The Blackfeet, sometimes called the Blackfoot, are one of the largest Algonquian tribes and one of the most powerful on the northwest Plains region. They are called "Siksikawa" (pronounced "sheek-sheek-ahwah"), which literally means "black foot". There are two beliefs on how the name came to be; the first refers to the blackening of their moccasins by walking near prarie fires, and the second refers to the black painting on some of their people's moccasins long ago. The Blackfeet are made up of three tribes; the Siksika, the Blood, and the Piikani (later corrupted to Piegan). The Piikani are mainly based in Montana now, while the other two tribes are in the Alberta area of Canada. One of the main figures in a lot of the Blackfeet legends is Napi, or Old Man. Napi serves two purposes; he is revered, and is the one that many people pray to, and he is also a trickster of sorts. In some of the legends, he is downright dangerous, and rightly so! He is supposed to be the son of the Sun and the Moon, and in some stories, is also one of the people who brought the Sun Dance to the people.
Blackfoot Village Fifty years before Lewis and Clark, the Blackfeet Indians had a reputation of being hospitable to Europeans, who occasionally even wintered with the tribe. By 1806, however, the world inhabited by the Blackfeet in present-day northern Montana had grown increasingly complex. The Blackfeet were regular commerce partners with Canadian-based British merchants, and in their frequent visits to trading posts, the Indians exchanged wolf and beaver pelts for guns, ammunition and alcohol. This relationship had lasted more than 20 years, and during that time, the Blackfeet – armed with guns – had been able to dominate their Nez Perce and Shoshone rivals. Eight Blackfeet warriors encountered Meriwether Lewis and a party of the Corps of Discovery in July 1806. After their initial fears of the armed strangers had subsided, the Indians decided to camp with the Americans. During this first day and night, Lewis explained the United States’ intent to bring about a comprehensive peace between all the Indian tribes of the west. He went on to add that the Shoshones and Nez Perces – mortal enemies of the Blackfeet – had already agreed to this peace, and would be receiving guns and supplies because of it. To the Blackfeet, American plans represented a direct threat. As far as the Indians were concerned, giving guns to their adversaries only could result in a weakening of Blackfeet power. That night, the Blackfeet attempted to steal the expedition’s guns. Their plans went awry, and in the chaos that ensued, Lewis and Reuben Field each killed a Blackfeet warrior. The incident marked the first act of bloodshed between the western Indians and representatives of the United States. The surviving Blackfeet returned to their tribe, and communicated what they had learned of America’s goals for the region. From that point forward, the Blackfeet regarded the Americans with hostility, and acted toward them similarly. Ironically, in the years that followed, Blackfeet war parties would be responsible for the deaths of three former members of the Corps of Discovery.
But now, on to the legends...
Many years ago, a young Piegan warrior was noted for his bravery. When he grew older and more experienced in war, he became the war-chief for a large band of Piegan warriors.A little while after he became the war-chief, he fell in love with a girl who was in his tribe, and they got married. He was so in love with her that he took no other wives, and he decided not to go on war parties anymore. He and his wife were very happy together; unusually so, and when they had a baby, they were even happier then. Some moons later, a war party that had left his village was almost destroyed by an enemy. Only four men came back to tell the story. The war-chief was greatly troubled by this. He saw that if the enemy was not punished, they would raid the Piegan camp. So he gave a big war feast and asked all of the young men of his band to come to it. After they had all eaten their fill, the war-chief arose and said to them in solemn tones: "Friends and brothers, you have all heard the story that our four young men have told us. All the others who went out from our camp were killed by the enemy. Only these four have come back to our campfires. Those who were killed were our friends and relatives. "We who live must go out on the warpath to avenge the fallen. If we don't, the enemy will think that we are weak and that they can attack us unhurt. Let us not let them attack us here in the camp. "I will lead a party on the warpath. Who here will go with me against the enemy that has killed our friends and brothers?" A party of brave warriors gathered around him, willing to follow their leader. His wife also asked to join the party, but he told her to stay at the camp. "If you go without me," she said, "you