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{{For|the traditional Lakota leader|Frank Fools Crow}}{{Short description|1986 novel written by James Welch}}
{{Italic title}}{{Infobox book| <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name = Fools Crow
| title_orig =
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| illustrator =
| cover_artist =
| country =
| language =
| series =
| genre = [[Contemporary American Fiction]], Native American
| publisher = [[Viking]]
| release_date =
| media_type = Print (
| pages = 391 pp (Paperback edition)
| isbn = 0-14-008937-3
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'''''Fools Crow''''' is a 1986 novel written by Native American author [[James Welch (writer)|James Welch]]. Set in [[Montana]] shortly after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], this novel tells of White Man's Dog (later known as Fools Crow), a young Blackfeet Indian on the verge of manhood, and his band, known as the Lone Eaters. The invasion of white society threatens to change their traditional way of life, and they must choose to fight or assimilate. The story is a
==Plot summary==
{{long plot|date=May 2013}}
Set in 1870, the novel is about the lives of the southern [[Blackfoot Confederacy|Blackfeet]] people.
White Man's Dog returns to his tribe and gains respect for the raid. Feeling responsible for the loss of Yellow Kidney, he begins to provide the youth's family with food and supplies.
At the Sun Dance, White Man's Dog released wolverine from a trap, gaining his first spirit animal. He took part in the Sun Dance, a ritual physical trial. He sought purification from feeling sexual desire for his father's third wife, Kills-
▲At the Sun Dance, White Man's Dog released wolverine from a trap, gaining his first spirit animal. He took part in the Sun Dance, a ritual physical trial. He sought purification from feeling sexual desire for his father's third wife, Kills-close-to-the-lake. After a dream in which she left him a white stone the size of a finger, he awakens to find such a stone next to him. Toward the end of the Sun Dance, Kills-close-to-the-lake tells him she sacrificed her finger to purify herself from the same sexual desires.
When Red Paint becomes pregnant, she and White Man's Dog decide to name their child as "Sleep Bringer". This was inspired by a butterfly which Red Paint saw when she began to think she was pregnant.
After a raid on the Crow, White Man's Dog
After his return, Fools Crow has a second dream, in which the Raven, a powerful figure, orders him to kill a mountain man who had been hunting animals for fun and leaving their bodies to rot.
Yellow Kidney decides to leave the tribe, feeling isolated by losing his fingers. While out alone, he decides to go back and name Red Paint's child as Yellow Calf.
Red Paint's younger brother contracts rabies after
Fast Horse comes upon Yellow Kidney's body and returns it to the tribe, but he goes north to live alone.
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The book ends with Fools Crow visiting the mythic Feather Woman, the wife of Morning Star and mother of Star Boy. Fools Crow watches a "yellow hide" and notices that images are forming within the hide. The yellow hide reveals five different visions.
*The first is the spread of smallpox within his camp, with numerous dead bodies stacked on a platform.▼
*The second is the destruction of Heavy Runner's camp by the seizers (white soldiers).
*The fifth is Indian children attending a boarding school with their hair cut off.▼
▲*The first is the spread of smallpox within his camp, with numerous dead bodies stacked on a platform.
*The third is lifeless land all around the region; not one animal can be seen.
Feather Woman tells Fools Crow to prepare the Pikuni for what is to come and to pass on their traditions. She tells him that he can do much good for the Pikuni and that he will pass on the stories.
He meets Native Americans being forced to migrate north and accepts that the Napikwan are swarming over the land.
==Characters==
*'''Pikuni''' – A clan of the Blackfeet tribe.
*'''Napikwan''' – refers to White people.
*'''
*'''Rides-at-the-Door''' –
*'''White Man's Dog/Fools Crow''' – Protagonist. Will eventually lead his tribe to victory.
*'''Double Strike Woman''' – Fools Crow's mother and Rides-at-the-Door's wife.
*'''Striped Face''' – Second wife of Rides-at-the-Door.
*'''Kills Close to the Lake'''-
*'''Running Fisher''' –
*'''Fast Horse''' – Fools Crow's friend, son of Boss Ribs. Turns away from tradition, but atones by returning Yellow Kidney's body.
*'''Yellow Kidney''' – Leader of the horse raid, where he rapes a dying young woman and is captured.
*'''Heavy Shield Woman''' – Wife of Yellow Kidney.
*'''Red Paint''' – Daughter of Yellow Kidney, marries Fools Crow.
*'''Mik-Api''' – Medicine man of the Blackfeet.
*'''Owl Child''' – A Pikuni rebel who plans on waging war on Napikwan. Provokes retaliation.
*'''
*'''Heavy Runner''' – Pikuni leader who, in contrast to Mountain Chief, cooperated with the US. (Heavy Runner's band was mistakenly killed by Army forces at the [[Marias Massacre]].)
*'''Boss Ribs'''
==Reception==
''Fools Crow'' was
==References==
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==Further reading==
*Whitson, Kathy J., ''Native American Literatures: An Encyclopedia of Works, Characters, Authors, and Themes'' ABC-CLIO Inc, Santa Barbara, 1999
*Little Eagle, Lionel, ''Greengrass Pipe Dancers - Crazy Horse's Pipe Bag and a Search for Healing'' (Naturegraph Publishers, 2000, {{ISBN
*Lowie, Robert H.: "Ceremonialism in North America", ''American Anthropologist'' 16:4 (1914), 602-31.
*Lupton, M.J.: ''James Welch: A Critical Companion''. Westport CT: Greenwood, 2004.
[[Category:Novels by James Welch]]
[[Category:Native American novels]]
[[Category:Novels set in Montana]]
[[Category:Blackfoot culture]]
[[Category:1986 American novels]]
[[Category:American Book Award-winning works]]
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