JEROME FOURSTAR

Jerome Fourstar is an Assiniboine Indian who was born and
raised on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. He
attended elementary school in Frazer, Montana, and re-
ceived his G.E.D. from Glasgow High School. He served in
the Montana National Guard and for many years worked as
a carpenter and supervisor of electrical, plumbing and con-
struction work. After taking college coursework in bilingual
education, he served as a bilingual teacher at Wolf Point
(Montana) High School. For the past five years he has
taught Indian culture and religion in the Wolf Point public
schools. He has served as a cultural and spiritual leader for
both on-reservation and urban Indian groups and for Morn-
ing Star, Inc., which trains rehabilitated alcoholics. He also
taught youth and served as a spiritual and cultural leader
at an ecumenical conference of medicine men in Morley,
Alberta, and each summer he is director of a youth camp
in Billings.

EUNICE BIRTHMARK

Eunice Birthmark is a Sioux Indian who was raised on the
Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana. She spends much
of her time teaching Indian singing, dancing and culture,
and serves on the Plains Area Curriculum Development
Committee for the Pacific Northwest Indian Program. For
three years she also worked as a bilingual teacher in
Brockton Public School, in Poplar, Montana.

LAVINA PERRY

Lavina Perry, who told the story The Turtle Who Went to War,
is a Sioux Indian. She has lived most of her life on the Fort
Peck Indian Reservation in Montana and spends much of
her time sewing and beading. She is married and lives in
Poplar.


10

The next afternoon, the Indians took the Turtle
to a pond.

A crowd of people followed,
for they wanted to see him killed.

A man was chosen to drown the Turtle.

The man was painted with war paint.

Carrying the Turtle, he waded out to the center
of the pond.

The Turtle shook and acted
like he was very frightened.

But as the man started to put him into the water,
the Turtle turned his head and bit him!

The man jumped and fell into the water.

The Turtle drowned the Indian
and bit off his scalp.


This Sioux story tells how once, long ago,
the Turtles decided to go on a warpath
against the Indians. The Indians had been
greedy and had killed too many Turtles to
eat, which made the Turtle chief very angry.
So, the Turtles went on a warpath and
killed the Indian chief.


Booklets available in the Level III sequence are listed below. Numbers refer to the planned sequence of use
in the Teacher’s Manual. Materials developed by these tribes and others in the Northwest are included in

the Levels I and II sequences.

1 Story of the Seasons
The Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon
2 The Beginning of the Earth
The Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon
3 The Blacktail Dance
Blackfeet Tribe

4 How Marten Got His Spots
Kootenai Cultural Committee of
The Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

5 Lost in the Fog
Jamestown-Clallam Tribe

6 How to Be a Friend
The Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon

7 How the Morning and Evening Stars
Came to Be
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the
Fort Peck Reservation

8 Raccoon’s Black Eyes and Ringed Tail
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the
Fort Hall Reservation

9 Coyote and Old Lady
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the
Fort Hall Reservation

10 Coyote and Trout

Kootenai Cultural Committee of
The Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

11 How the Milky Way Got into the Sky
The Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon

12 Inkdomi and the Buffalo
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the
Fort Peck Reservation

13 Medicine Horse
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the
Fort Hall Reservation

14 The Good Hunter and Fisherman
Jamestown-Clallam Tribe

15 The Wild Buffalo Ride
Blackfeet Tribe

161 Ama Rock
Crow Tribal Historical and Cultural
Commission

17 The Man Who Loved Shell Money
Skokomish Tribe

18 Old Man Napi
Blackfeet Tribe

19 The Turtle Who Went to War
Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the
Fort Peck Reservation

20 Coyote and the Mean Mountain Sheep
Salish Cultural Committee of
The Confederated Salish and
Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

For order information and prices of the above booklets and the Teacher’s Manual, contact the publisher:

Educational Systems, Inc.
2360 Southwest 170th Street
Beaverton, Oregon 97005

(503) 649-7516


14

The Turtle was glad that he had taken
the two scalps by himself.
He started home.


Later that morning,

the Indians found their dead chief.
A crier went through the camp,

telling the people to watch out for enemies.
Later, someone moved the chief’s bed

and saw a spot of fresh earth under it.
Pushing a stick into the earth,

he felt the Turtle.
Then the Indians knew that the Turtle

had killed their chief.




There once was a large camp of Water Turtles.
One day, the chief of the Turtles

sent around the pipe

to all the friendly tribes—

the Grasshoppers, Butterflies, Frogs,

Snakes and Rabbits.
The chiefs smoked the pipe.
Then they sent their young men

to the Turtle chief, who spoke to them.
“There are many Indians camped nearby,” he said.
“Let’s go on the warpath and kill their chief”
They all said they would go on the warpath.


i
vig: al!





The Turtle
Who Went to War

The Indian Reading Series

Level III Book 19


The people wondered what they should do
with the Turtle.
“Put him in the fire? said one man.

“No” said another, “we can’t burn him.
His shell is too hard.
Let’s hang him?

“No, let’s cut off his head? said another.

“No” said a fourth man, “let’s drown him”
Everyone thought that was the best way.




The warriors walked
around the inside of the camp circle
and went out the opening to the east.
Then they walked around the outside of the camp
and started off, carrying their war bonnets
and war clothes.
They walked all night.
Just before the sun came up,
they reached the Indian camp.
The warriors attacked.
The Turtle chief went
into the Indian chief’s lodge.
The Turtle took the Indian by the throat
and choked him until he was dead.
He bit off the scalp
and slipped under the dead chief’s bed.


em THE INDIAN READING SERIES:
‘% Stories and Legends of the Northwest


Developed by the Pacific Northwest Indian Reading and Language Development Program
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, 710 Southwest Second Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97204

Copyright ©1978 by the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Reservation
All rights reserved.

The work upon which this publication is based was performed pursuant to Contract
No. 400-76-0048, with the Educational Equity Group/Multicultural Bilingual Division
of the National Institute of Education. It does not, however, necessarily reflect the
views of that agency.

This publication is not printed at the expense of the Federal Government.
Published by Educational Systems, Inc., 2360 Southwest 170th Street, Beaverton, Oregon 97005
Printed and bound in the United States of America


ul


18


(= AM) THE INDIAN READING SERIES:
ie Stories and Legends of the Northwest

The Turtle Who Went to War
Level III Book 19

A Sioux Story
As told by Lavina Perry
Illustrated by Lisa Ventura

Joseph Coburn, Director
Pacific Northwest Indian Program
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory



THE INDIAN READING SERIES: Stories and Legends of the
Northwest is a collection of authentic material cooperatively devel-
oped by Indian people from twelve reservations. Development ac-
tivities are guided by a Policy Board which represents the Indian
community of the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest Indian
Reading and Language Development Program Policy Board mem-
bers are:

* Warren Clements — Warm Springs
Chairman

¢ Morrie Jimenez — Klamath

¢ Joan Kennerly — Blackfeet

* Walter Moffett — Nez Perce

« Emmett Oliver — Quinault

¢ Bob Parsley — Chippewa

¢ Lloyd Smith — Warm Springs

¢ Max Snow

¢ Jeanne Thomas — Yakima




12

When the man didn’t come to the top of the water,
the people didn’t know what to do.
They were afraid to go into the water,
so they left.
The Turtle stayed in the pond until night came.
Then he went back to the Indian camp
and hunted until he found the chief’s scalp.