Yellow Kidney

While reading James Welch’s Fool’s Crow, I was struck with how Yellow Kidney is such a courageous, noble man that through what they consider fate becomes a pitiful creature. Having gone on a raid against an enemy tribe, he was caught, mutilated through the removal of all of his fingers, and then sent home to his tribe. In a way you could say that they stole his livelihood, since he can’t hunt, can’t do useful things with his hands, etc. However, Yellow Kidney allowed them to steal his life: He viewed himself as worse than dead, and lived in a state of depression for the rest of his life, ignoring his wife and sons, and forgetting the honorable man he was.
However, near the end of his life, as he leaves his family, he realizes that he can be self-sufficient, and can contribute to his family. Excited at this new discovery, he can’t wait to get back to his family. Unfortunately, he is killed moments later.
Yellow Kidney represents all of us that lose sight of what is important. We all know that Yellow Kidney has great potential and is a great man. However, his misfortune caused him to lose sight of that. He figured that since his physical greatness and skill were gone that he was worthless in spirit as well. In doing so, he alienated himself from his family, and deprived them – and himself – of many great experiences and times. He could have taught his sons many things from the great stores of knowledge that he had already gleaned from his experiences. He could have shown love to his wife, and appreciation for her sacrifice that brought him home.
However, like so many of us, he didn’t realize what he had until the very end of his life, right before death – when it was too late to do anything about it.