Folk Tales/How Chipmunk Got His Stripes

How Chipmunk Got His Stripes appeared as a text based story on the Purple Moon Place website. It was featured on Nakili’s secret pouch page. On the link to the story Nakili says, “Hey, here’s a story about a chipmunk!”

On the story page there was a brief mention of the tale's cultural origin: ''This is a story told by the Blackfoot tribe. Old Man is also known as Napa or Napi.''

The Story
Old Man made this world and all that is on it. He walked the land from south to north, making the birds and the antelope and the buffalo as he went. He made flowers to scent the winds, and trees to shade the tribe. He even made the clay and colors for war-paint.

Old Man also taught the fox his cunning ways. He showed the bear how to sleep through winter snows and survive. He gave the rabbit his fast feet to avoid being caught. Yes, Old Man was very clever – but he sometimes made mistakes, and he played many tricks and made much mischief. He was also a great thief and a liar, as you will see.

In the beginning, Old Man lived on earth with just the animals. There was no man or woman. He was chief over every creature and he could speak all their languages. He hunted with the wolves, for they are the greatest and wisest of hunters. But then Old Man made warriors and women and children, so that he would have someone to sit and smoke with in the evening, and to tell tales to when the snows fell.

One hot summer day, Old Man was traveling high in the mountain forests of pine and fir. He was not heading anywhere in particular, but only walking – straight as an arrow – through the woods. The forest creatures spoke politely to him as he passed, but he did not even bother to look up. This made the creatures a little uneasy, because you never knew what Old Man was thinking, and when he was thinking too hard that could mean mischief.

As the sun turned west in the sky, Old Man heard a low moan coming from beneath a manzanita bush. He headed toward the noise and found a warrior lying on the ground, wounded and bleeding.

“Who has wounded you, my son?” asked Old Man. “Is there war in this world?”

“Yes,” said the warrior. “A mighty Person has defeated almost our whole village, and now I am dying, too.”

“One Person? How can that be? Tell me his name!”

But the warrior’s spirit had fled, and Old Man had to go on without his answer. Soon he heard the sound of fighting, and he peered through a stand of young pines to see what was happening. In the clearing was a huge Person, pierced with arrows. His eyes burned with fire. His skin was as thick and brown as a buffalo hide. Around him was a pile of dead and dying warriors. As Old Man watched, the being pulled the arrows from his skin, one by one. As he did, the wounds they had made healed, leaving only great scars behind.

Now you would think that Old Man knew everyone, for he was the great creator. But he didn’t. Sometimes things went wrong with his magic. And sometimes he made so many things, he could not remember all of their names.

So Old Man thought for a moment, then stepped forward. He raised his hand to the Person.

“Mighty Person, I would know your name – for you are surely the greatest warrior that ever lived to bring down so many men.”

The being glared at Old Man from beneath his fierce eyebrows.

“I am Great Sickness,” said the Person. “Everywhere I go, the people remember me. How is it you do not? Even warriors walk in fear of me, for I come in the night and kill their children. I kill their ponies. I kill their wives.”

“Really?” exclaimed Old Man. “That is amazing! Tell me, how can I make Great Sickness? For I often make war myself and it would be a useful thing to know.”

Now you see what a liar Old Man was, for he had never been to war in his life.

“No,” said the Person. “Why should I tell you my secret?”

“Well,” said Old Man, “You look very tired. What if I helped you?”

And now you will see how clever Old Man was.

“Instead of being so big and ugly, I could make you a smaller and very handsome,” he said. “Then you would need only a little food to make you fat. And you would live easily, for I could make your food grow everywhere. And you would not need to fight everyone, for being smaller, you could easily sneak into their villages.”

The Person thought for a while.

“That sounds good. Very well, I will tell you the secret of making Great Sickness. You must take the skins from the deer’s fawns and the elks’ calves and make a robe of them. Then, whenever you want to make Sickness, you put on the robe and wave your hand and say ‘come, sickness, come.’ And that’s all there is to it.”

Old Man rubbed his chin. “Good. Now lie down and go to sleep, and I will make you small and handsome.”

So the Person lay down on the terrible stained ground and closed his eyes. When he was asleep, Old Man breathed on him until he grew smaller and smaller and smaller. He was so small that Old Man had to laugh. He gave him a little bushy tail. Then he took ash and pine needles and painted stripes of black and yellow down the Person’s back.

“Wake up, Person. You will be called Chipmunk from now on – and you will wear these stripes on your back.”

Chipmunk woke up. He was greatly surprised, for now he was too small to wear a robe of fawns and calves and make the Great Sickness. But he agreed his coat was handsome and his tail bushy and that he would need only a little to eat. Old Man showed him how to make his living by collecting nuts, so that he would not have to work in the winter. He showed him how to hunt and hide like the gray squirrel. He taught him the chipmunk language and signs.

Then Old Man left Chipmunk and went in search of deer and elk. He looked at the skins of their fawns and calves, but the more he looked, the more he thought about the handsome stripes on Chipmunk.

“If I were to make a robe from these skins now, it would be very plain.”

So Old Man called the elk and deer, and because they were eager to please him, they hurried to his side.

“I have learned how to make the Great Sickness,” he explained. “But I don’t want to spend my time painting patterns on my robe. So from now on, the deer children will be born with spots – and the elk children will be born with stripes. I don’t want to see any of your children born plain, because that would mean more work for me. Now go away and remember what I’ve said or I will bring the Great Sickness on you.”

And even though he did not mean to be, Old Man was wise in this decision. For the spots on the fawns and the stripes on the calves kept them safer than ever in the forest and the grass.

As for Chipmunk, his children still have stripes on their back to this very day.