Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park

Medi

12,

H M

ives and friends, and we are camping along the mountain trails where, in the long ago,

three thousand feet up toward its rugged crest, a few bighorn and a Rocky Mountain goat. But we may not kill them! Said Tail-Feathers-Coming-over-the-Hill: "There they are! Our meat, but the whites have taken them from us, even as they have ta

her was Captain Hugh Monroe, of the English army; his mother was Amélie de la Roche, a daughter of a noble family of French émigrés. Hugh Monroe, Junior, was born in Montreal in 1798. In 1814 he received permissio

utaries of the Missouri during the winter, and he went with them, under the protection of the head chief, who had nineteen wives and two lodges and an immense band of horses. By easy stages they traveled along the foot of the Rockies to Sun River, where they wintered, and then in

aughter of the great chief, a good knowledge of the language, and an honorable name, Ma-kwi′-i-po-wak-s?n (R

preter, and Monroe was ordered to remain with the Piegan tribe of the Blackfeet, to travel with them, and see that they came annually to the Fort to trade in the winter cat

e Upper Missouri, and the first to see many portions of the great stretch of the mountain region between the M

several occasions he went with his and other bands to war against other tribes, and once, near Great Salt Lake, when with a party of nearly two hundred warriors, he saved the lives of the noted Jim Bridger and his party of trappers. Bridger had with him a dozen white men and as many Snake

mrades that he finally persuaded them to remain where they were, and he went forward with a flag of truce, and found that his friend Jim Bridger was the le

parties. They finally all married, and in his old age he lived with one and another of them until his death, in 1896, in his ninety-eighth year. We buried him near the buffalo cliffs, down on the Two Medicine R

and its ever-narrowing side slopes above, give it a certain resemblance to a buffalo bull. Upon looking at a recent map of the country I found that it had been

es even take away the ancient names we have given them! They shall not do it! You tell them so! That mountain yonder is Rising Bull Mountain, and b

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

nter of 18

LAKE. RISING BULL

ws and orphans; to all in any kind of distress! We must in some way see that thi

I most hea

ly

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

our adventures. Meantime the children play around, as happy as Indian children ever are, and their mothers do the lodge work, which is light, and gather in groups to chat and joke. The boys hav

tribe. They are spiritual, not material, medicines. In fact, they are the implements used in prayers to the sun and other gods, and each carries with it a ritual of its o

ly

t was, for there is no Blackfeet equivalent for the word "Trick." But what a miserable, circus-suggesting name that is to give to one of the most beautiful of waterfalls, and the only one of its kind in America, and in al

Pi′tamakan Falls," said Tail-

r recollection of the story of that personage. But I

t she!" he

ning Eagle) is a man

it was given her. She was the only woman of our people to receive

HO EARNED A

tances, they did not give up their lodge and scatter out to live with relatives and friends. Said Weasel Woman: 'Somehow, some way, we can manage to live. You boys are old enough to hunt and bring in

AN (RUNNING

am gushes from the orifice a

after a time all knew that she would not marry. Wherever a party of warriors gathered for a dance or a feast, there she was looking on, listening to their

ed out to cross the mountains and raid the Flatheads. They traveled al

e war chief told her. B

me go with you, I shal

ef,' said he, 'I advise you to allow her to go with us

man of that party teased her, nor bothered her in any way: every one of them treated her as the

their friends, the Pend d'Oreilles. When night came they went close up to it, and the woman said to the

ill wait for you here, and be ready

illed, she never admitted it. The dying moon gave light enough for her to see the size and color of the horses. She took her time and went around among them, and, making her choice, cut the ropes of three fine pinto horses, and led them out to

t they could drive rapidly, the party struck for the mountains, and i

arrior and medicine man called Weasel Woman before the people, and had her count her coup-of going twice into the enemy's camp and taking six horses. All shouted appro

rows, the Sioux, and the Flatheads, she herself became a war chief, and warriors begged to be allowed to join her parties, because they believed that where she led nothing but good luck would come to them. She now w

with a war party of Bloods, one of our brother tribes of the North. For several days the two parties traveled along together, and the

e her brothers, and nothing more. She will never marry. I cannot give her your m

d chief said to Pi′tamakan: 'I have never loved, but I l

the woman chief answered him. 'I will consider what yo

e, but felt encouraged: he thought that in

night came both parties drew close in to it. Pi′tamakan then ordered her followers to remain where they were and told the Blood chief to sa

Pi′tamakan, and she went in

went in and broug

in and brought

went in and broug

lood chief: 'Our men are becoming impatient to go in there and take horse

kan went in and cut the ropes of eight horses, and safely led them out, making in all fifteen that she had taken. The warriors th

aid to her: 'I love you so much that I can wait no longer for my answer. Give

n yes had you taken more horses than I did from the camp of

an old, experienced warrior, in the taking of the enemy's horses, and he could not

self killed. And then, haiya! On her ninth raid she led a party against the Flatheads, and while she and all her men were in the camp, choosing horses and cutting their ropes, the Flatheads

it is the medicine lodge. I asked Yellow Wolf this afternoon why this river was named Nat′-ok-i-o-kan, or, as we say, Two Medicine Lodge River, and he replied that when the Blackfeet first took this

TWO MED

Yellow Wolf, and the author, relating his killing o

, that they came into it from their original home, the region of Peace River and the Slave Lakes, and little by little forced the Crows south

e Two Medicine,-just above Holy Family Mission,-where the buffalo were decoyed in great num

nd these the people concealed themselves, and the buffalo caller, going out beyond the mouth of the V, by certain antics and motions aroused the curiosity of the herd until it finally followed him into the V. Then the

the cliffs tons and tons of buffalo horn tips, the mos

pe, and was told that it was still in the tribe, Old Person at present being the owner of it. Said Two Guns: "T

