the\ncamp that he had asked the old medicine man for his daughter\nMa-min\u00b4, every one was surprised. When Red Robe heard the news\nhis heart nearly broke. The old medicine man agreed to let the chief\nhave the girl. He dared not refuse, nor did he wish to, for many\ngood presents were to be given him in three days' time. When that\nwas done, he told his daughter, she would be taken to the chief's\nlodge; let her prepare for the change.\n\nThat day Red Robe had planned to start with a party to war; but when\nhe heard this news he asked his friend Talking Rock to take word to\nthe leader that he had changed his mind and would not go. He asked\nhis friend to stay with him, instead of joining the war party, and\nTalking Rock agreed to do so.\n\nOut in front of the camp was a large spring, and to that place Red\nRobe went and stood leaning against a large stone and looking sadly\ndown into the blue water. Soon, as he had thought, Ma-min\u00b4\ncame to the spring for a skin of water.  He took her hands, as he\nhad done before, and began to beg her to go away with him that very\nnight, before it was too late. The girl cried bitterly, but at first\nshe did not speak.\n\nThe two were standing in plain sight of the camp and the people in\nit, and some one went to the chief's lodge and told him what was\ntaking place.\n\n\"Go to the spring,\" said the chief, \"and tell that young man to let\nthe girl go; she is to be my wife.\"\n\nThe person did as he was told, but the two young people paid no\nattention to him. They did not care what any one said, nor if the\nwhole camp saw them there together. All they could think about was\nthis terrible thing, which would make them unhappy so long as they\nlived. Red Robe kept asking the girl to go, and at last she\nconsented to do as he wished. They had their arms about each other,\nnot thinking of the crowd that was watching them, and were quickly\nplanning for their meeting and for their going away that night, when\nThree Bulls quietly walked up to them and stabbed the young man with\na flint-pointed lance. Red Robe sank down dying at the young girl's\nfeet, and she, looking down for an instant at her lover, turned and\nran to her father's lodge.\n\n\"Bring wood,\" the chief called out; \"let every one bring some wood;\nall you have at your lodges. Those who have none, let them go\nquickly and bring some from the timber.\"\n\nAll the people hurried to obey. What Three Bulls ordered was soon\ndone, for the people feared him, and soon a great pile of wood was\nheaped beside the dead man.\n\nThe chief lifted the slender young form, placed it on the pile of\nwood, and told a woman to bring coals and set fire to the pile. When\nthis had been done, all left the place except Three Bulls, who\nstayed there, tending the fire and poking it here and there, until\nit was burnt out and no wood or trace of a human body was left.\nNothing remained except the little pile of ashes. These he\nscattered. Still he was not satisfied. His medicine was strong;\nperhaps his dream had warned him. Now he ordered that the lodges be\ntaken down, that everything be packed up, and that the trail of the\nmoving camp should pass over the heap of ashes.\n\nSome time before this, after Red Robe had made his long fasting, and\nhis dream had come to him and he had returned to his grandmother's\nlodge, he had told his true friend something of what had been said\nto him by his dream.\n\n\"If I should die,\" he said, \"and you are near, do not desert me. Go\nto the place where I fell, and if my body should have been destroyed\nlook carefully around the place. If you can find even a shred of my\nflesh or a bit of my bone, it will be well. So said my dream. Here\nare four arrows, which the dream told me to make. If you can find a\nbit of my body, flesh or bone, or even hair, cover it with a robe,\nand standing over it, shoot three arrows one after another up into\nthe air, crying, as each one leaves the bow, 'Look out!' When you\nfit the fourth arrow on the bowstring and shoot it upward, cry,\n'Look out, Red Robe, the arrow will strike you!' and as you say\nthis, turn and run away from the place, not looking back as you go.\nIf you do this, my friend, just as I have told you, I shall live\nagain.\"\n\nAs the camp moved, Three Bulls stood and watched it filing over the\nplace of the fire, and saw the ashes scattered by the trailing ends\nof lodge poles and travois, and by the feet of hundreds of people\nand dogs. Still he was not satisfied, and for a long time after the\nlast of the people had passed he remained there. Then he went on\nacross the flat and up and over a ridge, but presently he returned,\nonce, twice, four times, to the crest of the hill and looked back at\nthe place where the camp had been; but at last he felt sure that no\none remained at the place, and went on.\n\nYet Talking Rock was there. He had been hidden in the brush all the\ntime, watching the chief. Even after Three Bulls had passed over the\nridge, he remained crouched in the bushes, and saw him come back\nagain and again to peer over its crest. Still further on there was\nanother higher ridge, and when the young man saw Three Bulls climb\nthat and disappear on the trail of the camp, he came forth.\n\nGoing to the place where his friend had lain, Talking Rock sat down\nand mourned, wailing long and loud. Back on the hills the wolves and\ncoyotes heard him and they too became sorrowful, adding their cries\nto his.\n\nThe young man had little faith in the power of the four arrows that\nhe kept so carefully wrapped in a separate bundle in his quiver. He\nlooked at the place where Red Robe's body had been burnt. It was\nlike any other place on the great trail that had been made, dust and\ngrass blades mingled together, and scratches made by the dragging\npoles. It did not seem possible that anything of his friend's body\nremained; yet he must search, and breaking a green willow twig he\nbegan carefully to work over the dust, stopping his crying, for the\ntears blinded his eyes so that he could not see.\n\nAll the long morning and far into the afternoon, Talking Rock swept\nthe dust this way and that, turning it over and over, in a circle\nthat grew always wider, and just as he was about to give up the\nsearch, he found a bit of charred and blackened bone. Was this a\npart of his friend's frame? Was it not more likely a bit of bone of\nbuffalo or elk, which some dog had carried from one of the\nfireplaces of the camp and dropped here?\n\nNow for the test. Talking Rock covered the bit of bone with his robe\nas he had been told to do. He even raised the robe along its middle,\nmaking it look as if it really covered a person lying there. Then he\nshot three of the arrows up in the air, each time crying, \"Look\nout.\"\n\nThen with a hand that trembled a little, he drew the fourth arrow\nfrom the quiver, shot it and cried, \"Look out, Red Robe, the arrow\nwill strike you\"; and, turning, ran from the place with all his\nspeed.\n\nHow he wanted to look back! How he longed to see if his friend was\nreally rising from that bit of blackened bone! But Talking Rock was\nstrong-hearted. He controlled his desires. On and on he ran, and\nthen--behind him the light tread of running feet, a firm hand\ngripped his shoulder, and a loved voice said, \"Why so fast, my\nfriend?\" and stopping and turning, Talking Rock found himself face\nto face with Red Robe. He could not believe what he saw, and had to\npinch himself and to hold his friend hard in his arms to believe\nthat all this was real.\n\nThe camp had not moved far, and the lodges were pitched on the next\nstream to the south. Soon after dark, the two friends entered it and\nwent to their lodge. The poor old grandmother could not believe her\neyes when she saw the young man she had reared and loved so dearly;\nbut when he spoke she knew that it was he, and running over to him\nshe held him in her arms and kissed him, crying from joy. After a\nlittle time, the young man said to her, \"Grandmother, go to the\nchief's lodge and say to him that I, Red Robe, need some dried\nmeat.\" The old woman hesitated at this strange request, but Red Robe\nsaid: \"Go, do not fear him; Three Bulls is now the one to know\nfear.\"\n\nWhen the old woman entered the great lodge and in reply to the\nchief's look said, \"Red Robe sent me here. He wants some dried\nmeat,\" only Three Bulls of all who were in the lodge, showed no\nsurprise. \"It is what I expected,\" he said; \"in spite of all my care\nhe lives again, and I can do nothing.\" Turning to his wives he\nsaid, \"Give her meat.\"\n\n\"Did you see Ma-min\u00b4?\" asked Red Robe, when his grandmother\nhad returned with the meat and had told him what the chief had said.\n\n\"No, she was not in the lodge, but two women were approaching as I\nleft it. I think they were the girl and her mother.\"\n\n\"Go back once more,\" said the young man, \"and tell Three Bulls to\nsend me that young woman.\"\n\nBut now the poor old grandmother was afraid. \"I dare not tell him\nthat,\" she exclaimed. \"He would kill me, and you. His anger would be\nfearful.\"\n\n\"Do not fear,\" said Red Robe, \"do not fear, my mother, his anger and\nhis power are no longer to be feared. He is as feeble and as\nhelpless as one of those old bulls one sees on the sunny side of the\ncoul\u00e9e, spending his last days before the wolves pull him down.\"\n\nThe old woman went to the lodge and told the chief what Red Robe\nfurther wished. Ma-min\u00b4 was there, her head covered with her\nrobe, crying quietly, and Three Bulls told her to arise and go with\nthe messenger. Timidly at first, and then with steps that broke into\na run, Ma-min\u00b4 hurried toward the lodge of her sweetheart and\nentered it. With a cry of joy she threw herself into his arms, and\nTalking Rock went out and left them alone.\n\nGreat now was the happiness of these young people. Long was their\nlife, full of plenty and of great honor. Red Robe became a chief,\nrespected and loved by all the people. Ma-min\u00b4 bore him many\nchildren, who grew up to be the support of their old age.