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016 - Na-wak'-o-sis The Story Of Tobacco · Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park

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  Speaker 1: Section sixteen of Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park by
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  Speaker 1: James Willard Schultz. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 1: Section sixteen. Nawaccosis. In that long ago time, when the
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  Speaker 1: earth was young and people had not long been made,
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  Speaker 1: a man threw some weeds upon a fire and found
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  Speaker 1: that the odor the smoke from their burning was very pleasant.
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  Speaker 1: That night, he had a vision and learned that this
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  Speaker 1: plant was strong medicine, that, when smoked in a pipe,
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  Speaker 1: which his vision explained to him how to make, it
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  Speaker 1: would be the right thing with which to offer prayers
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  Speaker 1: to the gods. He also taught the man the prayers
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  Speaker 1: and all the ceremony that went with the prayers, and
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  Speaker 1: told him how to plant the weeds from the seeds
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  Speaker 1: on their tops, so that he could always have plenty
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  Speaker 1: of it. This man was very much pleased with what
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  Speaker 1: he had learned. He went to his three brother medicine
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  Speaker 1: men and told them all about it, and the four
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  Speaker 1: of them formed a society of themselves and no others,
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  Speaker 1: for the raising of the weed and its proper uses.
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  Speaker 1: But they were very stingy with this weed, which they
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  Speaker 1: named Nawaukosis, and would only now and then give the
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  Speaker 1: people a leaf of it, although they raised large numbers
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  Speaker 1: of the stalks in every summer time. A young man
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  Speaker 1: named Lone Bull was very anxious to become a member
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  Speaker 1: of this medicine society, but because he had no medicines
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  Speaker 1: and knew not the rights of it, he was told
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  Speaker 1: that he could not join it. At that time, the
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  Speaker 1: camp of the people was close under chief mountain. He
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  Speaker 1: left it with his woman and his pack dogs and
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  Speaker 1: moved up to the river running out of the inside Lakes,
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  Speaker 1: and there set up his lodge. Said he then to
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  Speaker 1: his woman, I have come up here to get medicines
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  Speaker 1: in some way, to find things that will enable me
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  Speaker 1: to become a raizor of Noawaukosis. If I can do that,
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  Speaker 1: I shall be of great help to the people. Now,
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  Speaker 1: then I am going to hunt and collect all the
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  Speaker 1: medicine skins I can find, and you stay at home,
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  Speaker 1: take care of the lodge, gather wood, and cook what
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  Speaker 1: meat we need. I shall bring in plenty of fat
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  Speaker 1: meat along with the skins. The man went hunting every day,
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  Speaker 1: and the woman remained at home. One day, when the
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  Speaker 1: man was gone, she thought she heard singing beautiful singing,
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  Speaker 1: but look where she would she could see no singers.
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  Speaker 1: She spoke to the man about it when he came
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  Speaker 1: home that evening, and made him feel uneasy. If you
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  Speaker 1: hear it again, look about more carefully. He told her.
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  Speaker 1: She heard it the next day, and this time located
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  Speaker 1: it right under the lodge. She went out to the
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  Speaker 1: bank of the river and looked at the bank. There
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  Speaker 1: under the water were beaver holes in it, and the
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  Speaker 1: beaver cuttings upon the sandy bottom. And by that she
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  Speaker 1: knew that the lodge had been set up above a
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  Speaker 1: bank beaver's home, and that be were the singers. She
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  Speaker 1: went back to the lodge, lay down and put her
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  Speaker 1: ear to the ground, and could then hear them plainly,
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  Speaker 1: and was pleased. Their singing was so good that it
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  Speaker 1: was all that she could do to stop listening to them,
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  Speaker 1: and began cooking the evening meal. When lone bull came
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  Speaker 1: home that night, she told him what she had learned,
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  Speaker 1: But he could hear nothing although he put his ear
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  Speaker 1: close to the ground, nor could he hear the singing
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  Speaker 1: the next evening, nor the next although his woman could
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  Speaker 1: hear it plainly. So now the woman got her knife
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  Speaker 1: and cut a round hole in the ground, and Lone
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  Speaker 1: Bull laid his head in it and could then hear
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  Speaker 1: the singing. He told her to make the hole deeper larger.