F THE THUND

hers had no horses then, but use

ld surround and climb a mountain, driving the bighorn ahead of them, their dogs helping, and at last they would come up to the game, often several hundred head, on the summit of th

ting it in little piles here and there, a thunderstorm came up. Then said one of them, a beautiful girl, tall, slender, long-h

hem, and the young women gathered

who had promised herself to Thunder Man, was last of the three. She was some distance behind the others and singing happily as she stepped alon

taken. I am not that kind; I

yourself to me if I would not strike you, and I did

the appearance of a kind and gentle man, and-although thoughtlessly-she had made a promise to him, a go

Man stepped forward, and kissed her, then took her in his arms, and, springin

no reply: 'She may have gone home for something,' said one of them, and they hurried back to camp. She was not there. They then gave the alarm, and a

god who sometimes lived with the people. 'My daughter, Mink Woman, has disappeared,' he

re she went. I may not be able to get her now, but I will some time, and th

they had last seen Mink Woman. He then called a magpie to him, and sa

st it fluttered to the ground, and looked up at him, and said: 'To

and move that long, shining black tail of yours. Move it up an

and looked more closely at it. The sun was shining brightly upon it, and the glistening black feathers mirrored everything around. They were now spread directly behind the bird's body, and reflected the tree-tops, and the sky beyond them. Lon

he would spare us,' one of the two wood gatherers said, 'bu

his head with his robe, and we

bout this earth and her parents and the people. It was a beautiful land up there: warm and sunny, a country just like ours except that it had no sto

ying to his people, 'Watch her constantly; see that she gets no hint of her country down below, nor

ll they could to amuse her; to keep her interested in different things. One day a woman gave her some fre

r this edible root. The French voyageur

you all that you can use,' the women

f,' she told them. 'Somewhere, some time b

, should she find it, for that mas was the mother of all the others, and was constantly bringing forth new ones by scatter

and wishing that he would be more often at home. He was away the greater part of the time. Thus wandering, in a low place in the plain she came upon a mas of enormous size; ac

Man when he should return home. She went back to it, walked around it many times, went away from it, trying to do as she had been told. But when halfway home she could no longer resist the temptation: with a little cry she turned and never stopped running until she was beside it, and then

edge and looked down: upon pulling up the huge mas she had torn a hole clear throu

its lower lake, was the camp of her people! She threw away her digging stick, and her sack of mas, and ran crying to camp and into Thunder Man's lodge. He was away

ll we do? Thunder Man will be angry at us because we did not watch her more closely.' Thinking of what he might do to them in his anger, they t

as great as that of Mink Woman, whom he loved. When he came into the lodge she threw hersel

'Haven't you been happy here? Isn'

ppy here! This is a good country! But

instead of down on the people's earth,' Thunder Man told her. But she would not sleep

all have her way. Go, you hunters, kill buffalo, kill many of them, and bring in the hides. And

Woman had torn in the sky earth, and then Thunder Man brought her to the place and laid her carefully in the basket, which he had lined with soft robes: 'Because I love you so dearly, I am going to let you down to your people

. But I must, I must see my people; I cannot rest

fter a long time they knew that it was not a bird. Nothing like it had ever been seen. It was coming down straight toward the center of the big camp. Men, women, children, they all fled to the edge of the timber, the dogs close at their heels, and from the shelter of thick brush watched this strange, descending object. It was a long, long time coming down

and her people about the sky gods and the sky earth, and even then did not tel

ll's lodge was thrust aside, and some one entered. Mink Woman, looking up from where she sat, saw that it was her sky god husband. He was plainly dress

make amends for that. I have here in this bundle a sacred pipe; my Thunder pipe. I give it to you

t as the snow melts when the black winds[3] blow, so has my anger gone from my he

ally accompanied by dense black clo

edicine pipe until he knew it thoroughly in its every part. 'It is a powerful medicine,' Thunder Man told him. 'It will ma

oved to be, a most powerful medi

oke hole, and appeared to be listening to something. The people there in the lodge held their breath and listened also, and could hear nothing but the chirping of the crickets in the grass outsid

n returned from far wanderings and heard all the story of the god and Mink Woman. He made no remark about it, but spent much time in Lame Bull's lodge. Then, after many moons had passed, he said to the chief one day: 'Do you remember

o give. She now belongs to Th

had gone. I did that. And now, as to this Thunder Man, he will never return here because he knows that I

u. I agree to whatever she cho

I have your father's consent to ask you to marry me. I hope that you

already married. My man will soo

come, will you marry

say now, though, that I like you very mu

d fainter, until, finally, she would do no more than shake her head when asked the great question. Then, at last, in the Falling Leaves moon of the second summer, when Crow Man asked her again, and she only shook her head, he took her hand and rai

. Ai! She went gladly! She was lonely, and she had for so

n came spring, and one day, in new green grass time, Thunder Man was heard approaching camp, and the people went wild with fear; they believed that he would destroy them a

ckly, came in a whirling storm of wind and snow. Thunder Man raged, shooting lightning, making thunder that shook the earth. Cold-Maker made the wind blow harder and harder, so that some of the lodges went down before it, and he caused the snow to swirl so thickly that the d

again attempt to enter this camp.' And with that he told Cold-Maker that he could return to his Far North home. He went, ta

as strong as ever. And from him it had been handed down from father

was the w

MP FROM T

of the p