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BLACKFEET CREATION\n\n\nThe Blackfeet believe that the Sun made the earth--that he is the\ncreator. One of the names by which they call the Sun is Napi--Old\nMan. This is how they tell of the creation:\n\nIn the beginning there was water everywhere; nothing else was to be\nseen. There was something floating on the water, and on this raft\nwere Old Man and all the animals.\n\nOld Man wished to make land, and he told the beaver to dive down to\nthe bottom of the water and to try to bring up a little mud. The\nbeaver dived and was under water for a long time, but he could not\nreach the bottom. Then the loon tried, and after him the otter, but\nthe water was too deep for them. At last the muskrat was sent down,\nand he was gone for a long time; so long that they thought he must\nbe drowned, but at last he came up and floated almost dead on the\nwater, and when they pulled him up on the raft and looked at his\npaws, they found a little mud in them. When Old Man had dried this\nmud, he scattered it over the water and land was formed. This is the\nstory told by the Blackfeet. It is very much like one told by some\nEastern Indians, who are related to the Blackfeet.\n\nAfter the land had been made, Old Man travelled about on it, making\nthings and fixing up the earth so as to suit him. First, he marked\nout places where he wished the rivers to run, sometimes making them\nrun smoothly, and again, in some places, putting falls on them. He\nmade the mountains and the prairie, the timber and the small trees\nand bushes, and sometimes he carried along with him a lot of rocks,\nfrom which he built some of the mountains--as the Sweet Grass\nHills--which stand out on the prairie by themselves.\n\nOld Man caused grass to grow on the plains, so that the animals\nmight have something to feed on. He marked off certain pieces of\nland, where he caused different kinds of roots and berries to\ngrow--a place for camas; and one for wild carrots; one for wild\nturnips, sweet root and bitter root; one for service berries,\nbullberries, cherries, plums, and rosebuds.\n\nHe made all kinds of animals that travel on the ground. When he made\nthe big-horn with its great horns, he put it out on the prairie. It\ndid not seem to travel easily there; it was awkward and could not go\nfast, so he took it by one of its horns and led it up into the rough\nhills and among the rocks, and let it go there, and it skipped about\namong the cliffs and easily went up fearful places. So Old Man said\nto the big-horn, \"This is the place for you; this is what you are\nfitted for; the rough country and the mountains.\" While he was in\nthe mountains he made the antelope, and turned it loose to see how\nit travelled. The antelope ran so fast that it fell over some rocks\nand hurt itself. He saw that this would not do, and took the\nantelope down on the prairie and set it free there, and it ran away\nfast and gracefully, and he said to it, \"This is the place that\nsuits you.\"\n\nAt last, one day, Old Man decided that he would make a woman and a\nchild, and he modelled some clay in human shape, and after he had\nmade these shapes and put them on the ground, he said to the clay,\n\"You shall be people.\" He spread his robe over the clay figures and\nwent away. The next morning he went back to the place and lifted up\nthe robe, and saw that the clay shapes had changed a little. When he\nlooked at them the next morning, they had changed still more; and\nwhen on the fourth day he went to the place and took off the\ncovering, he said to the images, \"Stand up and walk,\" and they did\nso. They walked down to the river with him who had made them, and he\ntold them his name.\n\nAs they were standing there looking at the water as it flowed by,\nthe woman asked Old Man, saying, \"How is it; shall we live always?\nWill there be no end to us?\"\n\nOld Man said, \"I have not thought of that. We must decide it. I will\ntake this buffalo chip and throw it in the river. If it floats,\npeople will become alive again four days after they have died; they\nwill die for four days only. But if it sinks, there will be an end\nto them.\" He threw the chip into the river, and it floated.\n\nThe woman turned and picked up a stone and said, \"No, I will throw\nthis stone in the river. If it floats, we shall live always; if it\nsinks, people must die, so that their friends who are left alive may\nalways remember them.\" The woman threw the stone in the water, and\nit sank.\n\n\"Well,\" said Old Man, \"you have chosen; there will be an end to\nthem.\"\n\nNot many nights after that the woman's child died, and she cried a\ngreat deal for it. She said to Old Man, \"Let us change this. The law\nthat you first made, let that be the law.\"\n\nHe said, \"Not so; what is made law must be law. We will undo nothing\nthat we have done. The child is dead, but it cannot be changed.\nPeople will have to die.\"\n\nThese first people did not have hands like a person; they had hands\nlike a bear with long claws. They were poor and naked and did not\nknow how to get a living. Old Man showed them the roots and the\nberries, and showed them how to gather these, and told them how at\ncertain times of the year they should peel the bark off some trees\nand eat it; that the little animals that live in the ground--rats,\nsquirrels, skunks, and beavers--were good to eat. He also taught\nthem something about the roots that were good for medicine to cure\nsickness.\n\nIn those days there were buffalo, and these black animals were\narmed, for they had long horns. Once, as the people were moving\nabout, the buffalo saw them and rushed upon them and hooked them and\nkilled them, and then ate them. One day, as the creator was\ntravelling about, he came upon some of his children that he had made\nlying there dead, torn to pieces and partly eaten by the buffalo.\nWhen he saw this, he felt badly. He said, \"I have not made these\npeople right. I will change this; from now on the people shall eat\nthe buffalo.\"\n\nHe went to some of the people who were still alive, and said to\nthem, \"How is it that you people do nothing to these animals that\nare killing you?\" The people replied, \"What can we do? These animals\nare armed and can kill us, and we have no way to kill them.\"\n\nThe creator said, \"That is not hard. I will make you something that\nwill kill these animals.\"\n\nHe went out and cut some straight service-berry shoots, and brought\nthem in, and peeled the bark from them. He took a larger piece of\nwood and flattened it, and tied a string to it, and made a bow. Now\nhe was the master of all birds and he went out and caught one, and\ntook feathers from its wings and tied them to the shaft of wood. He\ntied four feathers along the shaft and tried the arrow at a mark and\nfound that it did not fly well. He took off these feathers and put\non three, and when he again tried it at the mark he found that it\nwent straight. He picked up some hard stones, and broke sharp pieces\nfrom them. When he tried them he found that the black flint stones\nmade the best arrow points. He showed them how to use these things.\n\nThen he spoke to the people, and said, \"The next time you go out,\ntake these things with you, and use them as I tell you. Do not run\nfrom these animals. When they rush at you, and have come pretty\nclose, shoot the arrows at them as I have taught you, and you will\nsee that they will run from you or will run around you in a circle.\"\n\nHe also broke off pieces of stone, and fixed them in a handle, and\ntold them that when they killed the buffalo they should cut up the\nflesh with these stone knives.\n\nOne day after this, some people went on a little hill to look about,\nand the buffalo saw them and called out to each other, \"Ah, there is\nsome more of our food,\" and rushed upon them. The people did not\nrun. They began to shoot at the buffalo with the bows and arrows\nthat had been given them, and the buffalo began to fall. They say\nthat when the first buffalo hit with an arrow felt it prick him, he\ncalled out to his fellows, \"Oh, my friends, a great fly is biting\nme.\"\n\nWith the flint knives that had been given them they cut up the\nbodies of the dead buffalo. About this time Old Man came up and said\nto them, \"It is not healthful to eat raw flesh. I will show you\nsomething better than that.\" He gathered soft, dry rotten wood and\nmade punk of it, and took a piece of wood and drilled a hole in it\nwith an arrow point, and gave them a pointed piece of hard wood, and\nshowed them how to make a fire with fire sticks, and to cook the\nflesh of animals.\n\nAfter this the people found a certain sort of stone in the land, and\ntook another harder stone, and worked one upon the other and\nhollowed out the softer one, so as to make of it a kettle.\n\nIt is told also that the creator made people and animals at another\nplace, and in another way. At the Porcupine Mountains he made other\nearthen images of people, and blew breath on the images, and they\nbecame people. They were men and women. After a time they asked him,\n\"What are we to eat?\" Then he took more earth and made many images\nin the form of buffalo, and when he had blown on them they stood up,\nand he made signs to them and they started to run. He said to the\npeople, \"There is your food.\"\n\n\"Well, now,\" they replied; \"we have those animals, how are we to\nkill them?\"\n\n\"I will show you,\" he said.\n\nHe took them to the edge of a cliff and showed them how to heap up\npiles of stone, running back from the cliff like this [Illustration:\ntwo lines of diverging dots in a narrow < shape], with the point of\nthe V toward the cliff. He said to the people, \"Now, do you hide\nbehind these piles of stones, and when I lead the buffalo this way,\nas they get opposite to you, stand up.\"\n\nThen he went on toward a herd of buffalo and began to call them, and\nthe buffalo started toward him and followed him, until they were\ninside the arms of the V. Then he ran to one side and hid, and as\nthe people rose up the buffalo ran on in a straight line and jumped\nover the cliff and some of them were killed by the fall.\n\n\"There,\" he said, \"go and take the flesh of those animals.