Visions and Dreams in James Welch’s Fools Crow :: James Welch Fools Crow Essays

Visions and Dreams in James Welch’s Fools Crow In the novel Fools Crow, by James Welch, several characters have visions and dreams. The dreams are so realistic that they are a vision of what's to come in the future. A lot of the visions and dreams become a message or some type of warning to the people so that they are aware of thing that are going to happen. Many of these dreams that the characters have affect them positively or in a disastrous way leading to misfortune. The first dream is a dream that White-Man's Dog known as "Fools Crow," has while he is on the first raid against the Crows. He dreamt of a lodge within an enemy camp containing young naked girls. As one of the girls approached him, he began to awake. After his awaking, he felt that in his dream he wanted to approach the girl but knew that there was danger in her direction. He kept thinking that he should tell Yellow Kidney, their leader, of this dream but his father had told him that it was not wise to speak of your dreams to others. After the raid, Yellow Kidney did not return with the others. Several months later he returned to their homestead and began to tell of what had happened to him. He had entered the enemy camp and discovered the lodge of young naked girls. The girls were infected with the white scabs disease; he had sexual contact with one of them and almost died. White Man's Dog felt horrible and blamed himself for what happened to Yellow Kidney. He thought to himself "Wh y hadn't he told Yellow Kidney of his dream? Such a dream would have been a sign of bad medicine and they might have turned back" (76). The second dream is a dream that Mik-api, the medicine man, has about the raven. The raven was a bird that had heard a cry of a four-legged creature named the wolverine. The wolverine had crossed through one of the Crow's caged traps and could not escape. When the raven tried to free the wolverine, he was not of strength to succeed. He told Mik-api in his dream that he knew of White Man's Dog and the strength he pertained. "It will take such a man to release our four-legged brother" (52). Mik-api told White Man's Dog of this dream and he agreed to find the wolverine and set him free.