Blackfeet Indian Tipi Legend - How Lone Chief Obtained An Elk Tipi and How A Hunter Was Given An Elk Tipi
Elk Tipi of Maggie and Dan Bull Plume
How Lone Chief Obtained An Elk Tipi
There were two or three Elk Tipis among the Blackfeet. This is the story of the origin of a second one.
In older times the people moved from place to place, wherever game was plentiful. One time they moved way north of Bow River, passed a lake, and camped a few miles from it. Lone Chief told his people, "I am going back to that lake and sleep there for four nights. Then you can come for me. Do not come before then."
Lone Chief returned to the lake, and he slept near it for two nights. He heard all kinds of animals in the lake. The third night a little boy came to him and said, "My father wants you to come to our camp."
Lone Chief replied, "All right. I will be over." But the little boy insisted, "No, you must come with me now. I am taking you to where my father lives."
So Lone Chief got up and followed the boy to the edge of the water. The boy then told him, "Close your eyes and don't look until I tell you to do so."
Lone Chief closed his eyes until the boy told him to open them. Then he saw that he was standing in an elk painted lodge. The man who owned it said to him, "Sit down. I saw you out there sleeping, and I felt sorry for you, Lone Chief. I invited you here so that I may give you my Elk Tipi, and power to obtain anything you may wish for. My tipi has a fisher bundle. In the summer time you should unwrap this fisher pelt and hang it on a pole. If you follow my instructions for the care of this tipi your prayers always will be answered."
How A Hunter Was Given An Elk Tipi
There was once a great hunter who spent most of his time in the field. He hunted buffalo and every other kind of game he could find. One day he went into the mountains and walked up to a herd of elk. The elk were in a pen with something like a fence around them. The only place they could get out was an opening where he was standing.
While he was standing there the elk saw him and they tried to get away. They all rushed toward him and ran over him. His breath was knocked out of him. As he lay there he dreamed that one of the elk turned into a man and came to him, saying, "My son, I will repay you for running over you. I have come to give you my painted tipi. Look and see how it is painted."
The hunter carefully noted how the tipi was painted. Then he went home and told his people what had happened. He told how the elk had trampled him, and how he had laid there all afternoon, and how the elk man came and showed him how to make the Elk Tipi.