ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS.-- OF THE Aismerican Museum atura'l Haltory., Vol. 11, Part l. MYTHOLOGY OF THE BLACKFOOT IND-IANS, BY CLARK WISSLER AND NEW YORK: Published by Order of the Trustees. I September, 1908. Arnerican Museum of Natural History. PUBLICATIONS IN ANTHROPOLOGY. The results of re'search c6nducted by th-e Anthropological'staff 'of the- Museum, unless otherwise provided.for, are pblished, in. a series of octavo volumes of about 350 pages each, issued in parts at irregular intervals, entitled Anthropological Papers of the 4merican Museum of Natural History. This series of publication aims to gi,ve the results8 of field-work' conducted by the above' department, supplement-ed 'by the study of collections in the Museum. The following are on sale at the Museum at the prices stated: Vol. I. Part I. Technique of some South American Feather-work. By Charles W. Mead." Pp. 1-18, Plates I-IV, and 14 text figtres. Jan- uary, 1907. Pribe, $0.25. Part II. Some Protective Designs 6f the Dakota. -By ChLIk Wissler. Pp. 19-54, Plates V-VII, and 26 text figures, iFebruary, 1907. Price, $0.50. Part III. Gros Ventre Myths and Tales. By A. L. Kroeber. Pp. 55- 139. May, 1907. Price, $0.25. Part IV. Ethnology of the Gros Ventre. By A. L. Kroeber. Pp. -141- 282, Plates VIII-XIH, and 44 text figures. April, 1908. Price, $1.50. Part V. The:Hard Palate in Normal and Feeble-minded Individuals., By Walter Channing and -Clark Wissler. Pp. 283-350, Plates X1V-XX1I, 8 text figures, and 19 tables. August, 1908. Price, $0.50. Part VI. Iroquois Silverwork. By M. R. Harrington. Pp. 351-370, Plates XXIII-XXIX, and 2 text figures. August, 1908. Price, $0.50. Vol.] T. Part I. Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians. By Clark Wissler and' D. C. Duvall., Pp. 1-164. September, 1908. Price, $1.00. ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE American Museum of Natural History. Vol. 11. .4 " NEW YORK: Published by Order of the Trustees. 1909. EDITOR. CLARW14qSSLE. CLARK WISSLER. CONTENTS OF VOLUME II. Part I. Mythology of the Blackfoot Indians. By Clark Wissler and D. C. Duvall. September, 1908. 1 Part II. The Northern Shoshone (Plate I). By Robert H. Lowie. January, 1909 . 165 Part III. Notes ea New Collections (Plates II to XXIII). Edited by Clark Wissler. March, 1909, . 307 Index . 366 ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE American Museum of Natural History. Vol. 11, Part 1. MYTHOLOGY OF THE BLACKFOOT INDIANS, BY CLARK WISSLER AND D. C. DUVALL. NEW YORK: Published by Order of the Trustees. September, 1908. ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY VOL. II, PART I. MYTHOLOGY OF THE BLACKFOOT INDIANS. BY CLARK WXISSLER AND D. C. DUVALL. CONTENTS. PAGE. INTRODUCTION . 5 I. TALES OF THE OLD MAN . 19 1. The Making of the Earth . 19 2. Languages confused on a Mountain . 19 3. Order of Life and Death . 19 4. Why People die Forever . 21 5. The First Marriage . 21 6. Old Man leads a Migration . 22 7. Old Man and the Great Spirit . 23 8. Old Man gambles . 24 9. Old Man and the Rolling Stone . 24 10. Old Man roasts Squirrels in Hot Ashes . 25 11. Old Man makes a Drive, and loses Meat in a Race . 27 12. Old Man sees Berries in the Water . 29 13. Old Man loses his Eyes . 29 14. Old Man and the Fire-Leggings . 31 15. Old Man frightens a Bear . 32 16. Old Man gets fast in an Elk-Skull, and loses his Hair . 32 17. Old Man cooks Two Babies . 33 18. Old Man's Escape . 34 19. Old Man deceived by Two Women . 35 20. Old Man sees Girls picking Strawberries . 36 21. Old Man penem trans flumen mittit . 36 22. Old Man makes Buffalo laugh . 36 23. Adventure~s of Old Man . 37 II. STAR MYTHS : . 40 1. The Twin-Brothers, or Stars . 40 2. Blood-Clot, or Smoking-Star . 53 3. The Fixed-Star . 58 (1) 2 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. II, PAGE. 4. Sear-Face 61 (a) Version by a Piegan Man 61 (b) Version by a Piegan Woman 65 5. Cuts-Wood 66. 6. The Seven Stars 68 7. The Bunched Stars 71 8. The Moon-Woman 72 I11. RITUALISTIC ORIGINS 74 1. The Beaver-Medicine 74 (a) Northern Blackfoot Version 74 (b) Blood Version 75 (c) North Piegan Version 76ra (d) Piegan Version 77 2. Otter-Woman 78 3. Tobacco-Seeds and Beaver-Medicine 79 4. Crow Indian Water-Medicine 80 5. Scabby-Round-Robe 81 6. The Elk-Woman 83 (a) Blood Version 83 (b) Piegan Version 84 7. The Buffalo-Rock 85 (a) Piegan Version 85 (b) Northern Blackfoot Version 87 8. Origin of the Medicine-Pipe *89g 9. The Worm-Pipe 91 10. A Pipe from the Seven Stars 91 11. The Black-Covered Pipe 91 12. The Otter-Lodge 92 13. The Bear-Lodge 92 14. The Horse-Lodge 94 15. Black and Yellow Buffalo-Painted Lodges 94, 16. The Crow-Painted Lodge 95 17. The Bear-Knife 915 18. The Smoking-Otter 98 19. The Medicine-Shields 99 20. Never-Sits-Down's Shield . 