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  Speaker 1: She did so and cut clear through the ground, and
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  Speaker 1: looking down, he could see the beavers sitting in their home,
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  Speaker 1: singing beautiful songs and dancing strange and beautiful dances in
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  Speaker 1: time to them. Younger brothers, have pity on me, he cried, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: my young brothers, teach me your medicine. They looked up
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  Speaker 1: and saw him, and one answered, close the whole that
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  Speaker 1: you have made, because the light disturbs us, and we
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  Speaker 1: will soon be with you. They soon came in through
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  Speaker 1: the doorway, four fine looking men, beautifully dressed. They had
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  Speaker 1: changed themselves from beavers to men. They took seats, and
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  Speaker 1: then one of them said to Lone Bull, elder brother,
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  Speaker 1: what is it that you want of us? How can
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  Speaker 1: we help you. Lone Bull told them what it was
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  Speaker 1: his great desire to obtain nawakasis and grow it for
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  Speaker 1: the people. We have that plant like us. It is
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  Speaker 1: from the water, a water medicine, the beaver man told him.
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  Speaker 1: But before you can use it, you have much to do,
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  Speaker 1: much to learn. You have to learn all our songs
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  Speaker 1: and prayers and dances, and different ceremonies and other For
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  Speaker 1: the ceremonies, a skin of every animal and bird that
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  Speaker 1: is of the water, one of each except the beavers.
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  Speaker 1: And of them there must be two. You know, these
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  Speaker 1: animals and birds otter, mink, muskrat, different kinds of ducks,
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  Speaker 1: the fish, hawk, and all the other birds that get
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  Speaker 1: their food from the life of the water. Why because
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  Speaker 1: there are two great life givers of this world, the
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  Speaker 1: sun which gives heat, and water that makes growth. And
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  Speaker 1: in our ceremonies, the skins of these different animals are
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  Speaker 1: symbols of the water. I shall collect them all, so
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  Speaker 1: teach me everything, lone bull told them, and they began
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  Speaker 1: that very night. Day after day lone bull hunted the
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  Speaker 1: animals and birds brought in their skins for his woman
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  Speaker 1: to cure. And night after night the beavers taught him
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  Speaker 1: their medicine, all the sacred prayers and dances and ceremonies
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  Speaker 1: of it. And at last he knew them all thoroughly.
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  Speaker 1: Then one night the beaver chief handed him some stalks
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  Speaker 1: of nawacchasis, the top stems, all covered with little round seeds.
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  Speaker 1: These said he are the children of the big leaved plants.
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  Speaker 1: Put them into the ground and they will grow and
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  Speaker 1: make other plants that bear children. And now I must
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  Speaker 1: tell you just how to plant. Gather a great, long,
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  Speaker 1: wide pile of old dry logs, dry brush, and weeds,
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  Speaker 1: and set it afire. The heat from it will burn
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  Speaker 1: the ground, burn the sod, and make everything soft under it. Then,
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  Speaker 1: when the place has cooled, gather from around badger holes,
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  Speaker 1: squirrel holes, and wherever you can find it plenty of
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  Speaker 1: the brown earth they have thrown out, and mix it
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  Speaker 1: with the burned black earth, so that it will not
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  Speaker 1: pack hard around the seeds and keep them from coming
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  Speaker 1: up into the sunlight. After you have taken all the
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  Speaker 1: seeds from the stems, you must put them in a
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  Speaker 1: sack and not touch them again with your hands. With
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  Speaker 1: an antelope horn, you will make row after row of
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  Speaker 1: little holes all across the burned ground, and only a
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  Speaker 1: hand apart, and with a buffalo horn spoon, drop a
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  Speaker 1: seed into each hole. When that is done, and it
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  Speaker 1: will require a long time, you and yours are to
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  Speaker 1: dance along each row of seed, singing the sacred songs,
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  Speaker 1: your feet lightly pressing down the ground over the seed.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of a row, you must step across
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  Speaker 1: to the next row, and dance backward on that one,
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  Speaker 1: and forward on the next, and so on until the
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  Speaker 1: last row has been pressed down, and all your songs
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  Speaker 1: have been sung. Then you can go away from the
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  Speaker 1: place for a while. Return after one moon has passed,
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  Speaker 1: and you will find that the young plants have grown
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  Speaker 1: above the ground. Watch them that insects do not destroy them.
