Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park

by James Willard Schultz

“Of course, nothing could have pleased the Nez Percé more than that. To kill an enemy and take his beautiful woman, what a big coup that would be! He signed to the woman that what she proposed was good, and slid from his horse and tied it to a tree, then signed to her to go, and he would follow, keeping out of sight.

“The woman crossed the big camping-ground and found her man: ‘I have made a great find,’ she told him. ‘On some bushes over there are hanging beautiful war clothes, a shield, weapons, and a medicine pouch. Leave you your weapons and things here, and come with me, and take them.’

“‘But why should I leave my weapons? One should never be without them,’ he objected.

“‘Because from here goes the trail we are to follow, and you will have all you can do to bring here what I have found,’ she explained.

“He didn’t see any sense in leaving his weapons, but took her word and laid them down, along with his medicine pouch, and his war clothes in their parflèche (painted cylinder), and followed her out into the open park. ‘The things are right across there in the brush,’ she told him, pointing to the place, and then gradually dropped back to his side, and then a step behind him. Then, as they came near the brush on the far side, she suddenly seized him, endeavoring to squeeze his arms close to his side, so that he could not use them, and at the same time she called out to the Nez Percé to come to her assistance. He had been watching, and was already coming as fast as he could run.

“Falling Bear, of course, saw at once the intentions of the two, and as quick as a flash of lightning made up his mind what to do. He only half struggled with the woman, now grasping his neck with one hand and arm, and beating his eyes and face with the other hand. She was fast blinding him, but he stood the pain of it until the Nez Percé, with war club raised, was but a step or two away. He then broke loose from the woman, kicked backward, his foot striking her in the stomach and knocking her over, and then he sprang at the Nez Percé, seized the arm and hand that held the war club high, and struggled with the man for possession of it. He wrenched it away from him, and with it struck him a hard blow on the head, and he fell, his skull crushed in, and died. The victor scalped him with his own knife, took his war club and his bow and arrows, and then turned to the woman.

“She lay where she had fallen, trembling at what she had done, wishing that she had not done it. ‘Get up. If you spoke truth, if there are war clothes and other things over there, lead me to them,’ Falling Bear told her.

“She arose, still trembling, but now with some hope that he was not going to kill her, and led him to the place. His eyes were swelling shut so fast that one was entirely closed, but he could partly use the other. He looked at the things there on the brush: ‘Ah! Here are the war clothes, the shield, the medicine pouch, but where are the weapons?’ he asked.

“The woman did not answer. What could she say? There had been no weapons left on the brush. Falling Bear laughed a laugh that made her shiver, and told her to gather up all that was there and follow him. He unfastened the horse and led it across the camping-place, she following, and he had her take up his own weapons and things and fasten them to the saddle. He then mounted the horse, and told her to lead it and take the back trail home. Before he had ridden far his other eye closed; he was, for the time, wholly blind; but not afraid. He kept close possession of all the weapons, and made the woman do everything that he wanted done. She minded his every word.

“Traveling again at night, and hiding in the brush during the daytime, the two passed safely through the country of the Flatheads, and crossed the mountains. On the morning that they approached the camp here on Cutbank, Falling Bear had partly recovered the use of one eye. The other was still swollen shut; it seemed to have been poisoned by the woman’s fingernails.