Blackfeet Tales of Glacier National Park

These are the stories the Blackfoot people have told for generations, passed down through oral tradition before James Willard Schultz recorded them. Collected during decades of living among the Blackfoot in what would become Glacier National Park, these tales preserve a vanished world of legend and wonder. Here are creation stories that explain how the mountains and rivers came to be, animal tales where coyote and raven scheme and transform, hero narratives of courage and cunning, and explanations of natural phenomena rooted in Blackfoot understanding of the land. Schultz, known to the Blackfoot as Apikuni, wrote with deep respect for his adopted people's traditions. He understood that these were not mere entertainment but sacred knowledge, moral instruction, and cultural memory rolled into one. The stories carry the weight of centuries while remaining vital and immediate. For readers today, these tales offer something rare: a window into a sophisticated narrative tradition that shaped how one indigenous people understood their place in the world.