Blackfoot Lodge Tales: Story of a Prairie People (A Bison Book, 116) - Softcover

Grinnell, George Bird

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9780803250796: Blackfoot Lodge Tales: Story of a Prairie People (A Bison Book, 116)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0803250797 ISBN 13: 9780803250796

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1962

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'These tales 'bring alive the world of the Northern Plains buffalo hunters and warriors"- "Western Folklore". First published in 1892, "Blackfoot Lodge Tales" is based on George Bird Grinnell's extensive personal knowledge of the three tribes of the Blackfoot nation. Grinnell, an ethnologist, writer, editor, explorer, creator of Glacier National Park, and protector of Yellowstone National Park, had great compassion for and understanding of Indians at a time when most men of the frontier were both uninterested in and unable to record the Indians' oral literature. The Blackfoot nation recognized Grinnell as an invaluable friend and entrusted their heritage to his keeping. With that in mind, Grinnell presents as the first half of his book thirty stories of the Blackfeet, recorded as they were told to him - stories of war and adventure, ancient times, natural phenomena, origins of social customs, and tales of creation and the Creator. The remainder of the book deals with the history of the Blackfeet, their daily life and customs, tribal organization, and religion. 'The book is delightful for its presentation of a people whose honest expressions are recorded in all the freshness of their unpolluted, unrefined state. Reading them, one can...smell the Buffalo grass and the wood fires, feel the heavy morning dew on the prairie' - "Western American Literature".

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From the Inside Flap:

"The author’s observations of the social organization, daily life, and customs of [the Blackfoot] rounds out a singular book."—Los Angeles Times. "Grinnell’s book has stood the test of time as an important contribution to the history and ethnography of the Blackfeet."—Natural History.

"A classic collection of tales by a gifted storyteller and a lucid ethnographic description of the Blackfeet."—Studies in American Indian Literature.

This collection of powerful stories reveals the complex and wondrous world of the Blackfoot nation in the nineteenth century. The thirty tales transcribed by George Bird Grinnell provide an intimate look into Blackfoot culture and philosophy and remind us of tribal values to be upheld and taught. Classic tales of adventure speak of deeds accomplished, and cultural heroes roam across an arresting Native landscape of legend and history. Ancient stories, captured in oral tradition, cast the shadow of the Blackfoot people far into the past and provide foundation and meaning for their lives in the present. The final section of this book is an insightful overview of the history and culture of the Blackfoot Nation. First published in 1892, Blackfoot Lodge Tales is based on George Bird Grinnell’s personal interactions with the Blackfoot people.

A member of the Blackfeet Tribe and a historian, Thedis Berthelson Crowe provides an indigenous perspective of the Blackfoot Lodge Tales in her new introduction to this edition. Her great-great grandfather, William Russell, served as the Blackfoot interpreter for Grinnell.

About the Author:

George Bird Grinnell was a man of diverse talents editor, author, traveler, and scientist. Born in 1849, he became, by turn of the century, one of the best-known and most popular interpreters of the American Indian.

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