Barber County, Kansas.  

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The Barber County Index, September 29, 1927.

INDIAN GIVERS FATE TOLD AS A WARNING

"Indian giver," the term applied to persons who give something and then want it back, never fitted the Blackfeet tribe after the Great Spirit brought disaster to Napee, an old man of their nation, according to a legend.

The aged Indian, the legend runs, was traveling alone when he met a coyote and made a companion of him. They came upon a hugh rock on the plains and Napee took off his buckskin coat and presented it to the rock. After resuming their journey rain began to fall and Napee sent the coyote back for the coat.

But the rock would not return it and the coyote scampered back to the Indian with its tail hanging between its legs. The aged brave was angered and he returned in haste, took the coat, and again resumed his journey. He and coyote had not gone far when he heard a loud, rumbling noise. Looking back they saw the rock rolling after them. It bowled over a herd of buffalo and came on in pursuit. The coyote was killed. Napee saw a hawk soaring in the sky and called to it for help. As the hawk flew down, the overheated rock burst in two with a loud explosion. The Indian went on his way greatly frightened, but he had not learned the moral lesson of the incident, for when he came upon the hawk's nest he forced open the mouths of the young until they bled.

The old hawk had followed and the Indian ran into the lake, thinking he would escape the bird, but he could not keep his head above water lest the hawk pick his eyes out. So Napee was drowned. The blackfeet to this day relate the legend and point gravely to the moral of it. In trading with other tribes they always laid stress on the fact that they believe in standing by their bargains. - Kansas City Times.


Thanks to Shirley Brier for finding, transcribing and contributing the above news article to this web site!