Napi Legends: Willie White Feathers and Dr. Helen Many Fingers

by Ninastako Cultural Centre

Overview

These Napi legends develop the storyline of the trickster Napi; they include conversational Blackfoot words, and most importantly, they provide a glimpse into the past of the First Nations' people who roamed the western Canadian prairies. Finally, the colourful drawings by a member of Kainai seal the authenticity of the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504976466
Publisher:	AuthorHouse
Publication date:	07/19/2017
Pages:	86
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.23(d)

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Napi's Greatest Achievement

Napi was the only survivor of the Great Flood.
Napi's small raft was made of willow branches,
As the days lingered on,
Among the animals,
Soon, the eagle, crow, magpie, swan and pheasant returned empty-handed.
Napi sat in his raft wondering to himself,
Tiny muskrat suspected his master and said to him,
Days and nights passed, and Napi waited for the tiny muskrat to return.

On the fourth day of the muskrat's voyage,
Napi patted the muskrat's tiny head and complimented him for his bravery and achievement.
Napi then took the soil,
In a moment of silence,
Napi blew the soil in four directions:
Napi freed the birds and animals,
After many moons had come and gone,
Napi was pleased with the beauty of the land around him.

As time went on,
Napi took his isttoan and cut into the boy's abdomen.
This time,
He commanded them to go and multiply.

To Napi, every part of life,
The Return of Napi to the Homeland

The hunter was camped by a river with his wife, Maka'paakii,
The older son was always more sensible,
Their only pet was a spotted-faced dog,
Every other day,
One day, Spotted Face became suspicious and decided to follow her.

Maka'paakii climbed a hill where lay an old, dried-out hollow oak tree.
Spotted Face rushed back to the camp,
Meanwhile, Hunter returned from the wilderness with only a rabbit and a partridge.
Next morning, Hunter announced that he would try his luck again.
Maka'paakii sensed that the dog had betrayed her.

She grabbed him by the neck and forced him to eat mississa, saying,
However, instead of going into the forest, Hunter followed his wife.
Hunter took one step forward and shot the creature.
Hunter then gathered wood and made a fire on top of the woman and the snake.

As Hunter returned to his lodge,
Hunter gave his sons three sacred objects:
Hunter raised his arms and ascended into the skies.
The boys raced for the eastern slopes,
The older boy took the thorn branch and threw it at the wicked woman.
Because the sons were far ahead of her,
Soon, they saw the wicked woman fast approaching.
Maka'paakii had to do a lot of mountain climbing before she was able to get close to the boys again.
The younger son, in desperation,
Soon, there was water all over.
The boys continued on their journey into the unkown.

Everything was strange.
The older brother pitied his brother,
The Hummingbird's Song

The mountains were brightest on that spring morning.
There were many different and wonderful animals grazing on the grassy slopes of the canyon.
Napi stood along looking up at the sky,
A peculiar looking bird flew by Napi and perched on the branch of a young pine tree,
The bird waited for a little while and began humming the same tune,
  "This is amazing!"
As soon as the bird was out of sight,
Napi could not see.
His eyeballs flew back to his face.
Napi realized his mistake.
Napi bumped into stumps of trees,
The tree said,
Napi kept walking until he walked into an ugly perennial plant.
He came to a crooked willow tree.
The crooked willow tree said to Napi,
Down by the river,
They saw a man coming in their direction.
She swam toward Napi and helped him to the shore,
A'kowaakii said to Napi,
Napi gathered and piled the wood.
When A'kowaakii came back, she was shocked to see all the piles.

She said,
After the meal was over,
He rested his tired head on the woman's lap.
He began chasing the woman.
That same evening,
The coyote was having a great time teasing the blind man.
The coyote prayed and begged of Napi,
Napi would not hear of the coyote's plea.
With beautiful brown eyes,
Napi's Proposal

It was a beautiful sunny day after a long dreary winter.
On the top of one of the hills,
Once in a while,
One day, Napi,
Napi began to think to himself,
As he approached the other side of the valley,
Their tipis were made of fine, soft-smoked, tanned buffalo skin and decorated in many colours.
In the summer moons,
At the end of the evening,
Every day, each group had a different chore to do.
Immediately, Niinawaakii ordered everyone to go back to their lodges.
Niinawaakii was hesitant to make a decision.
Napi told the men,
(Continues…)

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Excerpted from "Napi Legends"
by .
Copyright © 2017 Ninastako Cultural Centre.
Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Napi's Greatest Achievement, 1,
The Return of Napi to the Homeland, 10,
The Hummingbird's Song, 26,
Napi's Proposal, 37,
Napi and His Deer Hide Cloak, 50,
Napi and the Ice Breaking, 60,
Napi and the Elk, 64,
Activities, 66,
Blackfoot Glossary, 76,