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24 - Old Man Stories: The Red-Eyed Duck · Blackfeet Native American Stories

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty four of Blackfeet Indian Stories. This is a
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
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  Speaker 1: Recording by Lucy LaFaro, New South Wales, Australia. Blackfeet Indian
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  Speaker 1: Stories by George B. Grinnell, Chapter twenty four, Old Man's
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  Speaker 1: Stories The Red Eyed Duck. Once long ago, old Man
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  Speaker 1: was traveling north along a river. He carried a great
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  Speaker 1: pack on his back. After a time, he came to
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  Speaker 1: a place where the river spread out and the water
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  Speaker 1: was quiet, and here many ducks were swimming about. Old
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  Speaker 1: Man did not look at the ducks and kept traveling along.
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  Speaker 1: But presently some of the ducks saw him and looked
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  Speaker 1: at him and said to each other, who is that
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  Speaker 1: going along there with a pack on his back? One
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  Speaker 1: duck said to the others, that must be old Man.
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  Speaker 1: The duck that knew him called out, saying, Hi, Old Man,
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  Speaker 1: where are you going? I am going on? Father, replied
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  Speaker 1: old Man. I have been sent for. What have you
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  Speaker 1: got in your pack? Said the duck? Those are my songs,
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  Speaker 1: answered old Man. Some people have asked me to come
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  Speaker 1: and sing for them. Stop awhile and sing for us,
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  Speaker 1: said the duck, and we can have a dance. No,
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  Speaker 1: said old man, I am in a hurry. I cannot
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  Speaker 1: stop now. The duck kept persuading him to stop, and
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  Speaker 1: when it had asked him the fourth time, old Man
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  Speaker 1: stopped and said to the ducks, well, I will stop
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  Speaker 1: for a little while and sing for you, and you
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  Speaker 1: can dance. So the ducks all came out on the
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  Speaker 1: bank and stood in a circle, and old Man began
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  Speaker 1: to sing. He sang one song, and then he said,
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  Speaker 1: now this next song is a medicine dance. And while
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  Speaker 1: you dance, you must keep your eyes shut. No one
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  Speaker 1: must look. If any one opens his eyes and looks,
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  Speaker 1: his eyes will turn red. The ducks closed their eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and old Man began to sing, and they danced around.
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  Speaker 1: But old Man took a stick, and every time one
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  Speaker 1: of them passed him, he knocked it on the head
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  Speaker 1: and threw it into a circle. Presently, one of the
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  Speaker 1: littlest ducks, while dancing, could not feel any one on
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  Speaker 1: either side of him, and he opened his eyes and
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  Speaker 1: looked and saw what old Man was doing. He cried
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  Speaker 1: out to the rest, run run. Old Man is killing us,
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  Speaker 1: and all the other ducks flew away. But ever since
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  Speaker 1: that time that little duck's eyes have been red. It
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  Speaker 1: is then grebe. Old man took the ducks and went
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  Speaker 1: off a little way and built a fire and hung
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  Speaker 1: some of the ducks up in front of it to roast.
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  Speaker 1: And after the fire was burning well, he swept away
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  Speaker 1: the ashes and buried some of the ducks in the ground,
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  Speaker 1: and again swept back the fire over them. Then he
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  Speaker 1: lay down to wait for the birds to cook. And
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  Speaker 1: while they were cooking, he fell asleep. While he slept,
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  Speaker 1: a coyote came sneaking along and saw old men sleeping
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  Speaker 1: there and the ducks roasting by the fire. Very quietly,
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  Speaker 1: he crept up to the fire and took the ducks
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  Speaker 1: one by one and ate them. Not one was left.
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  Speaker 1: Pretty soon he found those that were roasting under the
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  Speaker 1: fire and dug them out, and opening them, ate the
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  Speaker 1: meat from the inside of the skin, and filled each
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  Speaker 1: one with ashes, and buried them all again. Then he
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  Speaker 1: went away. Pretty soon old man woke up and saw
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  Speaker 1: that his ducks were gone, And when he saw the
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  Speaker 1: tracks about the fire, he knew that the coyote had
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  Speaker 1: taken them. It was lucky, said old man, that I
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  Speaker 1: put some of those to roast under the fire. He
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  Speaker 1: dug them up from under the ashes, but when he
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  Speaker 1: took a big bite from one, his mouth and face
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  Speaker 1: were full of ashes. End of Chapter twenty four.