Today we took a beautiful hike…a journey we wanted to make
through some woods, across a meadow ending up at Two Medicine Lake.
This lake is sacred to the Blackfeet Nation because, as they explain,
it’s one of the few locations in Glacier with its original Blackfeet name.
It is sacred because its name’s never changed…but even more
It’s sacred for the legend attached to her water and her shores.
Misfortune had descended on the Blackfeet:
The buffalo no longer wandered the prairie.
The Earth lay scorched from the sun.
The streams no longer ran full and deep.
The Blackfeet were worried and they were stunned.
With the absence of the buffalo, their water running out and their crops beginning to wilt…
on the banks of this sacred lake…two medicine lodges were built.
Ceremonies were held, chants were sung…and to Napi (the old man) prayers were made…
with the hopes that he and his spirit helpers…would come to the Blackfeet’s aid.
It worked!
Because, eventually, Napi’s and his spirit helper’s respect was earned…
and the wind spirit brought forth the rain
and the buffalo returned.
and more water filled the streams than the Blackfeet had ever seen
and the grasses grew upon the Earth tall and thick and green.
The legend does not tell us exactly where or when…
but happiness and prosperity dwelt in the land of the Blackfeet again.
As we hiked to the shore of Two Medicine Lake with a mix of joy and admiration
and gazed out on her mirror-like surface…we had this revelation:.
When we looked around in every direction…and by her beauty we were teased…
It became clear to us…standing there at Two Medicine Lake
that Napi…the old man…is still pleased.
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