Raven and Thunder Omahkai’stoo ki Ksiistsikom

As told By Carl Brave Rock 

This story is called Omahkai’ stoo ki  Ksiistsikom that means Raven and Thunder. It’s the story about how we got winter and summer as well as the story about how we got thunder and the medicine pipe and ceremony.

To tell this story I’ll have to break you up into two groups. One group will be the Ravens and you will have to start flapping your wings and you’ll need to caw.

The other group will be Thunder. That means you will have to give me Thunder as the story goes. Now I can tell you this story. I’ll have to put my old man story telling boots on for this.

 It was a long time ago when this story happened. This was before your grandma’s birthday. Back in those days, there was a rich, rich man. He had a big family, a beautiful wife, a big old tipi and 1023 ½ horses. This man was living good and living rich. Then one day way up in the sky this big bully named Thunder looked down on the man and he got jealous, and he got angry because that’s just the kind of being that he is. He pulled out his lightning bolt and just threw it at the man’s tipi and blew it up. Then it went flying 333.37 km away. Right after that, that big old bully came down from the sky and he took all the man’s belongings. He took his family, took his tipi, took his horses, he even took his moccasins. So, the man got up and he dusted himself off and he looked around to realize that he had nothing. No family, no tipi, no horses, not even his moccasins. The man started to walk all over the prairies and was asking all of the animals for help.

He went up to a turtle and said, “hey can you help me”?

Guess what the turtle said? He said “saa, saa” (no, no).

He went walking and he met up with an elk and he said, “hey elk, can you help me?”

He said “saa, saa.”

Then he walked up to a water buffalo and asked if he could help? He said “saa.”

He kept on walking until finally he met up with this crazy bird called Raven. That crazy bird said “hey! I’m not scared of that big old bully, Thunder.”

That crazy bird, Raven said “I’ll fly up to the sky and I’ll fight, and I’ll get your belongings back.”

This made the man very happy. The crazy bird flew up to the sky, knocked on the door, and that big old bully opened the door and said, “what do you want crazy little bird?”

That bird said “Hey! Give back that man’s belongings! That ain’t couth!” That turned into a big battle in the sky. That big bully pulled out his lightning bolt and started to throw them at the bird.

There were lightning bolts in the sky, and it got very scary. Thunder, then Raven, then Thunder and there was lightning bolts and feathers everywhere. What that Thunder didn’t know was that crazy bird had magic. He began to flap its wings, flap them and flap them so hard and so fast that the cold north wind came down and with the north wind comes snow and ice, so that big old bully couldn’t make lightning bolts anymore.

So, Thunder quit! He said “Mercy uncle! You win you crazy little bird. I don’t want to ever see you again”.

It was such a terrible and horrible ugly affair they didn’t want it to happen again. The only way it wouldn’t happen again is if they didn’t see each other again. That crazy bird Raven got the cold season - when the cold and ice come out during winter. And that big old bully Thunder only comes out during the warm season- we call that summer.

That’s the story of how we got the cold season and the warm season.

“Back in the Blackfoot days we only got the cold season and the warm season that’s when we knew to switch camps.”