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08 - Cold Maker's Medicine · Blackfeet Native American Stories

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight of Blackfeet Indian Stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
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  Speaker 1: by Lucy Burgoyne. Blackfeet Indian Stories by George B. Grinnell,
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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight, Coldmaker's Medicine. The last lodge had been set
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  Speaker 1: up in the Blackfeet winter camp. Evening was closing over
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  Speaker 1: the travel tide people. The sun had dropped beyond the
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  Speaker 1: hills not far away. Women were bringing water from the river.
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  Speaker 1: At the edge of the great circle, men gathered in
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  Speaker 1: quiet groups, weary after the long march of the day.
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  Speaker 1: Children called sleepily to each other, and the dog sniffed
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  Speaker 1: about in well fed content. Lone feather wrapped his robe
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  Speaker 1: more closely around him and walked slowly from his lodge
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  Speaker 1: door and from the camp off toward the north. He
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  Speaker 1: was thinking of many things and hardly noticed where he
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  Speaker 1: was going. Presently, as he walked, he heard the sound
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  Speaker 1: of persons talking. He stopped to listen. The sound came
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  Speaker 1: from a lodge made of stone close by the river.
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  Speaker 1: Quietly he went toward the lodge and saw a thin
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  Speaker 1: blue line of smoke coming from the top. As he approached,
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  Speaker 1: an old woman, bent with age and crippled, came from
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  Speaker 1: the lodge door and looked at him. Will you come
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  Speaker 1: in to my lodge, she said, greeting him. Lone Feather
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  Speaker 1: looked at her for a moment in silence. She spoke again.
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  Speaker 1: He could not understand her speech, for she belonged to
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  Speaker 1: another tribe. By signs, she made him know that she
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  Speaker 1: wished him to come into her lodge and rest. Lone
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  Speaker 1: Feather entered far back from the door crouched two big,
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  Speaker 1: grisly bears. She made signs to show that the bears
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  Speaker 1: were friendly, and Lone Feather sat down near the door.
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  Speaker 1: She stirred the fire, and as she put on fresh wood,
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  Speaker 1: the sparks flew up toward the smoke hole, which was
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  Speaker 1: opened only a little way. By signs, she told him
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  Speaker 1: she would go out and open the smoke hole wider,
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  Speaker 1: so that the fire might burn more brightly. She was
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  Speaker 1: gone for some time, and Lone Feather sat looking into
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  Speaker 1: the fire, still thinking of me many things. When the
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  Speaker 1: air became thick with smoke, he looked up and saw
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  Speaker 1: that the smoke hole was closed. He sprung up and
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  Speaker 1: went to the door, but the door covering was down.
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  Speaker 1: He raised it, and as he put his head out,
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  Speaker 1: the old woman hid him with a large stone club,
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  Speaker 1: and he was dead. Before his spirit started for the
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  Speaker 1: sand hills. He saw that with a large knife, she
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  Speaker 1: cut up his body and put the pieces into a pot.
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  Speaker 1: Soon they were well cooked, and the old woman and
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  Speaker 1: the two bears feasted on his flesh. They threw his
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  Speaker 1: bones out of the door, where they fell among many
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  Speaker 1: others like them. The ground was thrown with the bones
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  Speaker 1: of the persons she had trapped and killed. Day by day,
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  Speaker 1: other persons disappeared from the winter camp, and more and
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  Speaker 1: more bones whitened on the ground outside the Stone lodge
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  Speaker 1: on the river bank. As cold Maker was bringing the
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  Speaker 1: snow to the Blackfeet winter camp, he passed the sand hills.
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  Speaker 1: Lone Feather and other ghosts from the Blackfeet tribe were
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  Speaker 1: telling each other how the Old Woman had sent them there.
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  Speaker 1: Coldmaker heard their stories, and he was angry when he
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  Speaker 1: reached the camp. He went to the lodge a broken bow.
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  Speaker 1: A brave young man, but very poor, he shivered when
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  Speaker 1: cold Maker entered his lodge and drew his ragged robe
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  Speaker 1: about him. They were close friends. Would you like to
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  Speaker 1: have a new robe, asked Coldmaker. Yes, said broken Bow.
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  Speaker 1: Come with me, you may kill two grisly bears, said
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  Speaker 1: coal Maker, my bow is broken. I cannot said Broken Bow. Sadly,
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  Speaker 1: I will help you, bring only a knife. Together, they
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  Speaker 1: went from the lodges toward the north. The sun was
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  Speaker 1: already hidden behind the nearby hills. After they had traveled
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  Speaker 1: some distance, they heard the sound of voices. They listened.
