The Crow

Previously:

The Traveler spends time with Bear Who Cries, a wise Indian.

Chapter 25

I went to Montana for a while. Montana was Texas with grass. One more thing Montana had was mountains. In Montana, I got my first look at the Rockies. So much ground standing on edge. It was a sight.

Some people tried to reach the west coast by crossing them and were never seen again. I always wondered how far you'd have to travel to go around them.

Where I was, it was hot as blazes, but you could see snow on the tops of the mountains. I never understood that. It seemed to me that if you got closer to the sun it'd get hotter, but they say that's not the way it works. It's too much for me to grasp.

I spent a year in Montana and didn't see another white man. The Indians didn't know what I was. I tried to explain, but they didn't have a word for fool.

There were lots of Indians in Montana. Mostly, Blackfoot, Chippewa, and Crow. It seemed like any Indian that didn't want to live someplace else came to Montana.

The Blackfoot got their name from the fact that they rubbed ashes on their moccasins to turn them black. I don't know why they did this. I guess they just liked the color. It was a contrast to their tan britches and shirts.

Blackfoot Indians had a peculiar way to make a youngster want to become a warrior. A boy on his first war party was given a silly or derogatory name. But after he had stolen his first horse or killed an enemy, he was given a name to honor him.

The Blackfoot were a mean tribe. They believed that if you could make a man cry, you captured his soul and added it to your own. They would torture children in front of their father, and try to make him cry.

I heard about a Blackfoot Indian making a man watch as he slit his son's throat. The man didn't bat an eye. After a Blackfoot captured a man's soul, he killed him and ate his heart. By doing this, the man became part of the Indian. The man was willing to watch in silence as his own son was killed if it meant he wouldn't become part of the Indian who killed him.

The Crow weren't much better, but they didn't eat people. I guess that made them less savage. At least you could eat with a Crow Indian and not wonder what was on your plate.

The word crow came from an Indian word that means children of the big beaked bird. I heard the word once, but it doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. Crow is easier to say.

To be continued . . .