Goodbird the Indian: His Story

A young Hidatsa man recounts his earliest days on the sandbars of the Yellowstone, when his tribe clung to the river’s rhythm and the memory of a once‑great village at the Knife River. He paints daily life in vivid detail—earth lodges capped with soil, rows of corn, beans and sunflowers tended with bone‑hoes, and the tension of a people reshaped by smallpox and the approach of the Sioux. The narrative moves from the quiet certainty of cultivated fields to the restless hunt for dwindling buffalo herds, revealing how leaders were chosen and judged by the spirits and their community.

Through the eyes of Goodbird, listeners hear the language, customs, and belief‑systems of the Hidatsa as they adapt to a changing world. The storyteller’s friendship with the anthropologist who recorded his words adds a gentle, personal layer, while the accompanying sketches bring the tribe’s art to life. The opening offers an intimate portrait of resilience, identity, and the ties that bind a people to land and legend.