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  Speaker 1: Two bears were complaining that they wanted meat. A woman
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  Speaker 1: told them they must wait. The men saw the line
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  Speaker 1: of thin blue smoke rising from the top of a
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  Speaker 1: lodge of stone. All about, whitening bones covered the ground.
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  Speaker 1: They went nearer. Soon, an old woman, bent with age
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  Speaker 1: and crippled, came from the door and smiled as she
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  Speaker 1: saw the two persons coming. Come in and rest. She said,
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  Speaker 1: Broken Bow did not understand her language. But Cold Maker,
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  Speaker 1: who understands all tribes, said, we are cold. Will you
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  Speaker 1: let us sit by your fire? The old woman smiled again.
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  Speaker 1: You are welcome, she said, Come in. Do not fear
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  Speaker 1: my bears. They are friendly. They will not harm you.
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  Speaker 1: The two friends entered the lodge, where a smoldering fire
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  Speaker 1: sent a feeble smoke up to the smoke hole that
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  Speaker 1: was partly open. She put fresh wood on the fire
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  Speaker 1: and said, I will open the smoke hole wider, and
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  Speaker 1: went out, dropping the door covering as she went. Then
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  Speaker 1: she closed the smoke hole. The smoke began to fill
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  Speaker 1: the top of the lodge. Its settled lower and lower.
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  Speaker 1: Broken Bow was afraid. Give me your pipe, said cold Maker.
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  Speaker 1: Broken Bow filled his pipe and handed it to him.
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  Speaker 1: He lighted it by a brand from the fire, and
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  Speaker 1: sent great puffs of smoke curling upward. This smoke met
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  Speaker 1: the other smoke and stopped it and could not descend
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  Speaker 1: any lower. Broken Bow saw the wonderful medicine of his friend.
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  Speaker 1: He was no longer afraid, but wondered what Cold Maker
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  Speaker 1: would do next. The grisly bears growled low. The old
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  Speaker 1: woman outside called to them, friends, is it smoking in
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  Speaker 1: there now? Not a bit? Replied cold Maker. We are
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  Speaker 1: very comfortable. She waited. They did not come out. She
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  Speaker 1: stood near the door. Her stone club was ready. She
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  Speaker 1: grew impatient. She wondered what had gone wrong with her plan.
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  Speaker 1: The two friends were silent. She looked at the smoke hole,
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  Speaker 1: but it was closed securely. She lifted the door covering
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  Speaker 1: to see if the friends within had died. They sat
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  Speaker 1: perfectly still. She entered to look more closely, and as
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  Speaker 1: soon as she was fairly inside, Cold Maker and Broken
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  Speaker 1: Bow rushed out and dropped the door covering. Before she
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  Speaker 1: could move, they piled great heaps of stone in the doorway.
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  Speaker 1: The bears growled. She called for help. Cold Maker and
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  Speaker 1: Broken Bow went on down the river. Then cold Maker
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  Speaker 1: took from a little sack a few white eagle down feathers.
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  Speaker 1: He blew them from him. At once a fierce storm
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  Speaker 1: blew across the valley. The bitter cold froze the water,
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  Speaker 1: but only in this one place. It dammed the stream
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  Speaker 1: with fast forming ice. The water rose higher and higher.
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  Speaker 1: It spread out over the banks. Coal Maker and Broken
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  Speaker 1: Bow went far off on the hills and watched it.
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  Speaker 1: Little by little it rose. It reached the stone lodge.
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  Speaker 1: The bears roared, the woman screamed. The water reached the
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  Speaker 1: top and covered the lodge from sight. All sounds ceased
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  Speaker 1: a moment more, and the water was quiet. Once more,
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  Speaker 1: Cold Maker blew from him a few white eagle down feathers.
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  Speaker 1: The storm subsided, it became warm again. The ice melted,
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  Speaker 1: the water retreated to its channel. Coal Maker and Broken
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  Speaker 1: Bow went to the stone lodge. The woman was lying
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  Speaker 1: beside the pot the The grisly bears were close to
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  Speaker 1: the stones, which blocked the doorway. Coalmaker said, here is
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  Speaker 1: your new robe, and Broken Bow took from the bears
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  Speaker 1: their thick, warm skins. On his way home, coal Maker
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  Speaker 1: again past the sand hills, entering the country with an
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  Speaker 1: old woman, bent with age and crippled. He hurried on
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  Speaker 1: end of chapter eight