will find an empty lodge when you return." The Chief talked to her and calmed her, and finally convinced her to stay with the women and children and old men in the camp at the foot of a high mountain. Leading a large party of men, the Chief rode out from the village. The Piegans met the enemy and defeated them. But their war-chief was killed. Sadly, his followers carried the broken body back to the camp. His wife was crazed with grief. With vacant eyes she wandered everywhere, looking for her husband and calling his name. Her friends took care of her, hoping that eventually her mind would become clear again and that she could return to normal life. One day, though, they could not find her anywhere in the camp. Searching for her, they saw her high up on the side of the mountain, the tall one above their camp. She had her baby in her arms. The head man of the village sent runners after her, but from the top of the mountain she signalled that they should not try to reach her. All watched in horror as she threw her baby out over the cliff, and then herself jumped from the mountain to the rocks far, far below. Her people buried the woman and baby there among the rocks. They carried the body of the Chief to the place and buried him beside them. From that time on, the mountain that towers above the graves was known as Minnow Stahkoo, "the Mountain of the Chief", or "Chief Mountain". If you look closely, even today, you can see on the face of the mountain the figure of a woman with a baby inn her arms, the wife and child of the Chief. Chief Mountain is a mountain in Glacier National Park. |
Old Man came from the South, making the mountains, praries, and forests as he passed along. He made the birds and animals also. He travelled northward, making things as he went along, putting red paint in the ground here and there, making it all as we see it today. He made the Milk River and then crossed it. As he was tired, he went up onto a little hill and he laid down to rest. As he lay on his back, stretched out on the grass with his arms extended, he marked his figure with stones. You can still see those stones now, showing you where his body laid. Going on north when he was through he tripped over a knoll and fell down hard on his knees. He said, "You are a bad thing to make me stumble so!" Then he raised up two large buttes there and named them the Knees. They are still called the Knees to this day. He went on farther north, and with some rocks that he had he built the Sweet Grass Hills. Old Man covered the plains with grass for the animals to feed upon. He marked off a piece of ground and in it make all kinds of roots and berries to grow - camas, carrots, turnips, bitterroot, serviceberries, bullberries, cherries, plums, and rosebuds. He planted trees, and put all kinds of animals on the ground. When he made the bighorn sheep with its large, heavy horns, he had put it out on the prarie. But it didn't travel very easy on the prarie; it didn't go very fast, and it moved awkwardly. So Old Man took it by its horns and led it up to the mountains, and turned it loose. There the bighorn skipped about among the rocks and went up fearful places with no trouble whatsoever. So Old Man said to it, "This is where you are meant to be; this is what you're fitted for, the rocks and the mountains." While he was in the mountains, he made the antelope out of dirt and turned it loose, to see how it would go. It ran so fast that it fell over some rocks and hurt itself. Seeing that the mountains weren't the place for it, Old Man took the antelope down to the prarie and turned it loose. He watched it for a moment, and then said, "So this is what you are suited for, the broad prarie," as he watched it running at full stride across the prarie. One day Old Man decided that he would make a woman and a child. So he formed them both of clay, the woman and the child, who was her son. After he had made the clay into human shapes, he said to it, "You must be people." And then he covered it up and went away. The next morning he went to the place, and took off all of the covering, but the clay had changed little. The second morning he saw a little change, and the third, a lot more. The fourth morning he went to the place, took off the covering, looked at the clay people, and said, "Get up and walk." They did so. They walked down to the river with their maker, and then he told them that his name was Napi, Old Man. And that is how we came to be people. It was he who made us. The first people were poor and naked, and they didn't know how to do anything for themselves. Old Man showed them the roots and berries and said that "you can eat these". He pointed to certain trees. "When the bark of these trees is young and tender, it's good. Then you can peel it off and eat it." He told the people that animals should also be their food. "These are your herds," he said. "All the little