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
The elk man answered: "I can help you; I will help you. Through what
was given me in my vision I am in great favor with the sun, and all
the gods of the earth, the deep waters, and the blue above. That
medicine you shall have. I give it to you now!" And having said that,
he gave the man a painted lodge, a medicine pipestem, beautifully
decorated with a down-hanging set of tail feathers of the sage hen,
and wound with strips of the fur of the bear and various water
animals. And with it, wrapped in clean buckskins, were the skins of
birds and animals, all those that live upon the water and in the
water, and feed upon the life in the water, fish, and all the various
water insects. And having given the man all this, he taught him how to
use it, with all the prayers and ceremonies that go with it. The man
took all this to his home, and used it, and found that it was great
medicine, and ever since that time the Elk Medicine Lodge and the
things that go with it have been handed down from generation to
generation, to this day.
So now we come to the ceremony that was given to-day for the curing of
my illness. It was my lucky day! Early in the morning Mr. Herford T.
Cowling, chief photographer for the United States Reclamation Service,
arrived at the Great Northern Railway Company's St. Mary's Camp and I
went to him and asked if he would take moving pictures of the
ceremony, provided the Indians were willing to have him do it. He
enthusiastically replied that he would be very glad to take it all in
with his crank-machine, so I went to my people to ask if they would
permit it to be done. They objected, saying that the ceremony was so
sacred that even the presence of white people, antagonistic all of
them to their religion, would profane it. They did not count me. I was
one of them!
Said I: "Listen, my relatives, and brothers all! We are all soon to
die, and as we pass away the whole of the old life goes with us. Your
children, taken away from you by the whites, put in school and taught
the white men's religion and manner of living, will know nothing about
the way their fathers lived unless I put it all down in writing for
all time to come. That I am doing. And how much more interesting it
will be if I can have pictures to go with it! Say yes! Let us have,
with this that you are to do to-day, the living pictures of it all!"
There followed a long silence, all considering my request. Finally, my
best of friends, Tail-Feathers-Coming-over-the-Hill, wiped tears from
his eyes, and said, brokenly: "Ap-i-kun´-i is right. The whites take
our children from us and teach them false beliefs. But they teach them
to read, and it may be, that, after we have all gone on to the Sand
Hills,[12] they will read our brother's writings and see us as we
were, making our prayers to the gods, and, having read and seen the
pictures of it all, return to the one true faith. I say, let the
picture man come!"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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