The Journal of American Folk-lore. Vol. VI.—July-September, 1893.—No. XXII.

In this vivid collection the recorder spent evenings in Blood Indian lodges, carefully noting the stories that survived the upheavals of reservation life and rapid white settlement. The material comes directly from the tribe’s elders, whose repeated confirmations give each fragment a steady, authentic voice. Listeners will hear the Blackfoot creation tale of Napioa, the floating Old Man who shapes earth from mud, fashions the first woman, and gifts the people bows, arrows, and buffalo—an account that illuminates how the community understood the world’s birth and the origins of its people.

The anthology also presents the colorful myth explaining the wind’s birth, with a mischievous prairie chicken, a broken bag of seasons, and a fierce gust that marks a birch tree, as well as the early episode of the “Blood‑Clot Boy” that begins with a mother’s pot and a mysterious hissing sound. These first‑act narratives showcase the imagination, values, and humor of Blackfoot oral tradition, inviting listeners into a rich cultural landscape that has rarely been heard beyond the reservation.