Early in the twentieth century George Bird Grinnell published stories from peoples who inhabited northern western USA and adjacent southern Canada, the groups collectively known as the Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsitapi or “The People,” traditionally nomadic hunters and fishermen. As other groups of people have done over centuries, the Blackfoot, or Siksika, had accumulated wisdom and stories that are both instructive and entertaining. The first story in Grinnell’s collection, entitled Blackfeet Indian Stories, is “Two Fast Runners.”*
The “two fast runners” in the story are an antelope and a deer. As the story goes, the two met on the prairie and argued over which was the faster. They raced in the open spaces of the grasslands, and the antelope won. The deer, believing the antelope had an unfair advantage in the open space, challenged the antelope to a race through the woods. In the woods, the deer won.
The lesson is a simple one. You’ll be more likely to find success in your element, in familiar places and environments you know best.
* Gutenberg Project 13833-h.txt or 13833-h.zip, George Bird Grinnell, Blackfeet Indian Stories, 1915. https://ia902700.us.archive.org/20/items/blackfeetindians13833gut/13833-h/13833-h.htm
The “two fast runners” in the story are an antelope and a deer. As the story goes, the two met on the prairie and argued over which was the faster. They raced in the open spaces of the grasslands, and the antelope won. The deer, believing the antelope had an unfair advantage in the open space, challenged the antelope to a race through the woods. In the woods, the deer won.
The lesson is a simple one. You’ll be more likely to find success in your element, in familiar places and environments you know best.
* Gutenberg Project 13833-h.txt or 13833-h.zip, George Bird Grinnell, Blackfeet Indian Stories, 1915. https://ia902700.us.archive.org/20/items/blackfeetindians13833gut/13833-h/13833-h.htm
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