Fringe

In the 1850s a famous Crow medicine man called Fringe fasted where the North & South forks of the Shoshone River converged. A black water beast with a long neck was known to live there and the young man wanted to receive some of its energy or spiritual powers. Unsuccessful at that site, he went to the hot springs at present day Thermopolis where another water beast lived. There he tried again.

At Thermopolis, Fringe was successful. There, the beast, which was known to be able to walk on the water and to live under it, came out onto dry land. Fringe gained its power and from then on was able to cure people of any kind of sickness by taking them into the water.

Another one of these water beasts, known as buluksée, lived in the Yellowstone River. One day a war party came by. As a young warrior took his horse to the river to drink, the water monster rose up and grabbed it by the nose. The horse was dragged into the river where the monster then seized the rider’s ankle and began to drown him as well. Despite the efforts of his friends – one of whom had the energy of a large wasp and the other the power of a dragon fly – it was too late.  Both horse and rider perished in the fight, sucked down into a whirlpool.

Friends of the young warrior then went to Fringe to see if he could help.  Fringe said, “I’m only given four days to bring him back alive, ” but said he would try. The medicine man then went to the junction of the Bighorn and Yellowstone Rivers where the beast was known to live. There, he encountered the beast and a huge snapping turtle that lived with him. Fringe brought the young man ‘s body back but was unable to revive him.

Grant’s great grandfather was there on the bank of the river during this event. Although he couldn’t see much from the back of the crowd, he was told about the happenings of that day.

Grant Bulltail describes two different water creatures that appear in Crow stories. Although they are sometimes confused in the storytelling, bimmuummaakoole (meaning “lives in the water.”) is a larger Loch Ness Monster-like being, while buluksée refers to the water monster Grant describes in the story of his sighting, ‘Seeing Buluksée’ in the Animal section.

The following is another story of the amazing healing powers Fringe possessed.