Indian Why Stories : Sparks from War Eagle's Lodge-Fire

by Linderman, Frank Bird

• ISBN13: 9780803280380
• ISBN10: 0803280386
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

Old-man, or Napa, as he was called by the Blackfeet, is an extraordinary character in Indian stories. Both powerful and fallible, he appears in different guises: god or creator, fool, thief, clown. The world he made is marvelous but filled with mistakes. As a result, tensions between the haves and have-nots explode with cosmic consequences inIndian Why Stories. Elders of the Blackfeet, Cree, and Chippewa (Ojibwa) people shared these wonderful tales with Frank B. Linderman in the late nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth century. War Eagle (the fictional name of Linderman's friend and Chippewa medicine man Pah-nah-to, or Full-of-dew), tells these stories to attentive youngsters after the first frost in the fall. He speaks of animal people, including a deer and an antelope in a footrace, a dancing fox who convulses a buffalo with laughter, a white beaver and ghost people, a huge snake in love with the moon, a sparrow hawk of conscience, and many others. These sparkling tales reveal a reverence for life, honesty, and the unity of creation. This expanded edition features thirteen previously unpublished verse stories along with an introduction to those stories by Sarah Waller Hatfield, granddaughter of Linderman.

Author Biography

Frank B. Linderman (1869–1938) spent his adult life in Montana, first as a trapper and then as an author, politician, and businessman. He lived closely with the Salish, Blackfeet, Crows, and other Native peoples in the region and is the author of Plenty-coups: Chief of the Crows and Pretty-shield: Medicine Woman of the Crows, both available in Bison Books editions.

Table of Contents

Why the Chipmunk's Back is Striped	p. 3
How the Ducks Got Their Fine Feathers	p. 17
Why the Kingfisher Always Wears a War-Bonnet	p. 27
Why the Curlew's Bill is Long and Crooked	p. 37
Old-Man Remakes the World	p. 47
Why Blackfeet Never Kill Mice	p. 65
How the Otter Skin Became Great "Medicine"	p. 75
Old-Man Steals the Sun's Leggings	p. 91
Old-Man and His Conscience	p. 105
Old-Man's Treachery	p. 117
Why the Night-Hawk's Wings are Beautiful	p. 127
Why the Mountain-Lion is Long and Lean	p. 137
The Fire-Leggings	p. 151
The Moon and the Great Snake	p. 159
Why the Deer Has no Gall	p. 167
Why Indians Whip the Buffalo-Berries from the Bushes	p. 175
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