Crow Mary

Goes First often sleeps with the dog inside her tipi. One morning, her mother informs her about a serious game of Shinny, saying that she needs her help to beat the men’s team. She tells Goes First that the women’s strategy will involve breaking the rules.

Goes First is not interested in another man, but her stomach flips when she sees Farwell at the game. Following her mother’s strategy, the women’s team wins. Her father lifts her mother to celebrate, and then Farwell asks Goes First to take his hand and pulls her up. Goes First feels “disturbed” by his touch.

Goes First sees Farwell again after the victory dance and decides to join the celebration. Seeing other couples makes her miss Big Cloud more. She participates in the women’s dance and sees Farwell watching her.

Farwell finds Goes First alone at the creek. He sits with her, and she notices that he is handsome. Crow Mary is reticent, and although Farwell is embarrassed, he proposes to her. He explains that he is leaving for his trading post in Cypress Hills, in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies. Goes First could help him with trading, and he would offer her a good life.

Goes First overhears her parents discussing Farwell’s proposal. Her father suggests that Farwell would be a good husband and that Goes First would acquire a white woman’s rights. Her mother worries that it would be a “strange world” for her. Goes First joins her parents and sees Farwell’s gifts. Her father explains that Farwell admires her riding and gun skills and values her understanding of English. Goes First ponders whether the puppy is a sign from Big Cloud that she should marry Farwell.

Goes First asks Red Fox for advice, confessing that living in the village intensifies her grief. She feels that leaving with Farwell would help her find a new life. Red Fox does not want her to leave but agrees that she needs to overcome her suffering. Goes First says that she will miss him, but he assures her that he will always be her grandfather. At night, she wonders about her future life with Farwell.

Goes First meets with Farwell. She is scared but feels attracted to him. Farwell gives her a bracelet made of silver, a metal precious to the Crow, and she thinks that her mother will need it. The two bond by singing an English song that Goes First learned from her grandfather. Farwell leaves for Fort Benton for supplies, and Goes First plans to meet him there with her parents. People offer her gifts, and her father offers her a horse. Goes First still doubts her decision, but her father’s pride convinces her to continue.

Goes First arrives at Fort Benton with her parents and a group of Crow people. She marvels at the Missouri River, but the “noise” in the fort disturbs her. Farwell and her father agree that the wedding will occur the following day. Farwell wants Goes First to accompany him to town, and he advises her to bathe and wear “English clothes.” Goes First insists that she will prepare for the wedding “in the way of Crow women” and refuses to go with him into town (70). Goes First wonders what she will do if she does not like her life with Farwell. Her mother assures her that she can return home. She thinks of the grief that awaits her back in the village and, holding her dog, confirms her decision to marry Farwell.

Before her marriage, Goes First spends time bathing with her mother. During the marriage ceremony, the minister demands a “white name” for her. He writes her name as “Mary,” a name given to all Indigenous women. Goes First’s father ultimately approves the use of his name as Goes First’s official surname. Goes First sees tears in Farwell’s eyes and wonders what they mean.

A feast follows the wedding, but Goes First is upset to see some of the Crow men abusing alcohol. She knows that her father disapproves of drinking and that white men’s laws forbid alcohol trading to Indigenous tribes.

At night, she waits for Farwell in her tipi, wondering about their sex life. Farwell, however, tells her that she can spend the night with her family, as he has business in town. The next morning, her mother gives her a bag with her umbilicus, reminding her of her three mothers: “You have me, you have your tipi, and you have Mother Earth” (74). Goes First struggles to leave her mother and her family. When Farwell tells her that she will not need her tipi, she insists that it is her home. As she says goodbye to Red Fox and her parents, she feels that her decision was a mistake.

The couple heads for a Métis settlement that provides Farwell with supplies. Farwell believes that Goes First would be comfortable staying with them. Observing the Métis, Goes First thinks that they are “unusual.” She resents Farwell introducing her as “Mary,” which feels “foreign and lonely” to her (78). Naming is a “solemn event” for the Crow (78), very different from the thoughtless way in which the name “Mary” was bestowed on her. At the village, she meets Jeannie, who is close to Goes First’s age.

Farwell wants to help Goes First set up her tipi at their camp, but she is insulted because men never touch women’s houses. Goes First feels that she and Farwell cannot understand each other, and she wonders how their marriage will work. She thinks that she has made a mistake and plans to return to her family, but she says nothing to Farwell. At night, Goes First refuses to eat, and Farwell takes her into his tent and lies beside her. Goes First plans her escape.

The next morning, Farwell tells Goes First that he must go to town on business with René, Jeannie’s husband, and will leave her alone for a day. He also says that Jeannie will bring her food. Farwell kisses her on the cheek, and again, she is surprised by his kindness.

Jeannie visits Goes First. She speaks English, but Goes First says that her skills in the language are limited. Jeannie suggests that they speak slowly. Jeannie explains that her father was a Scottish fur trader and that her mother was Blackfoot. René saved her from the orphanage. Jeannie says that Farwell believes Goes First is miserable. Goes First wonders how Farwell knows, but Jeannie explains that she had the same struggle at the beginning of her marriage. She comforts Goes First, stressing that Farwell is a good man. She suggests that they set up Goes First’s tipi so that she will have her own home. Goes First rejoices, thinking of her grandmother.

Goes First spends time washing her puppy and burns cedar and sweetgrass. Farwell tells her that there will be a wedding celebration for them the next day. Farwell decides to retire for the night, and Goes First thinks that he will come to sleep with her. She expects him in her tipi, deciding to give her marriage a chance. Soon, she realizes that Farwell has fallen asleep in his tent. She wants to enjoy sex with her husband and wonders why Farwell does not want her.

In the morning, she finds Farwell naked while bathing in the river. She bathes herself, but they do not approach each other. During the celebration, Goes First observes the Métis, thinking that they are a “colorful group.” She enjoys herself, dancing and drinking rum punch, but is alarmed when Farwell tells her that it is alcohol, remembering its negative effects on the young Crow men. Farwell emphasizes that he does not drink alcohol. Still, Goes First feels happy. Back at their camp, Farwell walks into Goes First’s tipi, and she enjoys their lovemaking.

Farwell spends the day with Goes First instead of going to Fort Benton. The next day, Jeannie visits her and invites her to the village to dry buffalo meat and make pemmican. Jeannie notices that she looks happy. The Métis women call her “Crow Mary.” Goes First accepts and adopts the name, pleased that it makes her identity evident. She meets Mr. Dubois, a fur trader who does not get along with Jeannie and only loves his dog. Crow Mary feels scared of him.

Crow Mary makes pemmican with Jeannie, and the two bond. Jeannie tells her story. When she was a young child, her father abandoned her mother, and her mother died soon after. Jeannie was then moved to a Catholic orphanage, where she learned English. She was studying to be a teacher when she met René. Jeannie suggests that Crow Mary teach her the Crow language while Jeannie helps her with English, and Crow Mary accepts. As time passes, their friendship grows, and they discuss their love lives.