Fools Crow

Dreams are treated as important sources of authority and meaning in Pikuni culture, and many central characters–including Fools Crow, Fast Horse, Heavy Shield Woman, and Red Paint–experience dreams that become important to the narrative. Often, these dreams foreshadow future events. For instance, Fools Crow’s dream about the “white-faced girl” is later revealed to be warning about what will happen to Yellow Kidney when he rapes the girl dying of smallpox.

Other dreams, like Fast Horse’s dream about Cold Maker’s order to find the ice spring, and Heavy Shield Woman’s dream that she must become the Medicine Woman for Yellow Kidney to return, give the dreamers directions to carry out. Dreams also serve as means of communication between the human and natural worlds. In many important dreams in the novel, the forces of the natural world, including Cold Maker, Raven, and Wolverine, are personified and speak directly to the dreamers. Near the end of the novel, Fools Crow is sent on a vision quest in which he encounters Feather Woman, an important figure in Pikuni mythology. This final vision in novel, which involves many layers of dreams and visions and stretches over several chapters, is perhaps the most important, as it provides an overview of the overwhelming devastation that will affect the Pikunis in the years to come.