Interpreters commonly translate this word Na'pi as Old Man, but it
is also the term for white man; and the Cheyenne and Arapahoe
tribes tell just such stories about a similar person whom they also
call "white man." Tribes of Dakota stock tell of a similar person
whom they call "the spider."
The stories about this Old Man are told by the Blackfeet for
entertainment rather than with any serious purpose, and when that
part of the story is reached where Old Man is in some difficulty
which he cannot get out of, the man who is telling the story, and
those who are listening to it, laugh delightedly.
Some stories of this kind are these:
THE WONDERFUL BIRD
One day, as Old Man was walking about among the trees, he saw
something that seemed very queer.
A little bird was sitting on the branch of a tree. Every little
while it would make a strange noise, and every time it made this
noise its eyes flew out of its head and fastened on a branch of the
tree. Then after a little while the bird would make another sort of
noise and its eyes would go back to their places in its head.
Old Man called out to the bird, "Little brother, teach me how to do
that."
"If I show you how," the bird answered, "you must not send your eyes
out of your head more than four times in a day. If you do, you will
be sorry."
"It shall be as you say, little brother. It is for you to give, and
I will listen to what you say."
When the bird had taught Old Man how to do this, he was glad.
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