One summer a long time ago, the seven sacred
council fires of the Lakota Sioux came together and camped. The sun
was strong and the people were starving for there was no game. Two
young men went out to hunt. Along the way, the two men met a beautiful
young woman dressed in white who floated as she walked. One man had
bad desires for the woman and tried to touch her, but was consumed by
a cloud and turned into a pile of bones. The woman spoke to the second
young man and said, "Return to your people and tell them I am coming."
This holy woman brought a wrapped bundle to the
people. She unwrapped the bundle giving to the people a sacred pipe
and teaching them how to use it to pray. "With this holy pipe, you
will walk like a living prayer," she said. The holy woman told the
Sioux about the value of the buffalo, the women and the children. "You
are from Mother Earth," she told the women, "What you are doing is as
great as the warriors do." Before she left, she told the people she
would return. As she walked away, she rolled over four times, turning
into a white female buffalo calf.
It is said after that day the Lakota honored their
pipe, and buffalo were plentiful. (from John Lame Deer's telling in
1967). Many believe that the buffalo calf, Miracle, born August 20,
1994 symbolizes the coming together of humanity into a oneness of
heart, mind, and spirit.
