The Blackfoot village was all astir to greet the new day. It was late in
the springtime, and the great hunters of the tribe had been off to hunt
the buffalo. Word had just reached the village that the hunt was over
and the hunting party was on the way home.
This made Little Bird very happy, for she knew that her husband, Big Red
Bear, would be returning to the tepee and that there would be much
celebrating in the tribe. Everything must be made ready to greet the
hunters.
The women of the village began dashing around preparing for the arrival
of the hunting party. There was much to be done and much work lay ahead,
now that the buffalo had been killed. The meat must be stored and some
of it smoked, and the hides must be turned into new tepee covers and
robes. All this would take place after the celebration, but still the
women of the tribe knew they had a long job ahead.
The news was good. The hunt had been successful, and many buffalo had
fallen before the weapons of the hunters. The buffalo had a good winter
and were not thin or ragged. The grass had been full-grown and rich.
Enough rain had fallen to provide the food and water necessary to make
the buffalo fat and a good target for expert bowmen.
Soon all was in readiness and everyone waited impatiently for the first
signs of the returning hunters. And then the signal came! A young brave
on a shaggy brown pony came dashing through the village, announcing the
arrival of the hunters.
Everyone was out to greet them and shout thanks and praise. Husbands and
wives, fathers and children greeted each other warmly. The tribe was
filled with joy.
Night came swiftly. Before long the beating drums told the people that
the dancing and feasting was to begin. This celebration often lasted all
night and sometimes into the next day; then as dancers tired, they would
wander off to their tepees for the first really peaceful sleep since the
hunting party had left the village.
Little Bird and her husband enjoyed the great feast and celebration. The
next day Little Bird set to work on the buffalo skins for her family
tepee. It had been a hard winter and the weather had damaged many
Blackfoot homes. There were more than enough skins brought back by the
hunters, so that those tepee coverings that had become worn and tattered
could be replaced. So Little Bird set to work with the women of the
tribe who were busy preparing and sewing together the buffalo hides to
make new covers for the tepees.
One day Little Bird learned that a new tepee was to be built in the
village. The old tepee of the chief had been damaged so badly by the
winter snow and ice, and the poles had become so rotted, that the tribe
agreed to build him a new tepee. The building of a new tepee was
important because everybody in the tribe helped to make it. All the
friends and neighbors would be invited to attend a great feast and when
the feast was over, the women would begin sewing the skins together.
Little Bird and her husband went to the feast. When it was over, Little
Bird sat down with the rest of the women and, taking up her bone needle,
began to sew two buffalo hides together. The cutting of the skins had
been entrusted to Slow Water, the wife of Black Fox, the tribe’s best
hunter, since she had great skill in judging the number of skins needed
by their size and shape. They used no patterns, so only a woman with
this kind of skill was asked to do the cutting.
As the sewing continued and the tepee walls began to take shape, even
more whispering went on around Little Bird. When Little Bird asked one
of her friends what it was all about, her friend would only say, “Be
patient, Little Bird, for soon we shall all know what they have been
whispering about.”
The next day the women who had been working on the skins came to the
tepee of Little Bird. Because her husband was away, Little Bird invited
the women to sit and talk. There was a great deal of laughter as the
women sat down. Slow Water, the skillful cutter, had been chosen to
speak to Little Bird for all of them.
“Little Bird,” she began, “we are here to ask you to do something for
our tribe. You always have a smile for everyone wherever you go in the
village. As you know, we must choose someone who is always cheerful to
work on the smoke flaps for the new tepee. We are here to ask you,
Little Bird, to work on the smoke flaps of the new tepee, so that your
happy spirit will be woven into the flap and the smoke will depart from
the tepee evenly and smoothly.”
Little Bird smiled. Her heart was happy. This was truly a great honor.
Now she understood why all the whispering had been going on the last
couple of days.
“I will be happy to help sew the smoke flaps of the new tepee. It is a
great honor for which I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
And some say that as long as that tepee stood, the chief never had to
worry about the smoke rising out of the tepee easily, even on stormy,
windy nights. The Indians believed that the happy spirit of Little Bird
really lived in that flap.