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  Speaker 1: Give them water. If the rains fail you, they will
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  Speaker 1: grow all summer and fade with the ripening of the
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  Speaker 1: choke berries. Cut them, then care well for them, and
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  Speaker 1: you and your people will have a plenty for your
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  Speaker 1: winter's smokes and ceremonies. There I have told you all
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  Speaker 1: it was planting time. Then lone bull moved right up
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  Speaker 1: to the foot of the lower one of the inside
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  Speaker 1: lakes and did everything that he had been told to do,
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  Speaker 1: his wife helping him in every way. People hunting from
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  Speaker 1: down chief mountain way came and saw his growing plants
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  Speaker 1: and went home and told about them. The four medicine
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  Speaker 1: men just laughed, ha ha, they cried, he has known Nowakasis.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted to join us, and we would not let
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  Speaker 1: him into our society. He but plants some useless weed.
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  Speaker 1: But later on, just as their planting was getting ripe,
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  Speaker 1: a terrible hailstorm came along and destroyed it all. Every
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  Speaker 1: leaf was cut into fine pieces. They cried from grief.
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  Speaker 1: Then they said among themselves, nawachosis, we must have or
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  Speaker 1: our medicines will be without power. It may be that
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  Speaker 1: this lone bull really has the true plants. Let us
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  Speaker 1: go up and see them. They went, all the people
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  Speaker 1: with them, and saw that he had the sacred plants.
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  Speaker 1: The hailstorm had come nowhere near his place, said they
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  Speaker 1: to him. Then you have a big planting, and we
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  Speaker 1: will help you gather it, and you and we four
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  Speaker 1: will use it. You shall join us. Lone bull laughed
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  Speaker 1: long before he answered, I need no help from you.
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  Speaker 1: You shall each have a little of my planting for
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  Speaker 1: your own use, and you shall pay me well for it.
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  Speaker 1: The rest, excepting what I need, I shall give to
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  Speaker 1: the people, and hereafter they will always have all they
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  Speaker 1: need of the plants. And as he said that he
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  Speaker 1: would do, so he did, And the people gave him
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  Speaker 1: great praise and honor for it all, and he lived
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  Speaker 1: to great age. Kee Ay, why not he had the beaver.
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  Speaker 1: The water medicine. It is a powerful medicine. To this day.
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  Speaker 1: A visitor in our camp this evening told a tale
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  Speaker 1: that ill pleases us. There is a tourist camp away
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  Speaker 1: up on Gunsight Pass, one of the most weirdly beautiful
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  Speaker 1: places in this whole country. There the other day an
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  Speaker 1: employee was putting up a table on which were painted
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  Speaker 1: arrows pointing to the different mountains, the name of each
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  Speaker 1: peak alongside its particular arrow. A tourist, standing near and
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  Speaker 1: watching the work suddenly exclaimed, why, over there is a
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  Speaker 1: peak that has no name? Can you not name it
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  Speaker 1: after me? Certainly I can. The employee answered, and painted
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  Speaker 1: another arrow and inscribed, beside it Leonard Peak, And over
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  Speaker 1: there is a fine waterfall. The tourist said, will you
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  Speaker 1: please name it after my little daughter? Sure, said the man,
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  Speaker 1: and painted another arrow pointing to Mary Francis Falls. Enough
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  Speaker 1: said end of section sixteen.