\" Then the\npeople tried to do so. They tried to tear the limbs apart, but they\ncould not. They tried to bite pieces out of the bodies, but they\ncould not do that. Old Man went to the edge of the cliff and broke\nsome pieces of stone with sharp edges, and showed them how to cut\nthe flesh with these. Of the buffalo that went over the cliff, some\nwere not dead, but were hurt, so they could not run away. The\npeople cut strips of green hide and tied stones in the middle, and\nwith these hammers broke in the skulls of the buffalo and killed\nthem.\n\nWhen they had taken the skins from these animals, they set up poles\nand put the hides over them, and so made a shelter to sleep under.\n\nIn later times the creator marked off a piece of land for the five\ntribes, Blackfeet, Bloods, Piegans, Gros Ventres, and Sarsis, and\nsaid to these tribes, \"When people come to cross this line at the\nborder of your land, take your bows and arrows, your lances and your\nwar clubs and give them battle, and keep them out. If they gain a\nfooting here, trouble for you will follow.\"\n\n\n\n\nOLD MAN STORIES\n\n\nUnder the name Na\u00b4pi, Old Man, have been confused two wholly\ndifferent persons talked of by the Blackfeet. The Sun, the creator\nof the universe, giver of light, heat, and life, and reverenced by\nevery one, is often called Old Man, but there is another personality\nwho bears the same name, but who is very different in his character.\nThis last Na\u00b4pi is a mixture of wisdom and foolishness; he is\nmalicious, selfish, childish, and weak. He delights in tormenting\npeople. Yet the mean things he does are so foolish that he is\nconstantly getting himself into scrapes, and is often obliged to ask\nthe animals to help him out of his troubles. His bad deeds almost\nalways bring their own punishment.\n\nInterpreters commonly translate this word Na\u00b4pi as Old Man, but it\nis also the term for white man; and the Cheyenne and Arapahoe\ntribes tell just such stories about a similar person whom they also\ncall \"white man.\" Tribes of Dakota stock tell of a similar person\nwhom they call \"the spider.\"\n\nThe stories about this Old Man are told by the Blackfeet for\nentertainment rather than with any serious purpose, and when that\npart of the story is reached where Old Man is in some difficulty\nwhich he cannot get out of, the man who is telling the story, and\nthose who are listening to it, laugh delightedly.\n\nSome stories of this kind are these:\n\n\nTHE WONDERFUL BIRD\n\nOne day, as Old Man was walking about among the trees, he saw\nsomething that seemed very queer.\n\nA little bird was sitting on the branch of a tree. Every little\nwhile it would make a strange noise, and every time it made this\nnoise its eyes flew out of its head and fastened on a branch of the\ntree. Then after a little while the bird would make another sort of\nnoise and its eyes would go back to their places in its head.\n\nOld Man called out to the bird, \"Little brother, teach me how to do\nthat.\"\n\n\"If I show you how,\" the bird answered, \"you must not send your eyes\nout of your head more than four times in a day. If you do, you will\nbe sorry.\"\n\n\"It shall be as you say, little brother. It is for you to give, and\nI will listen to what you say.\"\n\nWhen the bird had taught Old Man how to do this, he was glad. He\nbegan to do it, and did it four times right away. Then he said, \"Why\ndid that bird tell me to do this only four times? He has no sense. I\nwill do it again.\" So once more he made his eyes go out, but now\nwhen he called to them they would not come back.\n\nHe shouted out to the bird, \"Little brother, come here, and help me\nto get back my eyes.\" The little bird did not answer him; it had\nflown away. Now Old Man felt all over the branches of the tree with\nhis hands, but he could not find his eyes. So he went away and\nwandered over the prairie for a long time, crying and calling to the\nanimals to help him.\n\nAs he was blind, he could find nothing to eat, and he began to be\nvery hungry.\n\nA wolf teased him a great deal and had much fun. It had found a dead\nbuffalo, and taking a piece of the meat, it would hold the meat\nclose to Old Man's face. Then Old Man would say, \"I smell something\ndead, I wish I could find it; I am almost starved.\" He felt all\naround for it.\n\nOnce when the wolf was doing this, Old Man caught him, and plucking\nout one of the wolf's eyes, he put it in his own head. Then he could\nsee, and was able to find his own eyes, but never again could he do\nthe trick the little bird had taught him.\n\n\nTHE RABBITS' MEDICINE\n\nOnce, when Old Man was travelling about, he heard some singing that\nsounded very queer. He had never before heard anything like it, and\nlooked all about to see where it came from. After a time he saw that\nthe cottontail rabbits were singing and making medicine. They had\nbuilt a fire, and raked out some hot ashes, and they would lie down\nin these ashes and sing, while one of the others covered them up.\nThey could stay there only for a short time, though, for the ashes\nwere hot.\n\n\"Little brothers,\" said Old Man, \"here is something wonderful--that\nyou can lie in those hot ashes and coals without burning. I ask you\nto teach me how to do this.\"\n\n\"We will show you how to do it, Old Man,\" said the rabbits. \"You\nmust sing our song, and stay in the ashes only a short time.\" They\ntaught Old Man their song, and he began to sing and lay down, and\nthey covered him with coals and ashes, and the hot ashes did not\nburn him.\n\n\"That is good,\" he said. \"You have strong medicine. Now, so that I\nmay know it all, do you lie down and let me cover you up.\"\n\nAll the rabbits lay down in the ashes, and Old Man covered them up,\nand then he pulled the whole fire over them. One old rabbit got out,\nand Old Man was just about to put her back when she said, \"Pity me;\nmy children need me.\"\n\n\"It is good,\" replied Old Man. \"You may go, so that there will be\nmore rabbits; but these I will roast, and have a feast.\" He put\nmore wood on the fire, and when the rabbits were cooked he got some\nred willow brush and put the rabbits on it to cool. The grease from\ntheir bodies soaked into the branches, so that even to-day if red\nwillow is held over a fire one may see the grease on the bark. Ever\nsince that time, too, the rabbits have a burnt place on the back,\nwhere the one that got away was singed.\n\nOld Man sat down by the fire, waiting for the rabbits to get cool,\nwhen a coyote came along, limping. He went on three legs. \"Pity me,\nOld Man,\" he said. \"You have plenty of cooked rabbits, give me one\nof them.\"\n\n\"Go away,\" said Old Man, very cross; \"if you are too lazy to catch\nfood, I will not give you any.\"\n\n\"But my leg is broken,\" said the coyote; \"I cannot run. I cannot\ncatch anything, and I am starving. Give me half a rabbit.\"\n\n\"I don't care what happens to you,\" said Old Man; \"I worked hard to\ncatch and cook these rabbits, and I shall not give any of them away.\nI'll tell you what I will do, though; I will run a race with you\nout to that far butte on the prairie, and if you beat me you can\nhave a rabbit.\"\n\n\"Good,\" said the coyote, and they started.\n\nOld Man ran very fast, and the coyote limped along behind him, but\npretty close, until they got near the butte. Then the coyote turned\naround and ran back very fast, for he was not lame at all. It took\nOld Man a long time to get back, and just before he reached the\nfire, the coyote finished eating the last rabbit and ran away.\n\n\nTHE LOST ELK MEAT\n\nOld Man had been a long time without food and was very hungry. He\nwas trying to think how he could get something to eat, when he saw a\nband of elk come up on a ridge. He went over to them and spoke to\nthem and said, \"Brothers, I am lonely because I have no one to\nfollow me.\"\n\n\"Go ahead, Old Man,\" said the elk; \"we will follow you.\" Old Man led\nthem about for a long time, and when it was dark he came near a\nhigh, steep cut bank. He ran around to one side, where the hill\nsloped, and then went back right under the steep cliff and called\nout, \"Come on, that is a nice jump. You will laugh.\" So all the elk\njumped off and were killed, except one cow.\n\n\"They have all jumped but you,\" said Old Man. \"Come on, you will\nlike it.\"\n\n\"Take pity on me,\" said the cow. \"I am very heavy, and I am afraid\nto jump.\"\n\n\"Go away, then,\" said Old Man; \"go and live. Then some day there\nwill be plenty of elk again.\"\n\nOld Man built a fire and cooked some of the meat, and then he\nskinned all the elk, and cut up the meat and hung it up to dry. The\ntongues he hung on a pole.\n\nThe next day he started off and was gone all day, and at night, as\nhe was coming home, he was very hungry. He was thinking to himself\nthat he would have some roasted ribs and a tongue and other good\nthings; but when he reached the place, the meat was all gone; the\nwolves had eaten it.\n\n\"It was lucky I hung up those tongues,\" said Old Man, \"or I should\nnot have had anything to eat.\" But when he took down the tongues\nthey were all hollow. The mice had eaten out the meat, leaving only\nthe skins.\n\n\nTHE ROLLING ROCK\n\nOnce when Old Man was travelling about and felt tired, he sat down\non a rock to rest. After he was rested he started on his way, and\nbecause the sun was hot he threw his robe over the rock and said to\nit, \"Here, I give you my robe because you are poor and have let me\nrest on you. Keep it always.\"\n\nHe had not gone far when it began to rain, and meeting a coyote, he\nsaid to him, \"Little brother, run back to that rock and ask him to\nlend me his robe. We will cover ourselves with it and keep dry.\"\n\nThe coyote ran back to the rock, but presently returned without the\nrobe.\n\n\"Where is the robe?\" asked Old Man.\n\n\"Why,\" said the coyote, \"the rock said that you had given him the\nrobe and he was going to keep it.\"\n\nThis made Old Man angry, and he went back to the rock and snatched\nthe robe off it, saying, \"I was only going to borrow this robe until\nthe rain was over, but now that you have acted so mean about it, I\nwill keep it. You don't need a robe, anyhow. You have been out in\nthe rain and snow all your life, and it will not hurt you to live so\nalways.