Fools Crow

Fools Crow

by

James Welch

Teachers and parents! Our Teacher Edition on Fools Crow makes teaching easy.

So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman Character Analysis

The mortal Pikuni wife of Morning Star, a Pikuni deity, and mother to Star Boy. According to Pikuni legend, Feather Woman is banished back to earth along with her son by Sun Chief after she disobeys Night Red Light and digs up the sacred turnip, creating a hole in the sky. She dies of a broken heart shortly after, and her people do not mourn her. Sun Chief punishes Feather Woman for her transgression by placing her in a magical realm where she is forced to watch Morning Star and Mistake Morning Star, her husband and son’s respective constellations, rise in the sky each day and mourn them for eternity. Fools Crow’s vision quest leads him to So-at-sa-ki, where he sees the end of the Pikuni way of life in a magical yellow hide. So-at-sa-ki reminds Fools Crow of the power of storytelling in the preservation of the Pikuni way of life, and her own story mirrors that of Lone Eaters. Each day they are forced to look to the stars and mourn the loss of their people.

So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman Quotes in Fools Crow

The Fools Crow quotes below are all either spoken by So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman or refer to So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Individual vs. the Collective Good  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 33 Quotes

“I do not fear for my people now. As you say, we will go to a happier place, far from the Napikwans, this disease and starvation. But I grieve for our children and their children, who will not know the life their people once lived. I see them on the yellow skin and they are dressed like Napikwans, they watch the Napikwans and learn much from them, but they are not happy. They lose their own way.”

“Much will be lost to them,” said Feather Woman. “But they will know the way it was. The stories will be handed down, and they will see that their people were proud and lived in accordance with the Below Ones, the Underwater People—and the Above Ones.”

Related Characters: White Man’s Dog/Fools Crow (speaker), So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman (speaker)
Page Number: 362-3
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Fools Crow LitChart as a printable PDF.
Fools Crow PDF

So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman Quotes in Fools Crow

The Fools Crow quotes below are all either spoken by So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman or refer to So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Individual vs. the Collective Good  Theme Icon
).
Chapter 33 Quotes

“I do not fear for my people now. As you say, we will go to a happier place, far from the Napikwans, this disease and starvation. But I grieve for our children and their children, who will not know the life their people once lived. I see them on the yellow skin and they are dressed like Napikwans, they watch the Napikwans and learn much from them, but they are not happy. They lose their own way.”

“Much will be lost to them,” said Feather Woman. “But they will know the way it was. The stories will be handed down, and they will see that their people were proud and lived in accordance with the Below Ones, the Underwater People—and the Above Ones.”

Related Characters: White Man’s Dog/Fools Crow (speaker), So-at-sa-ki/Feather Woman (speaker)
Page Number: 362-3
Explanation and Analysis: