James Welch's Novel Fools Crow

James Welch's novel Fools Crow recounts the experiences of a young Blackfoot man, White Man's Dog (later renamed Fools Crow), who struggles from adolescence into adulthood as his people struggle to maintain their way of life and physical safety despite growing threats from white society and the United States government. The plot is propelled both by historical events and by the feelings and actions of Welch's invented characters. Because Welch bases this work of fiction on historical fact, Fools Crow is an accurate and touching record of a culture that no longer exists. Within the confines of his story, Welch thoroughly details many aspects of Blackfeet society in the late nineteenth century but pays particular attention to the culture's religious rituals and beliefs. The most notable feature of Blackfeet religious life in Fools Crow is the significance placed on dreams and visions.

The Blackfeet "are firm believers in dreams," as George Bird Grinnell wrote in 1892, and a powerful dream could not be ignored by the dreamer or those with whom he shared it (263). In Fools Crow, the dream described by Fast Horse must be obeyed by the group he accompanies on a horse raid, despite the leader's doubts about the moral character of the dreamer himself: "He couldn't help being skeptical . . . [yet] such a power dream could not be ignored" (Welch 14). Cold Maker, the minor deity who controls winter weather, has instructed Fast Horse to locate a certain spring covered with ice and remove the large rock that blocks the water's flow; if the group succeeds in this feat, their raid will be successful (13-14). But the icy spring cannot be found, and it is uncertain what has gone wrong. The raiders decide to continue on their journey despite feelings of apprehension (21). The raid proves to be both successful and tragic: the group steals dozens of horses, but Yellow Kidney, the leader, does not return from the enemy camp. In this case, Fast Horse's failure to carry out the orders set forth in his dream results in the punishment of a member of his group.