\"\n\nWhen he had said this he put the robe about his shoulders, and with\nthe coyote he went off into a ravine and they sat down there. The\nrain was falling and they covered themselves with the robe, and were\nwarm and dry.\n\nPretty soon they heard a loud, rumbling noise, and Old Man said to\nthe coyote, \"Little brother, go up on the hill and see what that\nnoise is.\"\n\nThe coyote went off, but presently he came back, running as hard as\nhe could, saying, \"Run, run, the big rock is coming.\" They both\nstarted, and ran away as fast as they could. The coyote tried to\ncreep into a badger-hole, but it was too small for him and he stuck\nfast, and before he could get out the rock rolled over him and\ncrushed his hips. Old Man was frightened, and as he ran he threw\naway his robe and everything that he had on, so that he might run\nfaster. The rock was gaining on him all the time.\n\nNot far away on the prairie a band of buffalo bulls were feeding,\nand Old Man cried out to them, saying, \"Oh, my brothers, help me,\nhelp me; stop that rock.\" The bulls ran and tried to stop it,\nbutting against it, but it crushed their heads. Some deer and\nantelope tried to help Old Man, but they too were killed. Other\nanimals came to help him, but could not stop the rock; it was now\nclose to Old Man, so close that it began to hit his heels. He was\njust going to give up when he saw circling over his head a flock of\nnight-hawks.\n\n\"Oh, my little brothers,\" he cried, \"help me; I am almost dead.\" The\nbull bats flew down one after another against the rock, and every\ntime one of them hit it he chipped off a piece, and at last one hit\nit fair in the middle and broke it into two pieces.\n\nThen Old Man was glad. He went to where there was a nest of\nnight-hawks and pulled their mouths out wide and pinched off their\nbills, to make them pretty and queer looking. That is the reason\nthey look so to-day.\n\n\nBEAR AND BULLBERRIES\n\nScattered over the prairie in northern Montana, close to the\nmountains, are many great rocks--boulders which thousands of years\nago, when the great ice-sheet covered northern North America, were\ncarried from the mountains out over the prairie by the ice and left\nthere when it melted.\n\nAround most of these great boulders the buffalo used to walk from\ntime to time, rubbing against the rough surface of the rock to\nscratch themselves, as a cow rubs itself against a post or as a\nhorse rolls on the ground--for the pleasant feeling that the rubbing\nof the skin gives it.\n\nAs the buffalo walked around these boulders their hoofs loosened the\nsoil, and this loosened soil--the dust--was blown away by the\nconstant winds of summer. So, around most of these boulders, much of\nthe soil is gone, leaving a deep trench, at the bottom of which are\nstones and gravel, too large to be moved by the wind.\n\nThis story explains how these rocks came to be like that:\n\nOnce Old Man was crossing a river and the stream was deep, so that\nhe was carried away by the current, and lost his bow and arrows and\nother weapons. When he got to the shore he began to look about for\nsomething to use in making a bow and arrows, for he was hungry and\nwanted to kill some food.\n\nHe took the first wood he could find and made a bow and arrows and a\nhandle for his knife. When he had finished these things he started\non his way.\n\nPresently, as he looked over a hill he saw down below him a bear\ndigging roots. Old Man thought he would have some fun with the bear,\nand he called out aloud, \"He has no tail.\" Then he dodged back out\nof sight. The bear looked all about, but saw no one, and again began\nto dig roots. Then Old Man again peeped over the hill and saw the\nbear at work, and again called out, \"He has no tail.\" This time the\nbear looked up more quickly, but Old Man dodged down, and the bear\ndid not see him, and pretty soon went on with his digging.\n\nFour times Old Man did this, calling the bear names, but the fourth\ntime the bear was on the watch and saw Old Man, and started after\nhim.\n\nOld Man ran away as hard as he could, but the bear followed fast.\nPresently, Old Man tried to shoot the bear with his arrows, but they\nwere made of bad wood and would not fly well, and if they hit the\nbear, they just broke off. All his weapons failed him, and now the\nbear was close to him. Just in front was a great rock, and when Old\nMan came to that, he dodged behind it and ran around to the other\nside, and the bear followed him. They kept running around the rock\nfor a long time and wore a deep trail about it, and because Old Man\ncould turn more quickly, he kept just ahead of the bear. Old Man\nkept calling to the animals to help him, but no one came.\n\nHe was almost out of breath, and the bear was close to him, when Old\nMan saw lying on the ground a bull's horn. He picked it up and held\nit on his head and turned around and bellowed loudly, and the bear\nwas frightened and turned around and ran away as hard as he could.\nThen Old Man leaned up against the rock, and breathed hard for a\nlong time, but at last he got his wind back. He said to the rock,\n\"This is the way you rocks shall always be after this, with a big\nhole all around you.\"\n\nBy this time he was pretty tired and thirsty, and he thought he\nwould go down to the river and drink. When he got to the edge of the\nwater he got down on his knees to drink, and there before him in the\nwater he saw bullberries, great bunches of them. He said to himself,\n\"I will dive in and get those bull-berries\"; and he took off his\nmoccasins and clothing and dived in, but he could not find the\nbullberries, and presently he came up. He looked into the water\nagain, and again saw the bullberries. He said to himself, \"Those\nbullberries must be very deep down.\"\n\nHe went along the shore looking for a heavy stone that would take\nhim down into the deep water where the bullberries were, and when he\nfound one he tied the stone to his neck and again dived in. This\ntime he sank to the bottom, for the stone carried him down. He felt\nabout with his hands trying to reach the bullberries, but could feel\nnothing and began to drown. He tried to get free from the stone, but\nthat was hard to do; yet at last he broke the string and came to the\ntop of the water. He was almost dead, and it took him a long time to\nget to the shore, and when he got there he crawled up on to the bank\nand lay down to rest and get his breath. As he lay there on his\nback, he saw above him the thick growing bullberries whose\nreflections he had seen in the water. He said to himself, \"And I was\nalmost drowned for these.\" Then he took a stick and with it began to\nbeat the bullberry bushes. He said to the bushes, \"After this, the\npeople shall beat you in this way when they want to gather berries.\"\n\nThe Blackfeet women, when gathering bullberries, spread robes under\nthe bushes and beat the branches with sticks, knocking off the\nberries, which fall on the robes.\n\n\n\nTHE THEFT FROM THE SUN\n\nOne time when Old Man was on a journey, he came to the Sun's lodge,\nand went in and sat down, and the Sun asked him to stay with him for\na time. Old Man was glad to do so. One day the meat was all gone,\nand the Sun said, \"Well, Old Man, what do you say if we go out and\nkill some deer?\"\n\n\"I like what you say,\" said Old Man. \"Deer meat is good.\"\n\nThe Sun took down a bag, that was hanging from a lodge pole and took\nfrom it a handsome pair of leggings, embroidered with porcupine\nquills and pretty feathers.\n\n\"These are my hunting leggings,\" said the Sun; \"they have great\npower. When I want to kill deer, all I have to do is to put them on\nand walk around a patch of brush, and the leggings set it on fire\nand drive out the deer, so that I can shoot them.\"\n\n\"Well, well,\" exclaimed Old Man, \"how wonderful that is!\" He began\nto think, \"I wish I had such a pair of leggings as that\"; and after\nhe had thought about it some more, he made up his mind that he\nwould have those leggings, if he had to steal them.\n\nThey went out to hunt, and when they came to a patch of brush, the\nSun set it on fire with his hunting leggings. A number of deer ran\nout, and each shot one.\n\nThat night when they were going to bed the Sun pulled off his\nleggings, and laid them aside. Old Man saw where he had put them,\nand in the middle of the night, after every one was asleep, he took\nthe leggings and went away. He travelled a long time, until he had\ngone far and was tired; then making a pillow of the leggings he lay\ndown and slept. After a while he heard some one speaking and woke up\nand saw that it was day. Some one was talking to him. The Sun was\nsaying, \"Old Man, why are my leggings under your head?\"\n\nOld Man looked about him and saw that he was in the Sun's lodge. He\nthought he must have wandered around and got lost and returned\nthere. Again the Sun spoke, and asked, \"What are you doing with my\nleggings?\"\n\n\"Oh,\" replied Old Man, \"I could not find anything for a pillow, so\nI put these leggings under my head.\"\n\nWhen night came and all had gone to bed, again Old Man stole the\nleggings and ran off. This time he did not walk at all. He kept\nrunning until it was almost morning, and then lay down and slept.\nWhen morning came he found himself still in the Sun's lodge.\n\nYou see what a fool he was; he did not know that the whole world is\nthe Sun's lodge. He did not know that, no matter how far he ran, he\ncould not get out of the Sun's sight.\n\nThis time the Sun said, \"Old Man, since you like my leggings so\nmuch, I give them to you. Keep them.\" Then Old Man was glad and he\nwent away.\n\nOne day his food was all gone, and he put on the hunting leggings\nand went out and set fire to a piece of brush. He was just going to\nkill some deer that were running out, when he saw that the fire was\ngetting close to him. He ran away as fast as he could, but the fire\ngained on him and began to burn his legs. His leggings were all on\nfire. He came to a river and jumped in and pulled off the leggings\nas soon as he could. They were burnt to pieces.\n\nPerhaps the Sun did this because Old Man tried to steal his\nleggings.