102 21. The Eagle-Head Charm .103 22. The Pigeons . 105 23. The Mosquitoes . 105 24. The Braves . 106 25. Dog-Chief . 107 26. Has-Scars-All-Over . 109 27. Scabby-Bull . 112 28. The Horns and the Matoki . 117 (a) Blood Version . 117 (b) North Piegan Version . 119 29. The Kit-Fox . 121 30. The Catchers . 121 31. The Buffalo's Adopted Child . 121 1908.] JVissler and Duvall, Blackfoot Mythology. 3 PAGE. IV. CULTURAL AND OTHER ORIGINS . 126 1. The Whirlwind-Boy . 126 2. The Bladder Story . 127 3. The Water-Bull . 128 4. Red-Head . 129 5. The Meeting in the Cave . 132 6. Why Dogs do not Talk . 133 7. Why Women are able to stick the Poles into the Holes of the Ears of the Lodge after Dark 133 8. Contest between the Thunder-Bird and the Raven 134 9. The Raven Rescues People 134 10. Why Grasshoppers Spit . 134 11. How Medicine-Hat got its Name 135 V. MISCELLANEOUS TALES 138 1. The Lost Children 138 2. The Woman who got Meat from the Cliff 141 3. Bear-Moccasin, the Great Medicine-Man 143 4. The Split Feather 147 5. The Treacherous Wives 148 6. The Woman who Married a Snake 150 7. The Woman who Married Filth 151 8. The Woman who Married a Horse 152 9. The Woman with a Sharpened Leg 153 10. The Woman without a Body 154 11. The Man Cut in two below the Waist 154 12. The Ghost-Woman 155 13. Fed by a Ghost 156 14. Fed by a Coyote 156 15. Riding the Buffalo 157 16. The Kutenai Black-Tail Deer-Dance - 157 17. The Horned-Toad and the Frog 159 18. Turtle goes to War 160 19. The Warrior's Dilemma 160 20. A Warrior's Duty and his Love. .162 21. The Wolverene-Woman 162 22. Seven-Heads 163 23. The Sand Hills . ; 163 INTRODUCTION. This collection of narratives was made among the several divisions of the Blackfoot Indians during the years 1903-07. Unless otherwise stated, the translations were made by D. C. Duvall, and revised by Clark Wissler. The usual method was to record literal oral translations, which were in turn rendered with some freedom, though the translator's idiom has been retained wherever feasible. In every case, however, both the translator and the editor have sought to reproduce the narrative with the original sequence of incidents and explanatory ideas. In narration the Blackfoot often repeat sentences at irregular intervals, as if they wished to prevent the listener from forgetting their import. Naturally such repetitions were eliminated in the translations. A few narratives were recorded as texts. While texts will be indispensable for linguistic research, the present condition of Black- foot mythology is such that its comparative study would not be materially facilitated by such records. Each narrator has his own version, in the telling of which he is usually consistent; and, while the main features of the myths are the same for all, the minor differences are so great that extreme accuracy of detail with one individual would avail little. The method pursued with the most important myths was to discuss them with different individuals, so as to form an opinion as to the most common arrangement of incidents; a statement of such opinions being given as footnotes to those narrations in which great variations were observed. This variable condi- tion may be interpreted as a breaking-down of Blackfoot mythology, but there is another factor to be considered. Myths are told by a few individuals, who take pride in their ability and knowledge, and usually impress their own individuality upon the form of the narrative. Thus it seems equally probable that the various versions represent individual contributions, and, in a certain sense, are the ownership-marks of the narrators. Once when discussing this matter with a Blood Indian, the venerable old man pulled up a common ragweed, saying, "The parts of this weed all branch off from the stem. They go different ways, but all come from the same root. So it is with the different versions of a myth." Hence, to say that any one version of these myths is correct would be preposterous, because they have not now, and probably never did have, an absolutely fixed form. The only (5) 6 Anthropological Papers American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. II, rational criterion seems to be the approximate form in which the myth is most often encountered.