American Indian Myth

American Indian Myth

White Buffalo Woman

The people saw her walking off the sam direction from which she had come, outlined against the red ball of the setting sun. As she went, she stopped and rolled over four times. The first time, she turned into a black buffalo; the second into a brown one; the thrid into a red one; the fourth time she rolled over, she turned into a white buffalo calf. A whilt bufalo is the most sacred living thing you culd ever encounter.

'Winchinchala' meaning the girl you are in love with
There is no place in the village where you could be left alone. The only chance to show her that you are interested is to wait for her at daybreak when the women go to the river or brook with skin bags to get water. When the girl you had your eyes on finally came down th ewater trail, you popped up from behind some bush and stood so that she could see you.
-from 'The Legend of the Flute'

How the Sioux came to be
The Great Spirit, Wakan Tanka, became angry with the earlier people on earth and sent a water monster to cause a great flood. People climbed to the highest land they could reach but even that was to no avail. All killed except one girl who was carried off by a big spotted eagle, Wanblee Galeshka, who took her to his nest on the tallest pinnacle of the Black Hills. The woman and the eagle had children together, and when the water finaly subsided, Wanblee helped the children and their mother down from his rock and put them on earth, telling them: 'Be a nation, become a great Nation- the Lakota Oyate.'
So we descended from an eagle nation...


And therefore the sacred pipe is also something that binds men and women together in a circle of love. It is the one holy object in the makin gof which both men and women have a hand. The men carve the bowl and make the stem; the women decorate it with bands of coloured porcupine quills. When a man takes a wife, they both hold the pipe at the same time and red trade cloth is wound around their hands, thus tying them together for life.
'White Buffalo Women', as told by Lane Deer


All the above excerpts from the movie script 'Dances with Wolves', starring Costner