Blackfeet Indian Tipi Legend - Origin Of Bear Tipis And The Bear Knife
Bear Tipi of Lucy and Louis Champagne
Long ago a young Piegan determined to obtain secret power which would bring him success in war. While he traveled through heavy timber searching for a fasting place he came upon a cave. He entered it. When his eyes became accustomed to the darkness he saw that the cave was occupied by a mother bear and her cubs. When he pleaded with the bear mother not to harm him, she quieted down and let him fondle her cubs. For four days he stayed in the bear's den without food or water. Meanwhile he prayed to the bear to give him some of her power.
On the fourth night he fell asleep. In his dream a male and a female bear appeared. They took pity on him. The female bear gave him her home, a handsome lodge with three bears painted on each side and red circles on the front and back representing the bear's den. The doorway was covered with a bearskin. She also gave him incense to be burned in the lodge day and night, a black stone pipe bowl carved in the shape of a bear, and a song, "Underneath there is a bear which is very powerful. With her protection I shall always be spared in battle."
Then the male bear spoke, "My son, I give you my lodge too." Two black bears standing on their hind legs were painted on this lodge, one at each side of the doorway. The father bear also gave him a pipe and a drum.
Then the mother bear gave him a knife with a bear-jaw handle. She threw the knife at him, and he caught it before it could harm him. The bears gave him a song to go with it, "A knife is just like dirt thrown against me."
The bears then painted their faces red and made long, vertical stripes on their faces by scratching off some of the paint with their claws. They told the young man, "This is how you should paint yourself for battle. This painting will protect you."
When enemies of the bears came through the brush and attacked them the male bear charged and killed the attackers. Then he told the boy, "See. This is the way. Always charge in battle just as I did."
The next day the young man left the bear's den. Soon afterward he joined a war party. In battle he carried a bear knife, painted himself, and charged as the bears had taught him. He took several scalps, and was himself unharmed. After he returned home, he made the two bear painted lodges just as the bears had shown them to him in his dream.