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
"Of course, nothing could have pleased the Nez Percé more than that.
To kill an enemy and take his beautiful woman, what a big _coup_ that
would be! He signed to the woman that what she proposed was good, and
slid from his horse and tied it to a tree, then signed to her to go,
and he would follow, keeping out of sight.
"The woman crossed the big camping-ground and found her man: 'I have
made a great find,' she told him. 'On some bushes over there are
hanging beautiful war clothes, a shield, weapons, and a medicine
pouch. Leave you your weapons and things here, and come with me, and
take them.'
"'But why should I leave my weapons? One should never be without
them,' he objected.
"'Because from here goes the trail we are to follow, and you will have
all you can do to bring here what I have found,' she explained.
"He didn't see any sense in leaving his weapons, but took her word and
laid them down, along with his medicine pouch, and his war clothes in
their _parflèche_ (painted cylinder), and followed her out into the
open park. 'The things are right across there in the brush,' she told
him, pointing to the place, and then gradually dropped back to his
side, and then a step behind him. Then, as they came near the brush on
the far side, she suddenly seized him, endeavoring to squeeze his arms
close to his side, so that he could not use them, and at the same time
she called out to the Nez Percé to come to her assistance. He had been
watching, and was already coming as fast as he could run.
"Falling Bear, of course, saw at once the intentions of the two, and
as quick as a flash of lightning made up his mind what to do. He only
half struggled with the woman, now grasping his neck with one hand and
arm, and beating his eyes and face with the other hand. She was fast
blinding him, but he stood the pain of it until the Nez Percé, with
war club raised, was but a step or two away. He then broke loose from
the woman, kicked backward, his foot striking her in the stomach and
knocking her over, and then he sprang at the Nez Percé, seized the arm
and hand that held the war club high, and struggled with the man for
possession of it. He wrenched it away from him, and with it struck him
a hard blow on the head, and he fell, his skull crushed in, and died.
The victor scalped him with his own knife, took his war club and his
bow and arrows, and then turned to the woman.
"She lay where she had fallen, trembling at what she had done, wishing
that she had not done it. 'Get up. If you spoke truth, if there are
war clothes and other things over there, lead me to them,' Falling
Bear told her.
"She arose, still trembling, but now with some hope that he was not
going to kill her, and led him to the place. His eyes were swelling shut
so fast that one was entirely closed, but he could partly use the other.
He looked at the things there on the brush: 'Ah! Here are the war
clothes, the shield, the medicine pouch, but where are the weapons?'
he asked.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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