\n\n\nTHE SMART WOMAN CHIEF\n\nLong ago, they tell me, men and women did not know each other. Women\nwere put in one place and men in another. They were not together;\nthey were apart.\n\nHe who made us made women first. He did not make them very well.\nThat is why they are not so strong as men. The men he made better;\nso that they were strong.\n\nThe women were the smartest. They knew the most. They were the first\nto make piskuns, and to know how to tan hides and to make moccasins.\nAt that time men wore moccasins made from the shank of the buffalo's\nleg, and robes made of wolfskin. This was all their clothing.\n\nOne day when Old Man was travelling about, he came to a camp of men,\nand stayed there with them for a long time. It was after this that\nhe discovered there were such beings as women.\n\nOne time, as he was travelling along, he saw two women driving some\nbuffalo over a cliff. When Old Man got near them, the women were\nvery much frightened. They did not know what kind of animal it was\nthat was coming. Too much scared to run away, they lay down to hide.\nWhen Old Man came up to them he thought they were dead, and said,\n\"Here are two women who are dead. It is not good for them to lie out\nhere on the prairie. I must take them to a certain place.\" He looked\nthem all over to see what had killed them, but could find no wound.\nHe picked up one of the women and carried her along with him in his\narms. She was wondering how she could get away. She let her arms\nswing loose as if she were dead, and at every step Old Man took the\narm swung and hit him in the nose, and pretty soon his nose began to\nbleed and to hurt, and at length he put the woman down on the ground\nand went back to get the other woman; but while he was gone she had\nrun away, and when he came back to get the first one she was gone\ntoo; so he lost them both. This made him angry, and he said to\nhimself, \"If these two women will lie there again, I will get both\nof them.\"\n\nIn this way women found out that there were men.\n\nOne day Old Man stood on a hill and looked over toward the piskun at\nWoman's Falls, where the women had driven a band of buffalo over the\ncliff, and afterward were cutting up the meat. The chief of the\nwomen called him down to the camp, and sent word by him to the men,\nasking if they wanted to get wives. Old Man brought back word that\nthey did, and the chief woman sent a message, calling all the men to\na feast in her lodge to be married. The woman asked Old Man, \"How\nmany chiefs are there in that tribe?\" He answered, \"There are four\nchiefs. But the real chief of all that tribe you will know when you\nsee him by this--he is finely dressed and wears a robe trimmed, and\npainted red, and carries a lance with a bone head on each end.\" Old\nMan wanted to marry the chief of the women, and intended to dress\nin this way, and that is why he told her that.\n\nOld Man had no moccasins; his were all worn out. The women gave him\nsome for himself, and also some to take back to give to the men, and\nhe went back to the men's camp. When he reached it, word went out\nthat he had returned, and all the men said to each other, \"He has\ngot back; Old Man has come again.\" He gave the men the message that\nthe woman had sent, and soon the men started for the woman's camp to\nget married. When they came near it, they went up on a bluff and\nstood there, looking down on the camp. Old Man had dressed himself\nfinely, and had put on a trimmed robe painted red, and in his hand\nheld a lance with a bone head on each end.\n\nWhen the women saw that the men had come they got ready to go and\nselect their husbands. The chief of the women said, \"I am the chief.\nI will go first and take the man I like. The rest wait here.\"\n\nThe woman chief started up the hill to choose the chief of the men\nfor her husband. She had been making dried meat, and her hands,\narms, and clothing were covered with blood and grease. She was\ndirty, and Old Man did not know her. The woman went up to Old Man to\nchoose him, but he turned his back on her and would not go with her.\n\nShe went back to her camp and told the women that she had been\nrefused because her clothes were dirty. She said, \"Now, I am going\nto put on my nice clothes and choose a man. All of you can go up and\ntake men, but let no one take that man with the red robe and the\ndouble-headed lance.\"\n\nAfter she was nicely dressed the chief woman again went up on the\nhill. Now, Old Man knew who she was, and he kept getting in front of\nher and trying hard to have her take him, but she would not notice\nhim and took another man, the one standing next to Old Man. Then the\nother women began to come, and they kept coming up and choosing men,\nbut no one took Old Man, and at last all the men were taken and he\nwas left standing there alone.\n\nThis made him so angry that he wanted to do something, and he went\ndown to the woman's piskun and began to break down its walls, so the\nchief of the women turned him into a pine-tree.\n\n\nBOBCAT AND BIRCH TREE\n\nOnce Old Man was travelling over the prairie, when he saw far off a\nfire burning, and as he drew near it he saw many prairie-dogs\nsitting in a circle around the fire. There were so many of them that\nthere was no place for any one to sit down. Old Man stood there\nbehind the circle, and presently he began to cry, and then he said\nto the prairie-dogs, \"Let me, too, sit by that fire.\" The\nprairie-dogs said, \"All right, Old Man, don't cry; come and sit by\nthe fire.\" They moved aside so as to make a place for him, and Old\nMan sat down and looked on at what they were doing.\n\nHe saw that they were playing a game, and this was the way they did\nit: they put one prairie-dog in the fire and covered him up with hot\nashes, and then, after he had been there a little while, he would\nsay, \"_sk, sk_,\" and they pushed the ashes off him and pulled him\nout.\n\nOld Man said, \"Little brothers, teach me how to do that.\" The\nprairie-dogs told him what to do, and put him in the fire and\ncovered him up with the ashes, and after a little time he said,\n\"_sk, sk_,\" like a prairie-dog, and they pulled him out again.\nThen he did it to the prairie-dogs.\n\nAt first he put them in one at a time, but there were many of them,\nand soon he got tired and said, \"I will put you all in at once.\"\nThey said, \"Very well, Old Man,\" and all got in the ashes, but just\nas Old Man was about to cover them up one of them, a female, said,\n\"Do not cover me up, for I fear the heat will hurt me.\" Old Man\nsaid, \"Very well; if you do not wish to be covered up, you may sit\nover by the fire and watch the rest.\" Then he covered over all the\nothers.\n\nAt length the prairie-dogs said, \"_sk, sk_,\" but Old Man did not\nsweep off the ashes and pull them out of the fire. He let them stay\nthere and die. The she one that was looking on ran to a hole, and as\nshe went down in it, said, \"_sk, sk_.\" Old Man chased her, but he\ngot to the hole too late to catch her.\n\n\"Oh, well, you can go,\" he said; \"there will be more prairie-dogs\nby and by.\"\n\nWhen the prairie-dogs were roasted, Old Man cut some red willow\ntwigs to place them on, and then sat down and began to eat. He ate\nuntil he was full, and then felt sleepy.\n\nHe said to his nose, \"I am going to sleep now; watch out, and in\ncase any bad thing comes about, wake me up.\" Then Old Man slept.\n\nPretty soon his nose snored, and Old Man woke up and said, \"What is\nit?\" The nose said, \"A raven is flying by, over there.\" Old Man\nsaid, \"That is nothing,\" and went to sleep again.\n\nSoon his nose snored again, and Old Man said, \"What is it now?\" The\nnose said, \"There is a coyote over there, coming this way.\" Old Man\nsaid, \"A coyote is nothing,\" and again went to sleep.\n\nPresently his nose snored again, but Old Man did not wake up. Again\nit snored, and called out, \"Wake up, a bobcat is coming.\" Old Man\npaid no attention; he slept on.\n\nThe bobcat crept up to the fire and ate all the roasted\nprairie-dogs, and then went off and lay down on the flat rock and\nwent to sleep. All this time the nose kept trying to awaken Old Man,\nand at last he awoke, and the nose said, \"A bobcat is over there on\nthat flat rock. He has eaten all your food.\" Then Old Man was so\nangry that he called out loud.\n\nThe tracks of the bobcat were all greasy from the food it had been\neating, and Old Man followed these tracks. He went softly over to\nwhere the bobcat was sleeping, and seized it before it could wake up\nto bite or scratch him. The bobcat cried out, \"Wait, let me speak a\nword or two,\" but Old Man would not listen.\n\n\"I will teach you to steal my food,\" he said. He pulled off the\nlynx's tail, pounded his head against the rock so as to make his\nface flat, pulled him out long so as to make him small-bellied, and\nthen threw him into the brush. As he went sneaking away, Old Man\nsaid, \"There, that is the way you bobcats shall always be.\" It is\nfor this reason that the lynxes to-day look like that.\n\nOld Man went to the fire, and looked at the red willow sticks where\nthe roasted prairie-dogs had been, and when he saw them, and thought\nhow his food was all gone, it made him angry at his nose. He said,\n\"You fool, why did you not wake me?\" He took the willow sticks and\nthrust them in the coals, and when they had caught fire he burnt his\nnose. This hurt, and he ran up on a hill and held his nose to the\nwind, and called to the wind to blow hard and cool him. A hard wind\ncame, so hard that it blew him off the hill and away down to Birch\nCreek. As he was flying along he caught at the weeds and brush to\nstop himself, but nothing was strong enough to hold him. At last he\ngrasped a birch tree. He held fast, and it did not give way.\nAlthough the wind whipped him about, this way and that, and tumbled\nhim up and down, the tree held him. He kept calling to the wind to\nblow more softly, and at last it listened to him and went down.\n\nThen he said, \"This is a beautiful tree. It has saved me from being\nblown away and knocked all to pieces. I will make it pretty, and it\nshall always be like that.\" So he gashed the bark across with his\nstone knife, as you see the marks to-day.