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22 - Old Man Stories: The Smart Woman Chief · Blackfeet Native American Stories

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two 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 two, Old Man's
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  Speaker 1: Stories The Smart Woman Chief. Long ago, they tell me,
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  Speaker 1: men and women did not know each other. Women were
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  Speaker 1: put in one place and men in another. They were
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  Speaker 1: not together. They were apart. Who who made us made
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  Speaker 1: women first? He did not make them very well. That
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  Speaker 1: is why they are not so strong as men. The
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  Speaker 1: men he made better, so that they were strong. The
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  Speaker 1: women were the smartest. They knew the most. They were
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  Speaker 1: the first to make piskens, and to know how to
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  Speaker 1: tan hides and to make moccasins. At that time, men
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  Speaker 1: wore mocksins made from the shank of the buffalo's leg,
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  Speaker 1: and robes made of wolf skin. This was all their clothing.
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  Speaker 1: One day, when Old Man was traveling about, he came
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  Speaker 1: to a camp of men and stayed there with them
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  Speaker 1: for a long time. It was after this that he
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  Speaker 1: discovered there were such beings as women. One time, as
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  Speaker 1: he was traveling along, he saw two women driving some
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  Speaker 1: buffalo over a cliff. When old Man got near them,
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  Speaker 1: the women were very much frightened. They did not know
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  Speaker 1: what kind of animal it was that was coming. Too
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  Speaker 1: much scared to run away, they lay down to hide.
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  Speaker 1: When old Man came up to them, he thought they
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  Speaker 1: were dead, and said, here are two women who are dead.
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  Speaker 1: It is not good for them to lie out here
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  Speaker 1: on the prairie. I must take them to a certain place.
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  Speaker 1: He looked them all over to see what had killed them,
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  Speaker 1: but could find no wound. He picked up one of
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  Speaker 1: the women and carried her along with him in his arms.
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  Speaker 1: She was wondering how she could get away. She let
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  Speaker 1: her arms swing loose, as if she were dead, and
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  Speaker 1: at every step old Man took the arms swung and
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  Speaker 1: hid him in the nose, and pretty soon his nose
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  Speaker 1: began to bleed and to hurt. And at length he
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  Speaker 1: put the woman down on the ground and went back
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  Speaker 1: to get the other woman. But while he was gone,
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  Speaker 1: she had run away, and when he came back to
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  Speaker 1: get the first one, she was gone too, so he
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  Speaker 1: lost them both. This made him angry and he said
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  Speaker 1: to himself, if these two women will lie there again,
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  Speaker 1: I will get both of them. In this way women
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  Speaker 1: found out that there were men. One day, old Man
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  Speaker 1: stood on a hill and looked over towards the Piskun
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  Speaker 1: at women's Falls, where the women had driven a band
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  Speaker 1: of buffalo over the cliff and afterward were cutting up them.
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  Speaker 1: The chief of the women called him down to the
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  Speaker 1: camp and sent word by him to the men, asking
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  Speaker 1: if they wanted to get wives. Old man brought back
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  Speaker 1: word that they did, and the chief woman sent a
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  Speaker 1: message calling all the men to a feast in her
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  Speaker 1: lodge to be married. The woman asked old man how
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  Speaker 1: many chiefs are there in that tribe. He answered, there
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  Speaker 1: are four chiefs. But the real chief of all that
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  Speaker 1: tribe you will know when you see him by this.
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  Speaker 1: He is finely dressed and wears a robe trimmed and
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  Speaker 1: painted red, and carries a lance with a bone head
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  Speaker 1: on each end. Old Man wanted to marry the chief
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  Speaker 1: of the women, and intended to dress in this way.
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  Speaker 1: And that is why he told her that old man
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  Speaker 1: had no mocksins, his were all worn out. The women
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  Speaker 1: gave him some for himself, and also some to take
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  Speaker 1: back to give to the men, and he went back
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  Speaker 1: to the men's gins camp. When he reached it, word
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  Speaker 1: went out that he had returned, and all the men
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  Speaker 1: said to each other, he has got back. Old Man
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  Speaker 1: has come again. He gave the men the message that
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  Speaker 1: the women had sent, and soon the men started for
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  Speaker 1: the women's camp to get married. When they came near it,
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  Speaker 1: they went up on a bluff and stood there looking
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  Speaker 1: down on the camp. Old man had dressed himself finely
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  Speaker 1: and had put on a trim robe painted red, and
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  Speaker 1: in his hand held a lance with a bone head
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  Speaker 1: on each end. When the women saw that the men
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  Speaker 1: had come, they got ready to go and select their husbands.
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  Speaker 1: The chief of the women said, I am the chief.
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  Speaker 1: I will go first and take the man. I like
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  Speaker 1: the rest wait here. The woman chief started up the
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  Speaker 1: hill to choose the chief of the men for her husband.
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  Speaker 1: She had been making dried meat, and her hands, arms,
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  Speaker 1: and clothing were covered with blood and grease. She was dirty,
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  Speaker 1: and old man did not know her. The woman went
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  Speaker 1: up to old Man to choose him, but he turned
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  Speaker 1: his back on her and would not go with her.
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  Speaker 1: She went back to her camp and told the women
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  Speaker 1: that she had been refused because her clothes were dirty.
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  Speaker 1: She said, now I am going to put on my
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  Speaker 1: nice clothes and choose a man. All of you can
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  Speaker 1: go up and take men, but let no one take
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  Speaker 1: that man with the red robe and the double headed lance.
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  Speaker 1: After she was nicely dressed, the chief woman again went
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  Speaker 1: up on the hill. Now old Man knew who she was,
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  Speaker 1: and he kept getting in front of her and trying
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  Speaker 1: hard to have her take him, but she would not
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  Speaker 1: notice him and took another man, the one standing next
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  Speaker 1: to old Man. Then the other women began to come,
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  Speaker 1: and they kept coming up and choosing men, but no
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  Speaker 1: one took old Man, and at last all the men
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  Speaker 1: were taken, and he was left standing there alone. This
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  Speaker 1: made him so angry that he wanted to do something,
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  Speaker 1: and he went down to the women's piskun and began
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  Speaker 1: to break down its walls. So the chief of the
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  Speaker 1: women turned him into a pine tree. End of chapter
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  Speaker 1: twenty two