The Blackfoot
village was all astir to greet the new day. It was late in the
springtime, and the great hunters of the tribe had been off to hunt the
buffalo. Word had just reached the village that the hunt was over and
the hunting party was on the way home.
This made Little
Bird very happy, for she knew that her husband, Big Red Bear, would be
returning to the tepee and that there would be much celebrating in the
tribe. Everything must be made ready to greet the hunters.
The women of the
village began dashing around preparing for the arrival of the hunting
party. There was much to be done and much work lay ahead, now that the
buffalo had been killed. The meat must be stored and some of it smoked,
and the hides must be turned into new tepee covers and robes. All this
would take place after the celebration, but still the women of the tribe
knew they had a long job ahead.
The news was good.
The hunt had been successful, and many buffalo had fallen before the
weapons of the hunters. The buffalo had a good winter and were not thin
or ragged. The grass had been full-grown and rich. Enough rain had
fallen to provide the food and water necessary to make the buffalo fat
and a good target for expert bowmen.
Soon all was in
readiness and everyone waited impatiently for the first signs of the
returning hunters. And then the signal came! A young brave on a shaggy
brown pony came dashing through the village, announcing the arrival of
the hunters.
Everyone was out to
greet them and shout thanks and praise. Husbands and wives, fathers and
children greeted each other warmly. The tribe was filled with joy.
Night came swiftly.
Before long the beating drums told the people that the dancing and
feasting was to begin. This celebration often lasted all night and
sometimes into the next day; then as dancers tired, they would wander
off to their tepees for the first really peaceful sleep since the
hunting party had left the village.
Little Bird and her
husband enjoyed the great feast and celebration. The next day Little
Bird set to work on the buffalo skins for her family tepee. It had been a
hard winter and the weather had damaged many Blackfoot homes. There
were more than enough skins brought back by the hunters, so that those
tepee coverings that had become worn and tattered could be replaced. So
Little Bird set to work with the women of the tribe who were busy
preparing and sewing together the buffalo hides to make new covers for
the tepees.
One day Little Bird
learned that a new tepee was to be built in the village. The old tepee
of the chief had been damaged so badly by the winter snow and ice, and
the poles had become so rotted, that the tribe agreed to build him a new
tepee. The building of a new tepee was important because everybody in
the tribe helped to make it. All the friends and neighbors would be
invited to attend a great feast and when the feast was over, the women
would begin sewing the skins together.
Little Bird and her
husband went to the feast. When it was over, Little Bird sat down with
the rest of the women and, taking up her bone needle, began to sew two
buffalo hides together. The cutting of the skins had been entrusted to
Slow Water, the wife of Black Fox, the tribe’s best hunter, since she
had great skill in judging the number of skins needed by their size and
shape. They used no patterns, so only a woman with this kind of skill
was asked to do the cutting.
As the sewing
continued and the tepee walls began to take shape, even more whispering
went on around Little Bird. When Little Bird asked one of her friends
what it was all about, her friend would only say, “Be patient, Little
Bird, for soon we shall all know what they have been whispering about.”
The next day the
women who had been working on the skins came to the tepee of Little
Bird. Because her husband was away, Little Bird invited the women to sit
and talk. There was a great deal of laughter as the women sat down.
Slow Water, the skillful cutter, had been chosen to speak to Little Bird
for all of them.
“Little Bird,” she
began, “we are here to ask you to do something for our tribe. You always
have a smile for everyone wherever you go in the village. As you know,
we must choose someone who is always cheerful to work on the smoke flaps
for the new tepee. We are here to ask you, Little Bird, to work on the
smoke flaps of the new tepee, so that your happy spirit will be woven
into the flap and the smoke will depart from the tepee evenly and
smoothly.”
Little Bird smiled.
Her heart was happy. This was truly a great honor. Now she understood
why all the whispering had been going on the last couple of days.
“I will be happy to
help sew the smoke flaps of the new tepee. It is a great honor for which
I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
And some say that as
long as that tepee stood, the chief never had to worry about the smoke
rising out of the tepee easily, even on stormy, windy nights. The
Indians believed that the happy spirit of Little Bird really lived in
that flap.
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