\n\n\nTHE RED-EYED DUCK\n\nOnce, long ago, Old Man was travelling north along a river. He\ncarried a great pack on his back. After a time he came to a place\nwhere the river spread out and the water was quiet, and here many\nducks were swimming about. Old Man did not look at the ducks, and\nkept travelling along; but presently some of the ducks saw him and\nlooked at him and said to each other, \"Who is that going along there\nwith a pack on his back?\" One duck said to the others, \"That must be\nOld Man.\"\n\nThe duck that knew him called out, saying, \"Hi, Old Man, where are\nyou going?\"\n\n\"I am going on farther,\" replied Old Man, \"I have been sent for.\"\n\n\"What have you got in your pack?\" said the duck.\n\n\"Those are my songs,\" answered Old Man. \"Some people have asked me\nto come and sing for them.\"\n\n\"Stop for a while and sing for us,\" said the duck, \"and we can have\na dance.\"\n\n\"No,\" said Old Man, \"I am in a hurry; I cannot stop now.\"\n\nThe duck kept persuading him to stop, and when it had asked him the\nfourth time, Old Man stopped and said to the ducks, \"Well, I will\nstop for a little while and sing for you, and you can dance.\"\n\nSo the ducks all came out on the bank and stood in a circle, and Old\nMan began to sing. He sang one song, and then said, \"Now, this next\nsong is a medicine song, and while you dance you must keep your eyes\nshut. No one must look. If any one opens his eyes and looks, his\neyes will turn red.\"\n\nThe ducks closed their eyes and Old Man began to sing, and they\ndanced around; but Old Man took a stick, and every time one of them\npassed him, he knocked it on the head and threw it into the circle.\n\nPresently one of the littlest ducks while dancing could not feel any\none on either side of him, and he opened his eyes and looked, and\nsaw what Old Man was doing. He cried out to the rest, \"Run, run,\nOld Man is killing us\"; and all the other ducks flew away, but ever\nsince that time that little duck's eyes have been red. It is the\nhorned grebe.\n\nOld Man took the ducks and went off a little way and built a fire\nand hung some of the ducks up in front of it to roast, and after the\nfire was burning well, he swept away the ashes and buried some of\nthe ducks in the ground and again swept back the fire over them.\nThen he lay down to wait for the birds to cook, and while they were\ncooking he fell asleep.\n\nWhile he slept a coyote came sneaking along and saw Old Man sleeping\nthere, and the ducks roasting by the fire. Very quietly he crept up\nto the fire and took the ducks one by one and ate them. Not one was\nleft. Pretty soon he found those that were roasting under the fire,\nand dug them out, and opening them, ate the meat from the inside of\nthe skin and filled each one with ashes and buried them all again.\nThen he went away.\n\nPretty soon Old Man woke up and saw that his ducks were gone, and\nwhen he saw the tracks about the fire, he knew that the coyote had\ntaken them.\n\n\"It was lucky,\" said Old Man, \"that I put some of those to roast\nunder the fire.\" He dug them up from under the ashes, but when he\ntook a big bite from one, his mouth and face were full of ashes.\n\n\n\n\nTHE ANCIENT BLACKFEET\n\n\nLong, long ago, before our fathers or grandfathers were born, before\nthe white people knew anything about the western half of North\nAmerica, the Indians who told these stories lived on the Western\nplains. To the west of their home rose high mountains, black with\npine-trees on their lower slopes and capped with snow, but their\ntents were pitched on the rolling prairie. For a little while in\nspring this prairie was green and dotted with flowers, but for most\nof the year it stretched away brown and bare, north, east, and\nsouth, farther than one could see.\n\nOn these plains were many kinds of wild animals. Sometimes the\nprairie was crowded with herds of black buffalo running in fear; or,\nagain, the herds, unfrightened, fed scattered out; so that the hills\nfar and near were dotted with their dark forms. Among the buffalo\nwere yellow and white antelope--many of them--graceful and swift of\nfoot. Feeding on the high prairie or going down into the wooded\nriver valleys to drink were herds of elk, while the willow thickets,\nthe brushy ravines, and the lower timbered foot-hills sheltered\ndeer. The naked Bad Lands, the rocky slopes of the mountains, and\nthe tall buttes that often rise above the level prairie were the\nrefuge of the mountain sheep, which in those days, like all the\nother grass eaters of the region, grazed on the prairie and sought\nthe more broken, higher country only when alarmed or when they\nwished to rest.\n\nThese were the animals which the Blackfeet killed for food before\nthe white men came, and of these the buffalo was the chief. Buffalo,\nmore than any other animals, could be captured in numbers, and the\nBlackfeet, like the other Indians of the plains, had devised a\nmethod for taking them, so that when the buffalo were near the\nBlackfeet never suffered from hunger. Yet sometimes it happened that\nthe buffalo went away, and that the lonely far travelling scouts\nsent out by the tribe could not find them. Then the people had to\nturn to the smaller animals--the elk, deer, antelope, and wild\nsheep.\n\nIn those old days, before they had horses, they did not make long\nmarches when they moved. Their only domestic animal was the dog,\nwhich was used chiefly as a beast of burden, either carrying loads\non its back or hauling a travois, formed by two long sticks crossing\nabove the shoulders and dragging on the ground behind. Behind the\ndog these two sticks were united by a little platform, on which was\nlashed some small burden--sometimes a little baby.\n\nIn those days, when the people moved from one place to another, all\nwho were large enough to walk and strong enough to carry a burden on\nthe shoulders, were laden. Usually men, women, and children alike\nbore loads suited to their strength. Yet sometimes the men carried\nno loads at all, for if journeying through a country where they\nfeared that some enemy might attack them, the men must be ready to\nfight and to defend their wives and children. A man cannot fight\nwell if he is carrying a burden; he cannot use his arms readily, nor\nrun about lightly--forward to attack, backward in retreat. If he is\nnot free to fight well, his family will be in danger. White men who\nhave seen Indians journeying in this way, and who have not\nunderstood why some women carried heavy loads and the men carried\nnothing, have said that Indian men were idle and lazy, and forced\ntheir women to do all the work. Those who wrote those things were\nmistaken in what they said. They did not understand what they saw.\nThe truth is that these men were prepared for danger of attacks by\nenemies, and were ready to do their best to save their families from\nharm.\n\nCarrying on their backs all their property, except the little which\nthe dogs might pack, it is evident that the Indians in those days\ncould not make long journeys.\n\nIn those days they had no buckets of wood or tin in which to carry\nwater. Instead, they used a vessel like a bag or sack, made from the\nsoft membrane of one of the stomachs of the buffalo. This, after it\nhad been cleansed and all the openings from it save one had been\ntied up, the women filled at the stream with a spoon made of\nbuffalo horn or with a larger ladle of the horn of the wild sheep.\nBecause this water-skin was soft and flexible, it could not stand on\nthe ground, and they hung it up, sometimes on the limb of a tree,\nmore often on one of the poles of the lodge, or sometimes on a\ntripod--three sticks coming together at the top and standing spread\nout at the ground.\n\nMost of the meat cooked for the family was roasted, yet much of it\nwas boiled, sometimes in a bowl of stone, sometimes in a kettle made\nof a fresh hide or of the paunch of the buffalo. Sometimes these\nskin or paunch kettles were supported at the sides by stakes stuck\nin the ground, and sometimes a hole dug in the ground was lined with\nthe hide, which was so arranged as to be water-tight. They were not,\nas may be imagined, put over a fire, but when filled with cold water\nthis water was heated in quite another way. Near by a fire was\nbuilt, in which were thrown large stones, and on top of the stones\nmore wood was piled; so that after a time, when the wood had burnt\ndown, the stones were very hot--sometimes red hot. With two rather\nshort-handled forked sticks, the women took from the fire one of the\nhot stones, and put it in the water in the hide kettle, and as it\ncooled, took it out and put in another hot stone. Thus the water was\nsoon heated, and boiled and cooked whatever was in the kettle. To be\nsure, there were some ashes and a little dirt in the soup, but that\nwas not regarded as important.\n\nThis was long before the Indians knew of matches, or even of flint\nand steel. In those days to make a fire was not easy and it took a\nlong time. By his knees or feet a man held in position on the ground\na piece of soft, dry wood in which two or three little hollows had\nbeen dug out, and taking another slender stick of hard wood, and\npressing the point in one of the little hollows in the stick of soft\nwood, he twirled the stick rapidly between the palms of his hands,\nso fast and so long that presently the dust ground from the softer\nstick, falling to one side in a little pile, began to smoke, and at\nlast a faint spark was seen at the top of the pile, which began to\nglow, and, spreading, became constantly larger. He, or his\ncompanion, for often two men twirled the stick, one relieving the\nother, caught this spark in a bit of tinder--perhaps some dry punk\nor a little fine grass--and by blowing coaxed it into flame, and\nthere was the fire.