Old-man, or Napa, as he was called by the Blackfeet, is an extraordinary character in Indian stories. Both powerful and fallible, he appears in different guises: god or creator, fool, thief, clown. The world he made is marvelous but filled with mistakes. As a result, tensions between the haves and have-nots explode with cosmic consequences in "Indian Why Stories".
Elders of the Blackfeet, Cree, and Chippewa (Ojibwa) people shared these wonderful tales with Frank B. Linderman in the late nineteenth century and early years of the twentieth century. War Eagle (the fictional name of Linderman's friend and Chippewa medicine man Pah-nah-to, or Full-of-dew), tells these stories to attentive youngsters after the first frost in the fall. He speaks of animal people, including a deer and an antelope in a footrace, a dancing fox who convulses a buffalo with laughter, a white beaver and ghost people, a huge snake in love with the moon, a sparrow hawk of conscience, and many others. These sparkling tales reveal a reverence for life, honesty, and the unity of creation.

This expanded edition features thirteen previously unpublished verse stories along with an introduction to those stories by Sarah Waller Hatfield, granddaughter of Linderman.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

"Old-man then dried the dirt in his hands, rubbing it slowly and singing a queer song. Finally it was dry; then he settled the hand that held the dirt in the water slowly, until the water touched the dirt. The dry dirt began to whirl about and then Old-man blew upon it. Hard he blew and waved his hands, and the dirt began to grow in size right before their eyes. Old-man kept blowing and waving his hands until the dirt became real land, and the trees began to grow. So large it grew that none could see across it. Then he stopped his blowing and sang some more.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

"Old-man then dried the dirt in his hands, rubbing it slowly and singing a queer song. Finally it was dry; then he settled the hand that held the dirt in the water slowly, until the water touched the dirt. The dry dirt began to whirl about and then Old-man blew upon it. Hard he blew and waved his hands, and the dirt began to grow in size right before their eyes. Old-man kept blowing and waving his hands until the dirt became real land, and the trees began to grow. So large it grew that none could see across it. Then he stopped his blowing and sang some more.

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger PublishingAcentsa -a centss Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for e

"Old-man then dried the dirt in his hands, rubbing it slowly and singing a queer song. Finally it was dry; then he settled the hand that held the dirt in the water slowly, until the water touched the dirt. The dry dirt began to whirl about and then Old-man blew upon it. Hard he blew and waved his hands, and the dirt began to grow in size right before their eyes. Old-man kept blowing and waving his hands until the dirt became real land, and the trees began to grow. So large it grew that none could see across it. Then he stopped his blowing and sang some more.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

The Indians of the northwestern plains always laughed at the tales about Old-man, heard around a campfire after the sun set. For a powerful character, he was comically flawed. Old-man made the world but sometimes forgot the names of things. Victim and victimizer, he seemed closer to common experience than the awesome god Manitou. Frank B. Linderman thought Old-man was, under different names, an undergod for all Indian tribes. These stories-collected from Blackfeet, Chippewa, and Cree elders and first published in 1920-are full of wonder at the way things are. Why children lose their teeth, why eyesight fails with age, why dogs howl at night, why some animals wear camouflage-these and other mysteries, large and small, are made vividly sensible. Ohio-born Frank B. Linderman (1869-1938) spent his adult life in Montana, first as a trapper and then as a publisher, politician, and businessman. He was intimately associated with the Flathead, Blackfeet, Crow, and other Indian tribes in the region. His acclaimed writing career began in middle age with Indian Why Stories also available as a Bison book.

The Indians of the northwestern plains always laughed at the tales about Old-man, heard around a campfire after the sun set. For a powerful character, he was comically flawed. Old-man made the world but sometimes forgot the names of things. Victim and victimizer, he seemed closer to common experience than the awesome god Manitou. Frank B. Linderman thought Old-man was, under different names, an undergod for all Indian tribes. These stories-collected from Blackfeet, Chippewa, and Cree elders and first published in 1920-are full of wonder at the way things are. Why children lose their teeth, why eyesight fails with age, why dogs howl at night, why some animals wear camouflage-these and other mysteries, large and small, are made vividly sensible. Ohio-born Frank B. Linderman (1869-1938) spent his adult life in Montana, first as a trapper and then as a publisher, politician, and businessman. He was intimately associated with the Flathead, Blackfeet, Crow, and other Indian tribes in the region. His acclaimed writing career began in middle age with Indian Why Stories also available as a Bison book.

In 1822 Elijah Mounts, barely eighteen, shoulders his rifle and walks from his uncle's Missouri farm to Saint Louis to seek his fortune in the fur trade. Frank B. Linderman's 1922 novel is a first-person account, based on a true story and his own trapping experience, of a young man's coming of age among the trappers and Indians in remote Montana, on the upper reaches of the wild Missouri River. Befriended by Wash Lamkin, "Dad" to all who know him, "Lige" learns to live on the trail, trap the beaver, hunt the buffalo, speak the Cree language, and observe the customs of the country and its people. Enamored of the freedom, wildness, and beauty of the high plains and tied to the people at whose hands he has experienced kindness, welcome, and acceptance, he must ultimately decide whether he will return to civilization or choose the life of a plainsman. Frank B. Linderman (1869-1938) was a Montana miner, trapper, newspaperman, politician, and chronicler of Indian life and culture. His many works include The Montana Stories of Frank B. Linderman, Indian Why Stories: Sparks from War Eagle's Lodge-Fire, and Indian Old-Man Stories: More Sparks from War Eagle's Lodge-Fire, all available in Bison Books editions. David J. Wishart, a professor of geography at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is the author of An Unspeakable Sadness: The Dispossession of the Nebraska Indians and the editor of The Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, both available from the University of Nebraska Press. Sarah Waller Hatfield is Linderman's granddaughter.

"Bears are commonly misquoted." That's what Frank B. Linderman concluded after spending most of his life in the wild. In "Big Jinny" Linderman lets a little grizzly cub speak for herself, and Jinny has plenty to say. This is Jinny's story about growing up in the Montana wilderness, where every day promises adventure, mischief--and danger. She and her brother cub, Jim, learn from their mother about eating, playing, avoiding certain animals--and, most important of all, minding their own business. But when Jinny wakes up from her first hibernation, curiosity tempts her to ignore this most important lesson and travel far from home, minding everybody else's business while learning a few new lessons about what it is to be a grizzly bear. Big Jinny's story, steeped in nature lore and illustrated with Elizabeth Lochrie's lush watercolors, leads readers young and old on an enchanting adventure through the wilds of western America even as they learn, with Jinny, how grizzlies really live.

The Indians of the northwestern plains always laughed at the tales about "Old"-man, heard around the lodge fire in the wintertime after sunset. For a powerful character, he was comically flawed. "Old"-man made the world but sometimes forgot the names of things. Victim and victimizer, he seemed closer to common experience than the awesome god Manitou. Frank B. Linderman thought "Old"-man was, under different names, a god for many Indian communities. These stories--collected from Chippewa and Cree elders and first published in 1920--are full of wonder at the way things are. Why children lose their teeth, why eyesight fails with age, why dogs howl at night, why some animals wear camouflage--these and other mysteries, large and small, are made vividly sensible.