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Blackfoot Discoveries: Blackfoot Stories: The Eyes of A-pe-si

Our summary of The Eyes of A-pe-si told by:
Michael,David, Riley & Jake

One day Na'pe was traveling over the land and he always had to watch out for his enemies. He was supposed to climb up tall trees to check things out but he was too lazy. As he was walking along he heard a bird say, "Eyes jump over to that tree" and the eyes came out of the bird and landed on the top of a tree. Then he asked his eyes to come back and they did. Na'pe thought this was a fun thing to do and he wanted to do it too so he wouldn't have to climb up the trees. So he asked the birds to teach him how to make his eyes go out of his eye sockets. They taught Na'pe how to do it but told him not to put his eyes up on the same tree more than 4 times or his eyes wouldn't come back to his head. He also had to find a dead tree.
Na'pe did not listen to the birds and put his eyes up the same tree 5 times because he was too lazy to find a dead tree. His eyes wouldn't come back to him. Coyote was happy to see Na'pe without eyes so he decided to trip him and scare him. Na'pe got mad, grabbed Coyote and took Coyote's eyes out of his sockets and put Coyote's eyes on him. Na'pe got gooseberries and put them in Coyote's eyes so he could see again.

What did we hear in this story that we have heard in other stories?

  • Na'pe is always tricking animals.
  • Na'pe doesn't listen or obey. He always gets into trouble.
  • Animals and nature talk and help.
  • There is always a problem and a lesson to be learned.
  • Na'pe is always traveling or walking somewhere.
  • To get attention Na'pe starts to cry or yells.
  • The number 4 is mentioned

We think the story teaches us..

  • To do as you are told or something could go wrong
  • Not to annoy others or they could hurt you

Copyright for student work remains with the authors.
All else copyright © 2002 Pam Irving, Lorraine Flavelle and Galileo Educational Network Association