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
"Said the woman: 'There! We are now complete; we have fine appearance.
Let us go home and show the people what we have done.'
"'No,' Wise Man answered; 'something is lacking, something that will
make our clothes really beautiful. I have done all that I can without
help, and now I shall ask the gods to show me what more to do.'
"Perhaps it was the gods that directed his footsteps the next day. As
he was going through the timber he came upon the remains of a
porcupine, its quills scattered all around upon the ground. He sat
down, took up some and examined them, and the thought came to him that
they could be dyed different colors and in some way sewed upon
garments and make them of brighter hue. He took all that he could
find, and killed several more porcupines, and carried home all the
long quills to his woman and told her his plan.
"Said she, 'I know that the yellow moss that grows on pine trees will
stain anything a yellow that will not fade, that cannot be washed off.
Let us seek for other colors.'
"They sought a long time, finding a green color in a certain wood, a
red in the juice of a plant, and then they dyed the quills the three
colors. Meantime the woman had been trying different ways to fasten
the quills to leather, and now, by flattening them, turning in the
ends, and sewing them side by side with very fine sinew and with the
finest of bone needles, she succeeded in making long bands of them of
different designs in the various colors. She was a long, long time
making them, but at last she made enough of the bands to sew onto the
arms of Wise Man's shirt, and down his leggins, and upon the neck
front-and-back of her gown. Each was so pleased with the appearance of
the other then that they kissed and almost cried with joy. Early
the following morning they packed up, crossed the river, and started
for the camp, still here at Chief Mountain. As soon as they came in
sight of it they stopped, put on their fine clothes, and then went on.
The people saw them approaching, but not until they were right close
to the camp were they recognized. Then what a crowd surrounded them,
staring at their beautiful garments, asking questions without end, and
as soon as they learned how this had all been done, they began at once
to gather material for similar clothing. And Wise Man, of course,
became a great man in the tribe, for to him was due the discovery of
the way to make beautiful things."
[Illustration: GLACIER ON TRAIL TO ICEBERG LAKE]
_September 9._
Although nothing has been said, we have not been so cheerful as usual
for the past few days, for all have known that we must soon part and
go our several ways. Tail-Feathers-Coming-over-the-Hill is a sick man,
and Yellow Wolf but little better, so to-night we decided to break
camp in the morning. To-morrow night each family will be at home on
Cutbank, Willow Creek, Two Medicine, and Badger, all streams of the
Reservation, and I shall be upon my way to the Always-Summer-Land.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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