\n\nThis fire making was hard work, and the people tried to escape this\nwork by keeping a spark of fire always alive. To do this, men\nsometimes carried, by a thong slung over the shoulder, the hollow\ntip of a buffalo horn, the opening of which was closed by a wooden\nplug. When going on a journey, the man lighted a piece of punk, and,\nplacing it in this horn, plugged up the open end, so that no air\ncould get into the horn. There the punk smouldered for a long time,\nand neither went out nor was wholly consumed. Once in a while during\nthe day the man looked at this punk, and, if he saw that it was\nalmost consumed, he lighted another piece and put it in the horn and\nreplaced the plug. So at night when he reached camp the fire was\nstill in his horn, and he could readily kindle a blaze, and from\nthis blaze other fires were kindled. Often, if the camp was large,\nthe first young men who reached it gathered wood and perhaps kindled\nfour fires, and after the women had reached the camp, unpacked their\ndogs, and put up their lodges, each woman would go to one of these\nfires to get a brand or some coals with which to start her own lodge\nfire.\n\nIn warm weather men and boys wore little clothing. They went almost\nnaked; yet in cold weather each man or woman was most of the time\nwrapped in a warm robe of tanned buffalo skin. Even the little\nchildren wore robes, the smallest ones those taken from the little\nbuffalo calves. All their clothing, like their beds and their homes,\nwas made of the skins of animals. Shirts, women's dresses, leggings,\nand moccasins were made from the tanned skins of buffalo, deer,\nantelope, and mountain sheep. Often the moccasins were made from the\nsmoked skin cut from the top of an old lodge, for this skin had been\nsmoked so much that it never dried hard and stiff, after it had been\nwet. The moccasins had a stiff sole of buffalo rawhide; and in the\nbottom of this sole were cut one or two holes, in order that the\nwater might run out if a man had to wade through a stream.\n\nThe homes of these Indians were lodges--tents made of tanned buffalo\nskin supported on a cone of long, straight, slender poles. At the\ntop where the poles crossed was an opening for the smoke from the\nfire built in the centre of the circular lodge floor, while about\nthe fire, and close under the lodge covering, were the beds where\nthe people slept or ate during the day.\n\nThese homes were warm and comfortable. The border of the lodge\ncovering did not come down quite to the ground, but inside the lodge\npoles, and tied to them, was a long wide strip of tanned buffalo\nskin four or five feet high, and long enough to reach around the\ninside of the lodge, almost from one side of the door to the other.\nThis strip of tanned skin--made up of several pieces--was so wide\nthat one edge rested on the floor, and reached inward under the beds\nand seats. Through the open space between the lodge covering and the\nlodge lining, fresh air kept passing into the lodge close to the\nground and up over the lining and down toward the centre of the\nlodge, and so furnished draught for the fire. The lodge lining kept\nthis cold air from blowing directly on the occupants of the lodge\nwho sat around the fire. Often the lodge lining was finely painted\nwith pictures of animals, people, and figures of mysterious beings\nof which one might not speak.\n\nThe seats and beds in this home were covered with soft tanned\nbuffalo robes, and at the head and foot of each bed was an inclined\nback-rest of straight willow twigs, strung together on long lines of\nsinew and supported in an inclined position by a tripod. Buffalo\nrobes often hung over these back-rests. In the spaces between the\nback-rests, which though they came together at the top were\nseparated at the ground, were kept many of the possessions of the\nfamily; the pipe, sacks of tobacco, of paint, \"possible\nsacks\"--parfleches for clothing or food, and many smaller articles.\n\nThe outside of the lodge was often painted with mysterious figures\nwhich the lodge owner believed to have power to bring good luck to\nhim and to his family. Sometimes these figures represented\nanimals--buffalo, deer, and elk--or rocks, mountains, trees, or the\npuff-balls that grow on the prairie. Sometimes a procession of\nravens, marching one after the other, was painted around the\ncircumference of the lodge. The painting might show the tracks of\nanimals, or a number of water animals, apparently chasing each other\naround the lodge. On either side of the smoke hole at the top were\ntwo flaps, or wings, each one supported by a single pole. These were\nto regulate the draught of the fire in case of a change of wind, and\nthe poles were moved from side to side, changing as the direction of\nthe wind changed. On such wings were often painted groups of white\ndisks which represented some group of stars. At the back of the\nlodge, high up, just below the place where the lodge poles cross,\nwas often a large round disk representing the sun, and above that a\ncross, which was the sign of the butterfly, the power that they\nbelieve brings sleep. From the ends of the wings, or tied to the\ntips of the poles which supported them, hung buffalo tails, and\nsometimes running down from one of these poles to the ground near\nthe door was a string of the sheaths of buffalo hooflets, which\nrattled as it swung to and fro in the breeze.\n\nTheir arms were the bow and arrow, a short spear or lance, with a\nhead of sharpened stone or bone, stone hammers with wooden handles,\nand knives made of bone or stone, and if of stone, lashed by rawhide\nor sinew to a split wooden handle.\n\nThe hammers were of two sorts: one quite heavy, almost like a\nsledge-hammer or maul, and with a short handle; the other much\nlighter, and with a longer, more limber handle. This last was used\nby men in war as a mace or war club, while the heavier hammer was\nused by women as an axe to break up fallen trees for firewood; as a\nhammer to drive tent-pins into the ground, to kill disabled animals,\nor to break up heavy bones for the marrow they contained. These\nmauls and hammers were usually made by choosing an oval stone and\npecking a groove about its shortest diameter. The handles were made\nby green sticks fitted as closely as possible into the groove,\nbrought together and lashed in position by sinew, the whole being\nthen covered with wet rawhide tightly fitted and sewed. As the\nrawhide dried, it shrunk and strongly bound together the parts of\nthe weapon.\n\nThe Blackfeet bow was about four feet long. Its string was of\ntwisted sinew and it was backed with sinew. This gave the bow great\npower, so that the arrow went with much force. The arrows were\nstraight shoots of the service berry or cherry, and the manufacture\nof arrows was the chief employment of many of the men of middle\nlife. Each arrow by the same maker was precisely like every other\narrow he made. Each arrowmaker tried hard to make good arrows. It\nwas a fine thing to be known as a maker of good arrows.\n\nThe shoots for the arrow shafts were brought into the lodge, peeled,\nsmoothed roughly, tied up in bundles, and hung up to dry. After they\nwere dried, the bundles were taken down and each shaft was smoothed\nand reduced to a proper thickness by the use of a grooved piece of\nsand-stone, which acted on the arrow like sandpaper. After they were\nof the right thickness, they were straightened by bending with the\nhands, and sometimes with the teeth, and were then passed through a\ncircular hole drilled in a rib, or in a mountain sheep's horn, which\nacted in part as a gauge of the size and also as a smoother, for if\nin passing through the hole the arrow fitted tightly, the shaft\nreceived a good polish. The three grooves which always were found in\nthe Blackfeet arrows were made by pushing the shaft through a round\nhole drilled in a rib, which, however, had one or more projections\nleft on the inside. These projections pressed into the soft wood and\nmade the grooves, which were in every arrow. The feathers were three\nin number. They were put on with a glue, made by boiling scraps of\ndried rawhide, and were held in place by wrappings of sinew. The\nheads of the arrows were made of stone or bone or horn. The flint\npoints were often highly worked and very beautiful, being broken\nfrom larger flints by sharp blows of a stone hammer, and after they\nhad been shaped the edges were worked sharp by flaking with an\nimplement of bone or horn. The points made of horn or bone were\nground sharp by rubbing on a stone. A notch was cut in the end of\nthe arrow shaft and the shank of the arrow point set in that. The\narrow heads were firmly fixed to the shaft by glue and by sinew\nwrapping.\n\nAlthough the Blackfeet lived almost altogether on the flesh of birds\nor animals, yet they had some vegetable food. This was chiefly\nberries--of which in summer the women collected great quantities and\ndried them for winter use--and roots, the gathering of which at the\nproper season of the year occupied much of the time of women and\nyoung girls. These roots were unearthed by a long, sharp-pointed\nstick, called a root digger. Some of the roots were eaten as soon as\ncollected, while others were dried and stored for use in winter.\n\nAfter they reached the plains, the main food of the Blackfeet was\nthe buffalo, which they killed in large numbers when everything went\nright. Many of the streams in the Blackfeet country run through\nwide, deep valleys bordered on either side by cliffs, or broken\nprecipices, falling sharply from the high prairie above. Long ago\nthe Blackfeet must have learned that it was possible to make the\nbuffalo jump over these cliffs, and that in the fall on the rocks\nbelow numbers would be killed or crippled. No doubt after this had\nbeen practised for a time, there came to some one the idea of\nbuilding at the foot of such a cliff where the buffalo were run\nover, a fence which would form a corral or pound, and which would\nhold all the buffalo that were jumped over the cliff. This corral\nthey called piskun.\n\nIt is often said that the buffalo were driven over these precipices,\nbut this is true only in part. Like most wild animals, buffalo are\ninquisitive. It was not difficult to excite their curiosity, and\nwhen they saw something they did not recognize, they were anxious to\nfind out what it was.\n\nWhen run into the piskun, the buffalo were really drawn by curiosity\nalmost to the jumping point, and between two long diverging lines of\npeople, who kept hidden until after the buffalo had passed them, and\nthen rose and showed themselves and tried to frighten the animals.