animals that are on the ground; squirrels, rabbits, beavers, skunk - are all good to eat. You do not need to fear to eat their flesh. The birds that fly, too; these I made for you so that you can eat of their flesh." Old Man took the first people over the prarie and through the forests and the swamps, to show them the different plants he had made. He told them what herbs were good for sicknesses, saying often, "The root of this herb or the leaf of this herb, if gathered in a certain month of the year, is good for a certain sickness." In that way the people learned about the medicines. He showed them how to make weapons with which to kill the animals for their food. First he went out and cut some serviceberry shoots, brought them in, and peeled the bark off of them. He took one of the larger ones, flattened it, tied a string to it, and thus made a bow. Then he caught one of the birds he had made, took feathers from its wing, split them, and tied them to a shaft of wood. At first he tied four feathers to the wood, and then shot the arrow. But he found that it didn't fly well unless he used three feathers, and when he did, it hit the mark. Then he went out and broke sharp pieces off of some of the stones around him. When he tied them on to the shaft, he found that the black flint stones, and some white flint stones, made the best arrow tips. When the people had learned how to made bows and arrows, Old Man told them how to shoot animals and birds. Because it isn't healthy to eat animal flesh raw, he showed the first people how to make a fire. He gathered a soft, dry, rotten driftwood and made a punk of it. He then found a piece of hard wood and drilled a hole in it with an arrow point. He gave the first man a pointed piece of hard wood and showed him how to roll it between his hands until sparks came out and the punk caught fire. Then he showed the people how to cook meat, so that they didn't get sick from the raw meat. He told them to get a certain kind of rock that was on the land, while he found a harder stone. With the harder stone he had them hollow out the softer stone and to make a bowl with it. Thus they made their dishes. Old Man told the first people how to get spirit power; "Go away by yourself and go to sleep. Something will come to you in your dream and will help you. It may be some animal. Whatever the animal tells you to do in your sleep, do it. Obey it. Be guided by it. If later you want help, if you are travelling alone or you cry for help, your prayer will be answered. It may be by an eagle, or a bear, or buffalo. Whatever animal hears your prayer, you must listen to it. That was how the first people got along in the world; by the power that was given to them in their dreams. After this, Old Man went back to travelling north. Many of the animals that he had created followed him. They understood when he spoke to them, andwere his servants. When he got to the north point of the Porcupine Mountains, he made some more mud images, blew upon them, and they became people, men and women. They asked him, "What are we to eat?" By way of answer, Old Man made many images of clay in the form of buffaloes. He blew his breath upon them and they stood up. When he made some signs to him, they started to run. Then he said to the people, "These animals; these buffalo, they are your food." "But how can we kill them?" the people asked. "I will show you," he replied. He took them behind a cliff and told them to build rock piles. "Now hide behind those rock piles," he said. "I will lead the buffalo this way. Now, when they get opposite of you, rise up." After telling them what to do, he went toward the herd of the buffalo. When he called to them, they started to run towards him, and they followed him until they were insode the piles of rock. Then Old Man dropped back. As the people rose up, the buffalo ran in a straight line and jumped right out off of the cliff. "Go down and take the flesh of those animals," Old Man cried. The people tried to tear the limbs apart, but they could not. Old Man went to the side of the cliff, broke off some pieces with sharp edges, and told the people to cut the flesh with these rocks. They obeyed him. When they'd finished skinning the buffalo, they set up some poles and put the hides on them. Thus they made a shelter to sleep under. After Old Man had taught the people all of these things, he started off again, travelling north until he came to where the Bow and the Elbow rivers meet. There he made more people and taught them the same things. From there he went further north. When he'd gotten almost all the way to the Red Deer River, he was so tired that he lay down on top of a hill. The form of his body can be seen there yet, on the top of the hill where he'd lain. When he awoke from his sleep, he travelled farther north until he came to a high hill. He climbed up to the top and there sat down to rest. As