Indian giver is a term given by "white Man" When the natives and the whites traded the whites gave the natives nice things in exchange for fur, food, and safety... untill the white men stopped trading for good material and gave bad, when the natives relized this after a certain trade, they confronted the whites and took all there prized belongings back saying they did them wrong and refused to trade with them any more. thus for getting the name "indian giver" because of unfare trading circumstances upon the natives and greedyness of the whites.

This is what I found searching the web:
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'Indian giver

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One who takes or demands back one's gift to another, as in Jimmy wanted to take back Dan's birthday present, but Mom said that would make him an Indian giver. This term, now considered offensive, originally alluded to the Native American practice of expecting a gift in return for one that is given. [Colloquial; early 1800s].'
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Old times, Nancy. I suspect it may have started with the early trading days with some of the more unscrupulous traders when some Native American tribes began to realize they were trading valuable furs and other goods for cheap and shoddy "white man's" goods, e.g., rifles that would not fire and powder that would not ignite, iron pots that were cracked, etc. They would sometimes demand a "refund". Understandable. But then, it is also just another trait ascribed to one people by another, like Scots and Dutch being stingy or penurious,..."Dutch Treat", "Dutch Courage"(needing to imbibe alcohol to have courage to fight), etc., etc.....

I always thought it had to do with the treaties in which we gave indians promises and took them back. Makes sense. just backward as we may have believed, right?

It is a kind of game with some American Indians to give something and then see if they can steal it back.

i have no idea wot does it mean