Fools Crow (Contemporary American Fiction) Read Free

offered easy going, and Yellow Kidney wanted to make time while they were fresh. He knew of a war lodge just below Red Old Man’s Butte. It was in a stand of small pines and would give them enough cover and comfort for a good rest. They would come upon it before Sun Chief hid behind the Backbone, time enough perhaps to kill an animal for food.

    The four-leggeds were many that day. They saw four large herds of blackhorns and several smaller herds of prairie-runners and wags-his-tails and once, on a bluff to the west, bighorns. In a draw that drained toward the Bear River they scared up a kit fox and Yellow Kidney took this as a good sign, for the fox was known to give men cunning. It was said that those to whom the fox came in dreams would become strong leaders.
     
    Later that day a pair of golden eagles followed the party for a way, and again Yellow Kidney felt good, for they would give him eyes to see far off. Part of his war medicine was in the two eagle feathers he wore in his hair. But he was glad when the eagles turned away to their home in the Backbone. Any nearby raiding party would also be watching the large birds and wondering what they found so interesting to follow.

    Finally, with Sun Chief still high in the western sky, they came within view of Red Old Man’s Butte. From their angle it looked like a small sloping mountain with the top knifed off. Eagle Ribs ran ahead to scout, to make sure no enemies occupied the war lodge, for it was well-known to the Snakes and the Flatheads. The rest of the men found shelter in a cutbank below a wind that had turned chilly. As they sat and smoked, they looked to the north and saw the clouds had begun to move down. But they were high thin clouds that did not contain moisture. Fast Horse stood and walked a short way down the draw; then he turned and walked back.

    “I had a dream two sleeps ago,” he said. He addressed them all but he looked at Yellow Kidney. “In this dream Cold Maker came down from Always Winter Land. He came with the wind. He was all dressed up in white furs and he was riding a white horse. He carried a lance made of ice and a shield of hoarfrost that one could see through. At first I was frightened, for I was certain that he had come to kill me. I asked him to take pity on me, to allow me to live a full life. He laughed, and his laughter sounded like ice breaking up on the river. As you know, I am not afraid of anything in this world—I would make the Crows cry all by myself—but that laugh so filled me with fear that I fell down and trembled, waiting for him to stab me with that ice spear.”

    Fast Horse looked from face to face, challenging them to scorn him. But the men looked up at him with wide eyes, as though they shared his fear.

    Fast Horse smiled then. “You understand my fear in the presence of one so powerful. But this story ends happily, for you as well as me. Cold Maker said, ‘Rise up and look at me, young man. I know you go in two sleeps to raid the Crow horses. I have chosen to help you, and now I will tell you how to be successful. Give me a pipeful of your tobacco.’ My fingers were numb with the cold he had brought with him but I managed to fill my pipe and light it for him. ‘I have no tobacco in my home,’ he said. After he smoked awhile, he told me this: ‘There is an ice spring I keep hidden in the rocks on the side of Woman Don’t Walk Butte. I like to drink there once in a while. It gives me strength. But now a big rock has fallen over it, and blow as hard as I can, I cannot dislodge it. I know you two-leggeds, puny as you might be, possess the cunning to move that rock.’ He handed me back my pipe and it was so cold it burned my fingers. Then he said, ‘If you do this for me, I will make your raid successful. As you drive the Crow horses home, I will cause snow to fall behind you, covering your tracks. But you must find my spring and remove the rock. If you don’t, you must not go on, for I will punish you and