61 pages • 2 hours read
James WelchFools Crow
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1986A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 13-15Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
After the war party, Three Bears resolves to rename White Man’s Dog “Fools Crow,” “after hearing how he had tricked Bull Shield into thinking he was dead and then risen up to kill the Crow chief” (153). The day after the naming ceremony, Fools Crow wakes up full of regret for drinking too much “white man’s water” the night before and boasting to Yellow Kidney about killing Bull Shield “in the same manner that Fast Horse had boasted to the Crows the night Yellow Kidney was captured and mutilated” (154). He feels as if he does not truly deserve his new name as he did not really trick Bull Shield but rather “the Crow had fooled himself into thinking White Man’s Dog was dead” (155).
While lying in his lodge, Fools Crow sees “a column of Napikwans” in their blue uniforms “loping toward the camp” (155). Among them is the scout, Joe Kipp, who asks for Three Bears, Rides-at-the-door, and Boss Ribs. When Red Paint is surprised to hear Kipp speaking the Pikuni language, Fools Crow explains that the scout is the son of a white trader and a woman who was from the “Dirt Lodge people” (156). Three Bears invites the three men to smoke with them. After the pipes are passed around, Kipp explains that Malcolm Clark has been killed by Owl Child and his comrades. The Napikwan chiefs want to punish the murderers and want to know if the Lone Eaters know where Mountain Chief’s band might be, as they have heard they are sheltering Owl Child. Three Bears tells Kipp that he is not saddened to hear of Clark’s death as he became known to the Pikunis as “a two faces,” who “talks to us one way and to the Napikwans another” (159). However, he knows that “Owl Child is no better” and that “bad blood always existed” between the two men (159). Nonetheless, Three Bears is angry that these Napikwan chiefs are threatening the Pikunis after breaking so many of the promises they made during the last treaty. He concludes his speech by saying that no one in the Lone Eater camp has seen Mountain Chief or Owl Child and that the Lone Eaters “wish to be left alone” (160).
Chapter 14 Summary
Fools Crow and Red Paint travel into the mountains for some time alone together before the birth of their child. After killing the “white bighead” that he has been hunting all morning, Fools Crow decides to take a nap. When he wakes up, he is greeted by Raven. Raven tells Fools Crow that one of the Napikwans has been hunting bears and other animals in the Backbone and leaving the carcasses to rot. Raven is concerned that the Napikwans will kill off all the animals in the area “if something isn’t done” (166). He asks Fools Crow to kill the Napikwan. Although Fools Crow does not want to take on the task, he finally agrees. That night, Raven enters the Napikwan’s house and sings the man a song about a beautiful Pikuni woman waiting for him the next morning. That day, Fools Crow watches the white man approach Red Paint with lust. When the Napikwan senses Fools Crow’s presence he shoots him in the side, but Fools Crow manages to shoot the white man through the head before he can touch Red Paint.
Chapter 15 Summary
Back in Three Bears’ lodge, Fools Crow tells the Lone Eater leaders about Raven’s visit and “the killing of the Napikwan who leaves his kills” (175). Three Bears says that killing a Napikwan is a grave matter that must be taken seriously. Although many young men argue that killing a Napikwan is no worse than killing “a wolf with the white mouth” (176), Rides-at-the-door replies that they do not remember the losses they faced in previous conflicts with the Napikwans before they understood how powerful the white men were. The young warrior, Young Bird Chief, replies that it is better to go to war with the Napikwans than passively accept defeat. Rides-at-the-door says that he understands how Young Bird Chief and the others feel, as no one hates the presence of the Napikwans more than he does; however, they must accept that they cannot hope to defeat the whites because of the seizers’ increasing numbers and superior weapons. Now that “the great war between the Napikwans far to the east is over,” more and more seizers are moving onto their land (179). The only way to protect the future of their children will be to avoid further conflicts with the Napikwans. Three Bears agrees with Rides-at-the-door and says that there must be no more killings of Napikwans.
Chapters 13-15 Analysis
The visit from Joe Kipp and the two “seizers” (white soldiers) reveals that, just as Yellow Kidney and Three Bears feared, Owl Child’s violence against the white settlers is now threatening to cause problems for the Pikunis, since the seizers are threatening to punish all Pikunis who refuse to help with their attempts to catch Owl Child. Fools Crow thinks to himself that punishing Mountain Chief or other Pikunis for Owl Child’s crimes would be like “shooting one gopher because another gopher had bitten a child’s finger” (161). This analogy describes an approach to justice in which an entire people is punished for the crimes of a few individuals.
Fools Crow’s killing of a Napikwan at Raven’s behest also draws attention to a few key ideas in the book. Unlike the Pikunis, who eat all the animals they kill and use their skins and bones for other purposes, this Napikwan is killing animals just for the sake of killing. Not only is this approach to hunting wasteful, it also threatens to harm the mountains’ ecosystem by leading to a scarcity of certain animals. This episode thus foreshadows the way in which the Napikwans will cause the buffalo to go extinct. The fact that Fools Crow receives the command to kill the white man from Raven also calls attention to the symbiotic relationship that exists between the Pikunis and the natural world.