\nNow, to be sure, for the short distance that remained between the\nplace where they were alarmed and the place where they jumped, the\nbuffalo were driven. Any attempt on the open prairie to drive\nbuffalo in one direction or another would be certain to fail. The\nanimals would go where they wished to. They would not be driven,\nthough often they might be led.\n\nTo the people the capture of food was the most important thing in\nlife, and they put forth every effort to accomplish it. For this\nreason it came about that the effort to capture buffalo was preceded\nusually by religious ceremonies, in which many prayers were offered\nto the powers of the earth, the sky, and the waters, many sacrifices\nmade, and sacred objects, like the buffalo stone, were displayed.\n\nWhen the day for the hunt came, the man who was to bring the buffalo\nleft the camp early in the morning, climbed the rocky bluffs to the\nhigh prairie, and journeyed toward some near-by herd of buffalo,\nthat had been located the day before by himself or by other young\nmen. He approached the buffalo as nearly as he could without\nfrightening them, and then, attracting the attention of some of the\nanimals by uttering certain calls, tossed into the air his buffalo\nrobe or some smaller object. As soon as the buffalo began to look at\nhim, he retreated slowly in the direction of the piskun, but\ncontinued to call and to attract their attention by showing himself\nand then disappearing. Soon, some of the buffalo began to walk\ntoward him, and others began to look and to follow those that had\nfirst started, so that before long the whole herd of fifty or a\nhundred animals might be walking or sometimes trotting after him.\nThe more rapidly the buffalo came on, the faster the man ran--and\nsometimes it was a hard matter for him to keep ahead of the\nherd--until he had got far within the wings and near to the cliff.\nIf there seemed danger that he would be overtaken, he watched his\nchance and either at some low place quickly dodged out of the line\nin which the buffalo were running, or hid behind one of the piles of\nstones of which the wings were formed, or, if he had time, slipped\nover the rocky wall at the valley's edge, so as to get out of the\nway of the approaching herd.\n\nAs soon as the buffalo had come well within the diverging lines of\npeople who were hidden behind the piles of stones called wings,\nthose whom the buffalo passed rose up from their places of\nconcealment, and by yells and shouts and the waving of their robes\nfrightened the buffalo, so that they quite forgot their curiosity in\nthe terror that now replaced it. When the leaders reached the brink\nof the cliff, they could not stop. They were pushed over by those\nbehind, and most of the buffalo jumped over the cliff. Many were\ncrippled or injured by the fall, and all were kept within the fence\nof the piskun below. About this fence the people were collected. The\nbuffalo raced round and round within the pen, the young and weak\nbeing injured or killed in the crowding, while above the fence men\nwere shooting them with arrows until presently all in the pen were\ndead, or so hurt that the women could go into the pen and kill them.\nThe people entered and took the flesh and hides.\n\nDeer, elk, and antelope were shot with arrows, and antelope were\noften captured in pitfalls roofed with slender poles and covered\nwith grass and earth. Such pitfalls were dug in a region where\nantelope were plenty, and a long > shaped pair of wings, made of\npoles or bushes or even rock piles, led to the pit. The antelope is\nvery inquisitive and was easily led within the chute and there\nfrightened, as were the buffalo, by people who had been concealed\nand who rose up and showed themselves after the antelope had passed.\nThis was done more in order to secure antelope skins for clothing\nthan their flesh for food.\n\nFish and reptiles were not eaten by the Blackfeet, nor were dogs,\nalthough dogs, wolves, and coyotes are eaten by many tribes of\nplains Indians. Most small animals, and practically all birds, were\neaten in case of need. In summer, when the wildfowl which bred\non so many of the lakes in the Blackfeet country lost their\nflight-feathers, during the moult, and again in the late summer,\nwhen the young ducks and geese were almost fullgrown but could not\nyet fly, the Indians often went in large parties to the shallow\nlakes which here and there dotted the prairie, and, driving the\nbirds to shore, killed them in large numbers.\n\nEarlier in the season, when the fowl had begun to lay their eggs,\nthese were collected in great quantities for food. Sometimes they\nwere roasted in the hot ashes, but a more common way was to dig a\ndeep, narrow hole in the ground in which the eggs were to be cooked.\nSeveral little platforms of small sticks or twigs were built in this\nhole, one above another, and on these platforms they put the eggs.\nAnother much smaller hole was dug to one side of the large hole,\nslanting down into it. The large hole was partly filled with water,\nand was then roofed over by small sticks on which was placed grass\ncovered with earth. Stones were heated in a fire built near at hand,\nand then were rolled down the side hole into the larger hole,\nheating the water, which at last boiled and steamed, the steam\ncooking the eggs.\n\nWhen the Americans first met them on the prairie, the Blackfeet were\nknown as great warriors. But up to the time when they got from the\nHudson Bay traders better weapons than they had before known,\nwhether these were metal knives, steel arrow points, or guns, it is\nprobable that they did not do much fighting. There seems to have\nbeen no reason why they should have fought, unless they quarrelled\nabout small matters with other tribes. It became quite different\nwhen the Indians procured better arms and, above all, when they got\nhorses--a means of swiftly getting about over the country, something\nthat all people wanted to have and which all were so eager to obtain\nthat they would go into danger for them. In the old days of stone\narrow heads, when they had to travel on foot and to carry heavy\nloads on their backs, the whole thought and effort of the tribe must\nhave been devoted to the work of procuring a supply of food.\n\nThe tribal and family life of the people was simple and friendly.\nThe man and his wives loved each other and loved their children.\nRelationship counted for much in an Indian camp, and cousins of\nremote degree were called brother and sister. Children were not\npunished; they were trained by persuasion and advice. They were\ntold by older people how they ought to act in order to make their\nlives happy and successful and to be well thought of by their\nfellows. Young people had much respect for their elders, listened to\nwhat they said, and strove more or less successfully to follow their\nteachings.\n\nThe Blackfeet were very religious. They feared many natural powers\nand influences whose workings they did not understand, and they were\nconstantly praying to the Sun--regarded as the ruler of the\nuniverse--as well as to those other powers which they believe live\nin the stars, the earth, the mountains, the animals, and the trees.\nThe Blackfoot was constantly afraid that some evil thing might\nhappen to him, and he therefore prayed to all the powers for\nhelp--for good fortune in his undertakings, for health, plenty, and\nlong life for himself and all his family.\n\nAmong these tribes there are a number of secret societies known as\nthe All Comrades or All Friends--groups of men of different ages,\nwhich have been alluded to in the stories. Originally there were\nabout twelve of these societies, but a number have been abandoned\nof recent years.\n\nThe tribe was divided into a number of clans, all the members of\nwhich were believed to be related, and in old times no member of a\nclan was permitted to marry another member of the clan. Relations\nmight not marry.\n\nIn olden times, when large numbers of people were together, the\nlodges of the camp were pitched in a great circle, the opening\ntoward the southeast. In this circle each clan camped in its own\nparticular place with relation to the other clans. Within the circle\nwas often a smaller circle of lodges, each occupied by one or more\nof the societies of the All Comrades. Sometimes it happened that\ngreat numbers of the Blackfeet came together, perhaps even all of\nthe three tribes, Blackfeet, Bloods, and Piegans. When this was the\ncase, each tribe camped by itself with its own circle, no matter how\nnear it might be to one or other of the tribal circles.\n\nWe read of some tribes of Indians which believed that after death\nthe spirits of the departed went to a happy hunting ground where\ngame was always plenty and life was full of joy. The Blackfeet\nknew no such place as this. When they died their spirits\nwere believed to go to a barren, sandy region south of the\nSaskatchewan, which they called the Sand Hills. Here, as shadows,\nthe ghosts lived a life much like their existence before death,\nbut all was unreal--unsubstantial. Riding on shadow horses they\nhunted shadow buffalo. They lived in shadow camps and when they\nmoved shadow dogs hauled their travois. There are stories which\ntell that living people have seen these hunters, their houses, and\ntheir implements of the camp, but when the people got close they\nfound that what they thought they had seen was something\ndifferent. It reminds us a little of the old ballad of Alice\nBrand, where Urgan tells of the things seen in fairy-land:\n\n     \"And gayly shines the Fairy-land--\n        But all is glistening show,\n      Like the idle gleam that December's beam\n        Can dart on ice and snow.\n\n     \"And fading, like that varied gleam,\n        Is our inconstant shape,\n      Who now like knight and lady seem,\n        And now like dwarf and ape.\"\n\nBooks have been written about the Blackfeet Indians which tell much\nmore about how they lived than can be given here.","title":"Blackfeet Indian Stories","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":40493}