[[Napi and the Rock->Begin 1]]
^^This is an interactive story game, please click the title to proceed. All clickable items will be highlighted.^^It was a bright sunny day.
Only the sun and the sky looked down on Napi with questioning light.
The trees swayed in a bewildered breeze.
The animals danced and pranced in an uneasy manner.
The birds flew high above Napi, occasionally swooping down and diving to attract [[their master’s->Begin 2]] attention.Napi stood alone, not knowing where to turn.
The |2>[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[awakasaan]")[(show:?1)(hide:?2)]]|1)[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[deer skin]")[(hide:?1)(show:?2)]] cloak draped around his shoulders was fast becoming a [[burden->Begin 3]] in the intense heat.A small sleek |2>[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[sinopawa]")[(show:?1)(hide:?2)]]|1)[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[fox]")[(hide:?1)(show:?2)]], with a shiny red coat, came to Napi and said,
“I am going for [[a walk->Begin 4]]. May I [[join you?->Begin 5]]” asked the fox.“|2>[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[Kika]")[(show:?1)(hide:?2)]]|1)[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[Wait]")[(hide:?1)(show:?2)]]” said Napi.
Napi ignored the fox, but, the fox continued to pester him.Finally, Napi snapped back angrily,
“Ai! You might as well join me in [[my walk->Middle 1]].”The intense heat finally got to Napi. As they approached a huge |2>[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[ohkotok]")[(show:?1)(hide:?2)]]|1)[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[rock]")[(hide:?1)(show:?2)]] Napi says,
“You poor rock, you do not even have a cloak.
Here, I will give you mine for when there is a storm,
you will certainly [[need it->Middle 2]].”
Napi felt lighter and was able to keep up with the fox.
After they had covered many miles, the fox [[spoke to Napi->Middle 2.5]].
Napi kept on walking, not paying attention to the fox’s [[warning->Middle 3]].“|2>[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[Ni”sa]")[(show:?1)(hide:?2)]]|1)[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[Older Brother]")[(hide:?1)(show:?2)]] look up at the skies.
There must be a storm coming.”When he finally looked up, he saw lightning in the western sky, and he felt droplets of rain on his forehead.
Napi and the fox rushed back to the rock.
“I have come to take my cloak back.
I will return it when the rainstorm is over,” said [[Napi->Middle 4]].“|2>[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[Sah!]")[(show:?1)(hide:?2)]]|1)[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[No!]")[(hide:?1)(show:?2)]]” said the rock.
“I have never heard of anyone repossessing anything from a rock.”
“I will just borrow it until the storm is over,” said Napi in an [[angry->Middle 5]] voice.After a few minutes of angry discussion with the rock, Napi angrily grabbed the cloak and walked away with the fox.
Once the two continued [[on their walk->Middle 6]], the rain began to pound on the earth.The thunder and lightning whipped, cracked and rumbled like a thousand buffalo herding.
The fox said to Napi, “Ni’sa, Ni’sa, Ni’sa, look back at the rock. It is [[chasing us->Middle 6.5]]!”
Napi looked back and sure enough the rock was coming down after [[Napi ->Middle 7]]and the fox.As the rock began to close in on him, the fox began to scratch and dig with his claws.
He dug a tunnel to survive and escaped through the hole.Suddenly, the rock was at Napi’s heels, and in a cry of desperation, Napi yelled and shouted out, “I pray, my dear brother, come rescue me!” to the herd of [[buffalo->Middle 7.5]].
Napi came close to a flock of |2>[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[pi’ksiiksi]")[(show:?1)(hide:?2)]]|1)[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[birds]")[(hide:?1)(show:?2)]].
He said to them, “I pray, my dear brothers and sisters, come and [[rescue me->Middle 7.8]]!”The buffalo tried to stop the rock, but failed.
The rock rolled over the buffalo injuring and killing some of them.
The rest escaped.The birds began to attack the rock by sweeping down on it.
From the force of their attack, the rock began to fall apart into small pieces.
Soon, the rock was nothing more than a few harmless pieces of stones along the river, from Porcupine Hills to the Belly Buttes.
The rock was [[stopped->Middle 8]].
Napi walked away from the whole scene without showing any signs of appreciation to the life-saving birds.He had walked only a short distance when he came upon a tree with a nest full of the offspring of the life-saving birds.
“You must be the children of the birds who stopped all the exciting fun I was having.
I’ll stretch your little mouths and you will have large wide mouths, so future generations will make fun of you,” he said to the little birds.
Napi began to stretch their mouths until [[they bled->End 1]].When the older birds returned to their nests, the mothers said,
“You must have been fed well; your mouths are [[bloody->End 2]].”The little birds replied,
“No! No! No!
It is Napi’s deed;
he has made our mouths big and [[bloody->End 3]] because of what you have done to him.”The birds, in great anger, began to search for Napi.
When they found him walking toward the bush, they began to swoop down in the same way as they had destroyed the rock, they pelted Napi’s cloak.
Napi’s only [[escape->End 4]] was the nearby |2>[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[niitahtaa]")[(show:?1)(hide:?2)]]|1)[(link-rerun:"(text-colour:#d9480f)[river]")[(hide:?1)(show:?2)]].He dove to the bottom of the river, but he did not know how to swim.
Napi was almost drowning.
He barely managed to get his face above the surface of the water, when he saw the angry birds flying back to their [[offspring->End 5.8]].Adapted from <a href="https://ninastako.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/9781504976466-low.pdf" target="_blank">//Napi Legends//</a> (2017), where Napi's stories were told by Willie Whitefeathers (Kainai), transcribed and translated by Dr. Helen Manyfigners, and compiled by Dr. Phyllis Day Chief.
<a href="https://mka1.itch.io/"> Other Napi Story-Games can be found here.</a>Development Questions:
Does the fact that a rock like that exists change how you view the story?
Connect this story to what you know of the Blackfoot people, do those lessons change shape?
This story was translated from its original language as faithfully as possible, does that knowledge affect how you read it? Did you notice any syntax or didactive differences?
[[Thank you.->End 5]]Southwest of Calgary AB, near the town of Okotoks stands a towering mass of quartzite, a boulder weighing 16,500 metric tonnes (18,200 tons) and proudly reaching 9 m (30 ft) high. Colloquially known as Big Rock, the Niisitapi (Blackfoot) Nations have many renditions of Napi's tale to explain it's [[origins->End 5.5]].