The white buffalo calf woman

The story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman is arguably the most important Sioux legend. It exists in many different versions. The following version is by Lame Deer, who told it in 1967 on the Rosebud Reservation.

One summer so long ago that no one knows exactly when, the tribes of the Lakota Nation gathered and camped. The sun shone uninterruptedly, but there was no game and the people were starving.

Every day they sent out scouts to search for prey, but the scouts found nothing. Among the tribes gathered were the Itazipcho, the "without bows." They had their own camp under their chief, Standing Hollow Horn.

THE LEGEND

Early one morning, the chief sent two of his young men to hunt for game. They wentOn foot, because at that time the Sioux had no horses. The hunters searched everywhere, but couldn't find anything. When they saw a hill, they decided to climb it to see far into the country.

They were about halfway there when they saw something approaching from the distance, but the figure wasn't walking; it was floating. Therefore, they knew this person was wakan—holy.

At first, they could only see a small, moving dot. So small that they had to squint to see it was the shape of a person. But as the figure came closer, they realized it was a beautiful young woman.

More beautiful than anyone she had ever seen before, with two red circles painted on her cheeks. She wore a beautiful dress of white leather, tanned so long that it shone in the sun from afar. It was embroidered with porcupine quills, with motifs so sacred and vibrant that it could not have been made by an ordinary woman. This holy stranger was Pte San Wi, White Buffalo Woman.

In her hands she held a large bundle and a fan of sage leaves. Her blue-black hair was loose. Only a single strand on the left side was tied up with buffalo fur. Her eyes were dark, shining, and full of power. The two men stared at her, open-mouthed. One couldn't move for fear, but the other desired the young woman and reached out to touch her.

But the woman was lila wakan—very sacred—and could not be treated so disrespectfully. The impetuous young man was instantly struck by lightning and burned to death. Only a small pile of black bones remained of him. Others, however, say that he was suddenly surrounded by a cloud, and there he was devoured by snakes, leaving only his skeleton. Just as a man can be devoured by pure desire...

The woman turned to the other scout, who had acted lawfully, and began to speak: "I have come to deliver a message to your people. A message from the Buffalo People. Go back to camp and tell your people to prepare for my arrival. Tell your chief to set up a medicine lodge with 24 stakes. And have it blessed for my arrival."

The young hunter returned to the camp. He told the chief what the holy woman had commanded. The chief told the crier, and the crier went through the entire camp, proclaiming: "Someone holy is coming to us! A holy woman is approaching! Prepare everything for her!"

The people set up the large medicine teepee and waited. Four days later, the White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared, carrying the bundle. Her beautiful white leather dress gleamed from afar.

Chief Standing Hollow Horn invited her to enter the medicine lodge. She went inside and walked once around the circle of the teepee.

The chief addressed her respectfully and said, "Sister, we are glad that you have come to teach us." She told him what needed to be done. A sacred altar was to be placed in the center of the teepee. Made of red earth, it would feature a buffalo skull and a three-stick stand for a sacred object that she would bring them.

The people did as they were told, and with her finger, the woman then drew a pattern on the smoothed earth of the altar. She explained to the people what she had done and then walked in a circle through the teepee again.

She stopped before the chief and opened the bundle. The object inside was the chanunpa—the sacred pipe. She took it out, and the people were allowed to look at it. She held the stem with her right hand and the bowl with her left, and the pipe has been held this way ever since. And again the chief spoke: "Sister, we are happy. But we haven't had any meat for a long time. All we can offer you is water."

He dipped some sweetgrass in a water bag and gave it to her, and since that day, people have dipped sweetgrass or an eagle's feather in water and sprinkled it on a person to purify them.

The White Buffalo Calf Woman showed the people how to use the pipe. She filled it with red willow-bark tobacco. She circled the hut four times, just as Anpetu Wi—the Great Sun—does. In doing so, she symbolized the never-ending circle, the sacred circle, the road of life.

Then she held a splinter of dried buffalo bone into the fire, lighting the pipe. This was the endless fire, the flame that would be passed on from generation to generation.

The buffalo calf woman explained to the people that the smoke from the pipe is the breath of Tunkashila, the living breath of Great Grandfather's secret.

Then she taught the people how to pray; she taught them the right words and the right gestures. And she said to them: "I am each of the four ages of life. I will come to each of your generations. I will return."

With that, the woman left the people. "Toksha ake wacinyanktin ktelo," she said. "I will see you again." The people saw her walking away in the same direction from which she had come—a dark figure in the red circle of the setting sun. She was running, but suddenly stopped and rolled four times across the ground.

The original can be found in:
American Indian Myths and Legends
Selected and edited by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz
Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library, 1984

SOURCE: Indian-Reservation.de