Latest / Blackfeet Native American Stories / 16 - Old Man Stories: The Wonderful Bird

Transcript

16 - Old Man Stories: The Wonderful Bird · Blackfeet Native American Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen of Blackfeet Indian Stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Blackfeet
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Indian Stories by George B. Grinnell. Old Man stories under
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: the name Napi old Man have been confused two wholly
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: different persons talked of by the Blackfeet. The Sun, the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: creator of the universe, giver of light, heat, and life,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and reverenced by every one, is often called old Man.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: But there is another personality who bears the same name,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: but who is very different in his character. This last
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Napi is a mixture of wisdom and foolishness. He is malicious, selfish, childish,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: and weak. He delights in tormenting people. Yet the mean
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: things he does are so foolish that he has constantly
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: getting himself into scrapes and is often obliged to ask
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: the animals to help him out of his troubles. His
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: as bad deeds almost always bring their own punishment. Interpreters
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: commonly translate this word Napi as old man, but it
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: is also the term for white man, and the Cheyenne
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and Arapaho tribes tell just such stories about a similar person,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: whom they also call white Man. Tribes of Dakota Stoc
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: tell of a similar person, whom they call the Spider.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: The stories about this old man are told by the
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Blackfeet for entertainment rather than with any serious purpose. And
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: when that part of the story is reached where old
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: man is in some difficulty which he cannot get out of,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the man who is telling the story, and those who
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: are listening to it laugh delightedly. Some stories of this
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: kind are these the wonderful Bird. One day, as old
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: man was walking about among the trees, he saw something
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: that seemed very queer. A little bird was sitting on
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the branch of a tree. Every little while it would
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: make a strange noise, And every time it made this noise,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: its eyes flew out of its head and fastened on
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: a branch of the tree. Then, after a little while,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the bird would make another sort of noise, and its
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: eyes would go back to their places in its head.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: Old man called out to the bird, little brother, teach
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: me how to do that. If I show you how.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: The bird answered, you must not send your eyes out
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: of your head more than four times in a day.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: If you do, you will be sorry. It shall be
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: as you say, little brother. It is for you to give,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and I will listen to what you say. When the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: bird had taught old Man how to do this, he
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: was glad. He began to do it and did it
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: four times right away. Then he said, why did that
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: bird tell me to do this only four times? He
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: has no sense? I will do it again. So once
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: more he made his eyes go out, but now when
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: he called to them, they would not come back. He
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: shouted out to the bird, little brother, come here and
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: help me get my eyes back. The little bird did
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: not answer him. It had flown away. Now old Man
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: felt all over the branches of the tree with his hands,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: but he could not find his eyes. So he went
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: away and wandered over the prairie for a long time,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: crying and calling to the animals to help him. As
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: he was blind, he could find nothing to eat, and
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: he began to be very hungry. A wolf teased him
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: a great deal and had much fun. It had found
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: a dead buffalo, and taking a piece of the meat.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: It would hold the meat close to old Man's face.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Then old Man would say, I smell something dead. I
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: wish I could find it. I am almost starved. He
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: felt all around for it. Once, when the wolf was
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: doing this, old man caught him, and plucking out one
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: of the wolf's eyes, he put it in his own head.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Then he could see, and was able to find his
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: own eyes. But never again could he do the trick
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the little bird had taught him. End of chapter sixteen.