Fools Crow: Chapter 35 Summary & Analysis

On the thirteenth day of the outbreak, Fools Crow and Rides-at-the-door walked through camp counting the sick and dead. They pass many mourners and it seems as if the Pikunis have “become a different people.” They arrive at the lodge of Three Bears; the chief had died the day before. As he died, he had given Rides-at-the-door his red-stone pipe and chosen him as the new chief. 

At Heavy Shield Woman’s lodge, Good Young Man quietly dies. Fools Crow had performed a healing ritual the day before, but he could not help the boy. One Spot has begun to ask for food, and it looks as if he will survive. For the second time, the boy has come back from the Shadowland.

The next day is clear and cold, and the hunting party finally departs. Fools Crow and the others ride down the valley and soon come across the winter camp of the Topknots. Crow Foot welcomes them, but he is thin and frail. Over half of his band has been killed by the white-scabs disease, and now there is no game. He doesn’t invite them to stay and they ride on.

The men ride for days and see no signs of game. As Fools Crow stares blankly down the valley, he sees movement in the distance. He can tell that it is humans on foot—they appear to have children and old people with them, and they carry no weapons. As they move closer, Fools Crow can see that the people are members of Heavy Runner’s band.

Fools Crow immediately senses that something is wrong. He feels instant guilt; he had told no one about the visions he saw in the yellow hide. As they come upon the people, Fools Crow can see that one of the women is shot through the calf. “It was seizers,” she says. They had ridden into camp before daybreak and opened fire on their lodges. Heavy Runner is dead, along with many, many others.

As Fools Crow rides up to Heavy Runner’s camp, he tries to brace himself for what he is about to see, but nothing can prepare him. There is dark smoke everywhere and he can smell burning flesh and hair. He begins to weep as he sees the mangled bodies of his people. The camp is littered with bodies and parts of bodies, and he even crosses a black and lifeless infant. Fools Crow vomits as he rides through the carnage.

As Fools Crow looks around, a few survivors emerge from the tree line. He suddenly realizes that there are no men among the victims. “Where are the men?” he asks. The survivors tell him that the men had gone out hunting. “A Pikuni does not live without meat,” an old woman says. Fools Crow is further saddened by the thought of the men returning home to find their families and homes destroyed. He is certain now that Sun Chief truly does favor the Napikwans. 

Fools Crow asks if there are any other survivors. There are some, they say, but most of them are dead. He asks what direction the seizers rode in, and he is told that they headed toward the Many Chiefs camp. Fools Crow remembers hearing that Owl Child had been inflicted by the white-scabs disease and he too is sure to be dead by now.

Fools Crow thinks of the last scene on the yellow skin in which the Napikwan children played while the Pikuni children stood nearby. He tries to find the strength to continue, and he thinks of their children, hoping to find the courage. “[We] have no children,” he thinks.