James Welch, Fools Crow Study Guide

Dramatis Personae

Fools Crow – formerly White Man’s Dog

Rides-at-the-Door – Fools Crow’s father

Double Strike Woman – Fools Crow’s mother

Striped Face – Rides-at-the-Door’s 2^nd wife

Kills-close-to-the-Lake – Rides-at-the-Door’s 3^rd wife

Running Fisher – Fools Crow’s brother

Mik-api – the Medicine Man; Fools Crow’s mentor

Fast Horse – Fools Crow’s friend and rival

Boss Ribs – Fast Horse’s father; keeper of the Beaver medicine

Yellow Kidney – Warrior chief; father of Red Paint

Heavy Shield Woman – Wife of Yellow Kidney

Red Paint – Oldest of Yellow Kidney’s three children

Good Young Man – Yellow Kidney’s son

One Spot – Yellow Kidney’s son

Three Bears – Chief of the Lone Eaters

Owl Child – Leader of the renegade band of Pikunis

Mountain Chief – Pikuni chief opposed to compromise with Whites

Heavy Runner – Pikuni chief willing to compromise with Whites

Terms

Pikunis [Blackfeet] – Indian tribe in Montana

Lone Eaters – Fools Crow’s band of Pikuni Indians

Crow – Indian tribe; enemies of the Pikuni

Skunk Bear – a wolverine; Fools Crow’s power animal

Blackhorns – Buffalo

Whitehorns – Cattle

Napikwans/“seizers” – white people

Above Ones/Cold Maker/Sun Chief – natural forces or gods

Sand Hills – the afterlife; where you go when you die

Grandfather in the East – President of the United States

Many shots gun – rifle [prized by the Pikunis for hunting]

White man’s water - alcohol

Seven Persons – Star constellation [Big Dipper]

Night Red Light – the moon

The Sickness – smallpox

Questions to think about as you read

1. In what ways were the Pikunis similar to whites? In what ways were they different?

2. What did the Pikunis value? What was important to them?

3. How would the Pikunis have defined a “good society”? How would their definition differ from the Whites’?

4. Did the Pikunis’ spiritual beliefs help or hurt them as they tried to come to terms with the incursions of the Napikwans? What kind of guidance do their beliefs provide?

5. What was the best course for the Pikunis to take in dealing with the whites? Compromise? Conciliation? Violent opposition?

6. How would you describe the Pikunis’ relationships with other Native American tribes? How have whites traditionally thought about or defined “Indians”? Would the Pikunis have accepted the whites’ characterization of them as “Indians”?

7. To what extent do the Pikuni and Crow characters in this novel reinforce or undermine what you thought you knew about Plains Indians before picking up this book?

8. Does this book have a “message” for its readers? Do you think the author wants us to learn any “lessons” from this story?