he gazed over the country, he was very satisfied with it. Looking at the steep hill below him, he said to himself, "This is a fine place for sliding. I will have some fun!" And he began to slide down the hill. The marks where he slid are still there, and the place is known to all the Blackfeet as "Old Man's Sliding Ground". Old Man cannot die. Long ago he left the Blackfeet and went away toward the west, going up into the mountains. Before he went, he said to the people, "I will always take care of you, and some day, I will come back." Even today some people think that he spoke the truth, and that when he does come back, he will bring with him the buffalo, who many believe that the white men have hidden. Still others think that before he left he said that when he returned, he'd find them a different people. They would be living in a different world, he said, from that that he had made for them and had taught them to live in. |
Many years ago, there were only two people in the world; Old Man and Old Woman. One time while they were travelling around the earth, Old Woman said to Old Man, "Let's come to an agreement of some kind. Let's decide how the people should live when they come to this earth." "Well," said Old Man, "I should have the first say in everything." "I agree with you," said Old Woman. "That is, of course, if I may have the second say in everything." Then Old Man began to make his plans. "The women will have the job of tanning hides. They will rub the brains of the animals on the hides to make them soft, and scrape them with the scraping tools. And they should do all of this very quickly, for it won't be hard work." "No," said Old Woman, "I won't agree to this. They have to tan hides like you say, but it has to be hard work, so that the good workers can be found out and honored." "Well," said Old Man, "we will let the people have eyes and mouths, set straight up and down in their faces in a nice, neat line." "No," replied Old Woman. "Let's not do that that way. Let's put the eyes and mouths in the face like you said, but let's put them crosswise." "Well," said Old Man, "the people will have ten fingers on each hand." "No, no, no!" Old Woman cried. "That's way too many. They'd just get in the way. They should have four fingers and one thumb on each hand." And so the two went on like this until they'd decided everything for how the people would live when they came to the earth. "What should we do about life and death?" asked Old Woman. "Should the people live forever, or are they going to die sometime?" Old Woman and Old Man had difficulty agreeing about this one. But finally, Old Man said, "I'll tell you what. I'll throw a buffalo chip in the water. If it floats, the people will die for four days and then come back to life again; if it sinks, they'll die and stay dead." So, he threw a buffalo chip into the water, and it floated. "No," said Old Woman, "We WON'T decide it that way, since the buffalo chips always float. I'll throw this rock into the water. If it floats, the people will die for four days and come back, and if it sinks, they will die forever." So, she threw the rock in the water, and it sank quickly. "There," said she. "It is better for the people to die forever. If they didn't, they wouldn't feel sorry for each other, and there'd be no sympathy in the world." "Well," answered Old Man, "let it be that way, then." After a while, Old Woman had a daughter, who soon became sick and then died. Old Woman was then very sorry that they'd agreed that people should die forever. "Let's talk this over again!" she pleaded. "No." answered Old Man. "We're not changing what we agreed upon." And so, to this day, when people die, they stay dead. |
One time as Old Man was walking along, he came to a place where many squirrels were playing in some very hot ashes. While some squirrels lay in the ashes, others would cover them with even more ashes. When the buried squirrels became so hot that they couldn't take the heat any more, they would call out to the others, who would take them out at once. After Old Man had watched them for a little while, he asked them if he could play with them, too. When the squirrels said okay, he asked, "May I be baked first?" "Oh, no," replied the squirrels. "We are afraid that you don't know how to play and that you'd be burned. We'll be baked first to show you how." Old man asked them again, but again they refused. At last Old Man agreed with them, on the condition that they'd let him cover all of them all at once. "There are so many of you," he said, "that it will save a lot of time to bury you all at once." The squirrels agreed, and so he covered them all with hot ashes, with the exception of one who was about to become a mother. She begged him so pitifully not to be put in the ashes that Old Man said, "Well, go ahead. Run away, so that there may be other squirrels." When all the other