Great now was the happiness of these young people.  Long was their life, full of plenty and of great honor.  Red Robe became a chief, respected and loved by all the people.  Ma-min’ bore him many children, who grew up to be the support of their old age.

THE BLACKFEET CREATION

The Blackfeet believe that the Sun made the earth—­that he is the creator.  One of the names by which they call the Sun is Napi—­Old Man.  This is how they tell of the creation: 

In the beginning there was water everywhere; nothing else was to be seen.  There was something floating on the water, and on this raft were Old Man and all the animals.

Old Man wished to make land, and he told the beaver to dive down to the bottom of the water and to try to bring up a little mud.  The beaver dived and was under water for a long time, but he could not reach the bottom.  Then the loon tried, and after him the otter, but the water was too deep for them.  At last the muskrat was sent down, and he was gone for a long time; so long that they thought he must be drowned, but at last he came up and floated almost dead on the water, and when they pulled him up on the raft and looked at his paws, they found a little mud in them.  When Old Man had dried this mud, he scattered it over the water and land was formed.  This is the story told by the Blackfeet.  It is very much like one told by some Eastern Indians, who are related to the Blackfeet.

After the land had been made, Old Man travelled about on it, making things and fixing up the earth so as to suit him.  First, he marked out places where he wished the rivers to run, sometimes making them run smoothly, and again, in some places, putting falls on them.  He made the mountains and the prairie, the timber and the small trees and bushes, and sometimes he carried along with him a lot of rocks, from which he built some of the mountains—­as the Sweet Grass Hills—­which stand out on the prairie by themselves.

Old Man caused grass to grow on the plains, so that the animals might have something to feed on.  He marked off certain pieces of land, where he caused different kinds of roots and berries to grow—­a place for camas; and one for wild carrots; one for wild turnips, sweet root and bitter root; one for service berries, bullberries, cherries, plums, and rosebuds.

He made all kinds of animals that travel on the ground.  When he made the big-horn with its great horns, he put it out on the prairie.  It did not seem to travel easily there; it was awkward and could not go fast, so he took it by one of its horns and led it up into the rough hills and among the rocks, and let it go there, and it skipped about among the cliffs and easily went up fearful places.  So Old Man said to the big-horn, “This is the place for you; this is what you are fitted for; the rough country and the mountains.”  While he was in the mountains he made the antelope, and turned it loose to see how it travelled.  The antelope ran so fast that it fell over some rocks and hurt itself.  He saw that this would not do, and took the antelope down on the prairie and set it free there, and it ran away fast and gracefully, and he said to it, “This is the place that suits you.”