Touching the Fire

Buffalo Dancers, the Sky Bundle, and Other Tales

by Roger Welsch

"No one who wishes to understand Native America should miss Touching the Fire. . . . Roger Welsch offers us a fascinating—and touching—visit to a culture which refuses to be destroyed by materialism."—Tony Hillerman.

"Touching the Fire is a remarkable collection of Native stories written by Roger Welsch who is line bred out of Will Rogers and Mark Twain. The book is engrossing, wonderful, and belongs with anyone who cares about our unwritten American history."—Jim Harrison.

"Roger Welsch has produced a gem here. Touching the Fire joins the ranks of indispensable books about the American Indian."—Dick Cavett.

"Welsch’s stories [have] great universality; they speak of all Native Americans, not just an individual tribe or a single holy artifact."—Publishers Weekly. "Lots of fun to read."—Library Journal.

The Turtle Creek band of the fictional Nehawka Indians wages a battle for the return of their sacred Sky Bundle, a medicine pouch containing artifacts. It reposes under glass in an eastern museum at the beginning of Touching the Fire. Seven interlinked stories, beginning with a court battle in the year 2001 and going far back in time to the origin of the Bundle and the first Nehawka village on the Great Plains, reveal the richness and depth of Indian cultural heritage. Touching the Fire is multilayered—sad, humorous, and always informative.

Roger Welsch, the well-known folklorist and essayist for CBS’s Sunday Morning, is an adopted member of the Omaha Indian tribe.

304 pp — ©1997