squirrels were covered with ashes, some of them became too warm and called out to Old Man to be taken out. Instead, he heaped more ashes over them and roasted them to death. Then Old Man took some red willows and made a scaffold on which he laid his roasted squirrels. They made the willows greasy, which is why the red willow is greasy, even to this day. He ate as many of the squirrels as he could; in fact, he ate so many squirrels and became so full that he laid down beside a tree and went right to sleep. While he was asleep, Lynx came along and ate all of the squirrels that were still on the scaffold. When Old Man woke up and found his roasted meat gone, he followed after the tracks, and finally came upon Lynx, who was fast asleep. Old Man was so angry at Lynx that he grabbed Lynx by the ears and shortened his head by banging it into a stone. He pulled out the long tail and, after snapping it in half, stuck the brush part on Lynx's rear. He stretched the legs and the body of Lynx until they were long and skinny. Then Old Man threw him on the ground and said to him, "You bobcats will always have a bobtail. You will always be so short of breath that you will never run very far." Old Man then realized that he'd been burnt by the hot ashes. So he called upon the wind to blow. Because the cool air made him feel better, he kept telling the wind to blow harder and harder. Soon, the wind was so wild that he was scooped up and blown far away. Every single tree he grabbed was pulled out of the ground, and he couldn't stop until he grabbed onto a birch tree. When the wind died down finally, he spoke angrily to the birch tree: "Why do you have so strong roots? Why can't I pull you up like all the other trees? I was having such a good time being blown all over, and then you stopped me." He was so angry that he pulled out a knife and he slashed at the birch tree. This is why the birch tree has such beat-up looking bark now. |
One time long, long ago, before we had horses, the buffalo suddenly disappeared. All the hunters killed elk, deer, and smaller game animals along the river bottoms then. When all of them were either killed or driven away, the people began to starve. They were camped in a circle near a buffalo drive. Among them was a very, very poor old woman, the second wife of her husband. Her buffalo robe was old and full of holes; her moccasins were old and were torn to shreds by the rocks she walked over. While gathering wood for the fire one day, she thought she heard someone singing a song. The song seemed quite close, but when she looked around, she saw no one. Following the sound and looking closely, she found a small rock that was singing, "Take me! I am of great power. Take me! I am of great power." When the woman picked up the rock, it told her what to do and taught her a special song. She told her husband her experience and then said, "Call all the men together and ask them to sing this song that will call the buffalo back." "Are you sure?" asked her husband. "Yes, I am sure. First get me a small piece of the back of a buffalo from the Bear-Medicine man." Then she told her husband how to arrange the inside of the lodge in a kind of square box with some sagebrush and buffalo chips. "Now tell the men to come and ask them for the four rattles they use." It is a custom for the first wife to sit close to her husband in their lodge. But this time, the husband told the second wife to put on the first wife's dress and sit beside him. After all the men were seated in the lodge, the buffalo stone began to sing, "The buffalo will all drift back. The buffalo will all drift back." Then the woman said to one of the younger men, "Go beyond the drive and put up a lot of buffalo chips in line. Then all of you are to wave at the chips with a buffalo robe, four times, while you shout like you were singing. The fourth time that you shout, all the chips will turn into buffalo and will go over the cliff." The men followed her directions, and the woman led the singing in the lodge. She knew just what the young man was doing all the time, and she knew that a cow-buffalo would take the lead. While the woman was singing a song about the leader that would take her followers over the cliff, all the buffalo went over the drive and were killed. Then the woman sang a different song; "I have made more than a hundred buffalo fall over the cliff, and the man above hears me." Ever since then, the people took good care of a buffalo stone and prayed to it, for they knew that it had much power.
The sacred buffalo stone, or Iniskim, is a major medicine object of the Blackfeet. It is usually a fossilized shell that was found on the prarie. Some of the stones look a lot like animals. In the old days, these stones were used in a ritual for calling buffalo. The stones were said to have called attention to themselves by making a faint chirp much like a bird would make. |
