Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National ParkSchultz, James Willard
History
Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park
Schultz, James Willard
Glacier National Park (Mont.); Indians of North America -- Folklore; Siksika Indians -- Folklore
In the beaver medicine lodge the men heard her and came running to
her relief. She had the man down; he was struggling to rise; but the
sun must have given her of his power: she held him firmly until they
came, and they seized him, and White Antelope stabbed him to death. He
was a Gros Ventre.
HOW MOUNTAIN CHIEF FOUND HIS HORSES
"Nephew, listen! Magic took place here in the long ago," said Yellow
Wolf as we sat around his lodge fire this evening.
"The Ah´-pai-tup-i[4] were hunting on this Cutbank stream, every day
or two moving nearer and nearer to the mountains. At one of their
camping-places some distance below here, Mountain Chief lost his two
fast buffalo runners, and although all the young men of the camp
scattered out to look for them, they could not be found. Camp was
moved nearer to the mountains, and after a few days moved again, this
time to this very place where we are now encamped.
[4] Ah´-pai-tup-i (Blood People). One of the twenty-four gentes of
the Pi-kun´-i, or "Piegan" Blackfeet.
"The loss of the two buffalo runners was all that Mountain Chief could
think about. As they could not be found, he felt sure that some enemy
had stolen them.
"There was a Kootenai Indian visiting in camp, and one day he entered
Mountain Chiefs lodge, and said to him: 'You are grieving about the
loss of your two fast horses. Now, if you will do as I say, perhaps I
can find them for you.'
"'Whatever you ask, that shall be done,' Mountain Chief told him.
"'First, then, you must give me a robe, a good bow, and a quiver of
arrows,' said the Kootenai.
"'They are yours; there they are: my own weapons, that robe. Take them
when you want them,' said the chief.
"'I will take them later,' said the Kootenai. 'And now, call in your
leading men.'
"Mountain Chief went outside and shouted the names of the men he
wanted: a medicine man; several old, wise men; some warriors of great
name. They came and were given seats in his lodge, each man according
to his standing in the tribe. Said the Kootenai then: 'I have a sacred
song that I want you all to learn. I will sing it over three or four
times, then you sing it with me.'
"He sang the song. It was low in tone, and slow; a strange and beautiful
song that gripped one's heart. But it was not hard to learn; after the
Kootenai had sung it over four times, all there could sing it with him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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