"Visions and Dreams"
Imagine what it would be like to be able to see the future through visions, and dreams.
And in these dreams spiritual, natural, and human settings are all equal; picture a world
where animals act as men, and speak the language of man, and the gods from above speak
down to warn of good and bad fortune. For many people dreams are just a part of the
imagination, and are overlooked as foolish and irrational, but to the Native Americans in
the novel Fools Crow, written by James Welch, dreams are sacred, and should not
be overlooked because they believe that in each dream there is a secret meaning, and some
sort of a sign that tells of the future. There are many dreams and visions that are
introduced throughout the novel, but three very different dreams that played instrumental
roles in the story is, in the beginning with the dream of Cold Maker, then there's the
wolverine dream, and finally in the end the dream of Nitsokan.
One of the first, and most important dreams happens in the beginning of the story, and it
is the dream that Fast Horse has of Cold Maker. In this dream, Fast Horse says that, Cold
Maker came down from Always Winter Land, charging toward him on a white horse with a
lance, and shield in hand, and that he thought for sure he had come to kill him; but
instead he smoked a pipe full of tobacco with Cold Maker, while Cold maker instructed him
on what he was to do. He told Fast Horse about a stream that was his favorite drinking
spot, and how it had been blocked by a boulder, so he was not able to drink from it which
displeased him. And if Fast Horse was successful at this task the raid on the Crow's camp
would be successful; but if they were not successful, "Either way, because I offer my
help (Cold Maker Told Him), you must bring me two prime bull robes for my daughters…I
will go hard on you if you do not do this" (Welch 14).
The result of this dream has a drastic effect on Fast Horse, it turned him into a
hateful man, but of what, is not known until later on. On page 236 when Fools Crow meets
up with Fast horse, Fools Crow asks him this question "What made you hateful?",
and Fast Horse tells him that "Cold Maker betrayed me. He promised to make me a
powerful one, but he didn't keep his word." Fast Horse also states that he did
something to offend Cold Maker, which is why this happened, and what Fast Horse did to
offend him was not getting the robes, and coals for his daughter's eyes. From this dream
Fast Horse loses his faith in the power of dreams and visions.
The second dream that really sticks out is, the wolverine dream with Fools Crow, and
Kills-Close-to-the-lake. In this dream Fools Crow, sees this beautiful animal come down to
the river to have a drink. And it turns out to be Kills-Close-to-the-Lake, with whom Fools
Crow ends up making love to. And the next day when he wakes up he doesn't remember what
had happened, but "As White Man's Dog gathered up his robe, he saw a small object
fall out. It was a white stone almost as big around as a little finger" (120). Then
Kills-Close-to-the-Lake has this dream where a wolverine ravishes her. This is the same
wolverine in both dreams, and in one he bites off her finger. Then when Fools Crow sees
Kills Close to the Lake again, she's cut off her pinky finger to fulfill a vow. Fools Crow
realizes that the stone was her finger, and because of this dream both of these characters
realize that their secret passions, and lust for each other must end.
The final and foremost dream that occurs in the story, happens in the end when Fools
Crow has a dream about Nitsokan, and is instructed to take a journey. Fools Crow ends up
going on this non-stop journey for six days and seven nights, until one day he finally
comes to what looks to be the end of the road. But there is a hidden tunnel that he
discovers thanks to a wolverine, that lead under a boulder. Fools Crow crawls through this
little tunnel until he finally reaches the other side, and when he exits the tunnel he
seems to be in a sacred and vast land where it is always summer. Then he notices a
familiar looking woman, and it is Feather Women, a lady who was banished because she had
dug up a turnip that she wasn't supposed to, and underneath the turnip that she had dug
she saw the future. In the few days that he was visiting this place Feather Women was
always painting images on a yellow skin and he watched her do this "but when he
looked at the skin he could not see her design" (349). And then one day he is finally
able to see the designs on the skin, and they pop out at him and he sees all these visions
of the future learning the fate of his tribe, and the troubles to come with the seizers.
So, upon learning these things he heads back home to warn his tribe, and when he gets
arrives back home the white scabs had already come into their camp. The change that is
brought about Fools Crow from this dream, is he realizes that these horrible things are
going to happen, and there is nothing he can do about it.
While reading this novel and reading about the many dreams that were occurring, I
always had the belief that all these dreams were just that, dreams. The dream of Cold
Maker seemed to be a made up dream, and the dream of the wolverine was only an excuse to
justify fornication, and the dream that Fools Crow has in the end where he sees all of
these things of the future is only coincidental, he saw these things happening in a dream
but he believed that they were going to happen in the future, and that is why he saw them.
It was merely a coincidence that these things happened. And in the end many members of the
tribe came to the realization that things are going to happen no matter what, even if they
vision it ahead of time it is often too late; but what matters the most is that as long as
new life continues to be brought into the tribe, the tribe will always live on, and adjust
to new and different conditions they will face.
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