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Elsie Flood
Old Grandpa Fool Bull was one of Mary’s relatives. Before he died, Mary went to him to learn Lakota cultural traditions. He was a traditionalist; in fact, he was the last Lakota who knew how to make the tribe’s “old-style flutes.” He also lived through the Wounded Knee Massacre, one of the U.S.’s infamous acts of violence against Native Americans (he was nearby and heard the rifle fire). Old Grandpa Fool Bull brought Mary to her first peyote meeting when she was young; unlike Mary’s grandmother and mother, he believed in the importance of maintaining Lakota traditions.
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Old Grandpa Fool Bull Character Timeline in Lakota Woman
The timeline below shows where the character Old Grandpa Fool Bull appears in Lakota Woman. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1: A Woman from He-Dog
...side of her family, Mary is related to the Brave Birds and Fool Bulls, including Old Grandpa Fool Bull , who was the last maker of a kind of traditional flute. He lived 100...
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Chapter 2: Invisible Fathers
...Bill left Mary’s mother shortly after she got pregnant with Mary. Neither Mary’s mother nor Mary’s grandfather (Bill’s father) told Mary anything about Bill, except that he drank a lot. When Mary...
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...identity, she would have to seek help from other elders. She went to her great-uncle Dick Fool Bull , who took her to her first peyote meeting, and her grandmother’s niece, Elsie Flood....
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Chapter 7: Crying for a Dream
...Mary’s Catholic mother regretted Mary’s desire to drop the Christian faith, Mary went to her Grandpa Dick Fool Bull , an old man who practiced traditional Lakota rituals. He was the one who took...
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