Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park — John Shaqi
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
"Rising Bull was a chief in two tribes," Yellow Wolf went on. "In his
youth he married a Flathead girl, at a time when we were at peace
with that people, and after a winter or two she persuaded him to take
her across the mountains for a visit with her relatives. Rising Bull
came to like them and all the Flathead people so well that he remained
with them a number of winters, and because of his bravery, and his
kind and generous nature, the Flatheads soon appointed him one of
their chiefs. When he was about forty winters of age, some young men
of both tribes quarreled over a gambling game and several were killed
on each side. That, of course, ended the peace pact; war was declared,
and as Rising Bull could not fight his own people, he came back to us
with his Flathead wife, and was a leader in the war, which lasted for
several years. When that was ended, he continued to lead war parties
against the Crows, the Sioux, the Assiniboines, and the far-off
Snakes, and was always successful. Came the dreadful Measles
Winter,[1] and with hundreds of our people, he died. He left a son,
White Quiver, a very brave young warrior, and two years after his
father's death, he was killed in a raid against the Crows."
[1] The winter of 1859-60.
[Illustration: UPPER TWO MEDICINE LAKE. RISING BULL MOUNTAIN
ON RIGHT]
"Ai! Rising Bull was a brave man. And oh, so gentle-hearted! So good
to the widows and orphans; to all in any kind of distress! We must in
some way see that this mountain continues to bear his name," said
Tail-Feathers-Coming-over-the-Hill.
And to that I most heartily agree.
_July 15._
We are a considerable camp of people: Yellow Wolf, my old uncle-in-law;
Tail-Feathers-Coming-over-the-Hill, another uncle-in-law; Big Spring;
Two Guns; Black Bull; Stabs-by-Mistake; Eagle Child; Eli Guardipe, or
Takes-Gun-Ahead. And with them they have their eleven women and fourteen
children. All are my especial friends, and all the men have been to
war--some of them many times--and have counted _coup_ upon the enemy.
Tail-Feathers-Coming-over-the-Hill has many battle scars on different
parts of his body. I was with him when he got the last one, in a fight
with the Crees. The bullet struck him in the forehead, ripped open the
scalp clear to the back of his head, but did not penetrate the skull. He
dropped instantly when struck, and we at first thought that he was dead.
It was some hours before he regained consciousness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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