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Page Two
 

A story by Ben Wambli Ska

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Continued from page 1

After much talk and discussion, Crow King spoke to the leaders at the council that food was now critical and in need after all that had happened before and after the big Battle. He thought that the tribe needed much meat and many buffalo robes for warmth from the bitter cold of the up-coming winter. He suggested a big hunt for buffalo to start soon. It was the time of the year for the buffalo to migrate in that area! The Chiefs agreed to this hunt and immediately a hunting party of seven warriors were selected to help Crow King locate the herd of buffalo! Early the next day the hunting party left their camp to begin its search for the buffalo. Three warriors went East, and Crow King with the remaining four warriors went Southeast from their South Dakota camp. They were to meet in two days at their camp place with their findings! The agreed decision was that if the buffalo herd were located, a message by smoke signal was to be sent that the herd was located and that a large number of the Sioux warriors were needed quickly to come in force for the big buffalo kill!

Two days later the buffalo were sighted grazing in a large valley by the three warriors who went east. In order not to cause them to stampede, the Warriors immediately went to another place to look for Crow King and his Warriors to meet to discuss their locating the buffalos. It was a very large herd for the earth was black with slow moving and grazing buffalos. The warriors had to send the smoke message to their camp that the big herd of buffalo were located. They went to a high and rocky elevation to send the smoke signal to their Sioux camp for immediate help. Crow King and his warriors went back towards their Sioux camp site in order to meet the other group of warriors to plan their approach to the big herd of buffalo for their encounter with the them. They decided that they must start their approach to the herd on the down wind side so as not to cause dust to alarm the herd.

The next day warriors from the Sioux Camp had arrived to start their drive into the herd. Crow King gave them instructions which way to begin their charge. As the Indian hunters began to their charge into the herd, a massive stampede immediately erupted. Buffalo bulls and cows were running wildly in the valley. The hunters would ride fast and hard to a selected bull and shoot his arrows into the bull who fell quickly and hard. Buffalo after buffalo were killed and dropped in the charge. Another group of warriors charged the herd from another direction causing the herd to turn in another direction shooting their arrows and spears into many buffalo. Crow King was in the middle of a fast running charge downing many buffalo himself.

Those Indians in charge of the buffalo kill came to a halt at a place that they could estimate how many buffalos were killed. There were many dead ones lying on the ground. By the way the Indians counted the dead buffalo was a great number. By the way white men counted there were about seventy dead buffalo lying on the ground. Crow King wanted a few more killed. His Sioux Camp was a large number of Indians. So, they made one last charge into the herd of buffalo causing them to stampede in another direction. This time the whole number of warriors participated in the charge and many arrows found their mark and more buffalo were killed and increased the number of killed buffalo. By the way the Indians counted, the number killed was close to a hundred.

Suddenly, Crow King drew his horse to a complete halt! He saw something ahead of him that was quite a surprise! He could hardly believe his eyes. He saw a young White Buffalo Calf running hard with the stampeding herd of buffalo. Crow King wanted to capture this rare buffalo for it was a holy animal. He signaled to his warriors to come to him at once! He gave the signal to halt the killing of the buffalo immediately. They had enough dead buffalo to replenish their supply of meat and buffalo hides. They must capture the white buffalo calf for it would be a good omen for their tribe of Sioux. How were they going to succeed in this task?

The White Buffalo was determined to be a female calf about two years old. Immediately, five warriors were sent back to their Camp to tell them of their number of kills and about the sighting of the White Buffalo Female Calf! Many woven leather lariats would be required to capture the Holy animal alive. They did not want to lose sight of it for it was running hard and fast with the remaining herd. Crow King and his warriors kept the Calf in their sight ahead. The buffalo were running along its side as though they were shielding it from any harm. Not too far ahead, the stampeding herd seem to slow down their stampeding run. Crow King and his warriors kept up their pace with the herd so as not to lose sight of the wonderful finding of a holy buffalo. Crow King kept thinking about the Legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman and what that Legend had meant to the Sioux and to the Cheyenne !

The next day about the time of day when the sun was directly over their heads, the warriors from their Camp arrived. They discussed how they were to keep the White Buffalo Calf from stampeding with the remaining herd of buffalo. They decided to go far ahead and around the herd to see if they could find a place near by in the valley that was enclosed by big rocks of earth so that they could make the Calf go into the enclosed area of rocks in order for them to loop their lariats over its head and onto its neck for its capture. They were lucky. Not too far ahead in the distant valley, there was such an enclosure for them to use for the means of capture. Crow King and his warriors came back to the fast moving herd and surrounded the remaining herd to begin their quest to corral the White Female Calf. The warriors were running their horses on both sides of the herd. They gained the advantage by getting closer to the herd and causing the White Female Calf to advance towards the enclosure of rocks there in the valley. They were lucky, for some unknown reason, the Calf took a quick left turn and headed straight for the enclosure of rocks. What a stroke of luck for the warriors. Now, they had the White Female Calf inside the enclosure. The Calf seemed startled to find itself enclosed and not with the herd. The other warriors sealed off the entrance to the "rock corral" in order that the Calf did not escape. The other warriors immediately came closer to the White Female Calf on their horses so that they could throw their leather lariats around the buffalo's neck. Four warriors were successful in this task. Soon they had the White Female Calf caught and its legs tied. It immediately fell to the ground. The major task of capturing the animal was completed for its safe and complete capture. They had thrown eight leather lariats around its neck for a secure holding. How proud the warriors were in their capturing the White Female Buffalo Calf and with no harm done to the Calf. They fed the Calf , and it rather became nervously accustomed to Crow King and the Warriors being so close to it. Now, the next task was to get the Calf back to their Camp. One idea was to get a travois and tie it securely to the travois to transport it to their Camp in that manner. Another idea was to have it tied securely to the horses of the warriors and "walk" it to their Camp. The journey to their Camp in the was too far to carry it on a travois. They fed the White Female Buffalo Calf and they experimented with the idea of walking the Calf back to their Camp in the enclosure. They decided that this idea was the best way to accomplish this unheard of task. All of the warriors were so proud of this capture, and the Calf seemed to understand what the Warriors were trying to accomplish and "obeyed" them without any unaccountable problems.

 

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This Native American Story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead is coincidental.

Copyright 2008 by Benjamin Park Terrell.

This site © 1999-2008 Ben Wambli Ska