“Then they led me to
the center of the circle where once more I saw the Holy Tree, all full
of leaves and blooming. Against the tree there was a man standing with
arms held wide in front of him...I looked hard at him and I could not
tell what people he came from.
“He was not a white
man or an Indian, his hair was long. His body was strong and good to
see...and it was painted red...while I was staring at him, his body
began to change and became very beautiful with all the colors of light
and around him there was a light.
“He spoke like
singing:
‘My life is such that all earthly beings and growing things belong to
me...Your Father the Great Spirit has said this...”
“And when I looked,
the people were thin, their faces sharp for they were starving...their
ponies were hide and bones...and the Holy Tree was gone...
“And as I looked and
wept, I saw on the north side of the starving camp a sacred man who was
painted red all over his body and he held a spear as he walked into the
center of the people, and there he lay down and rolled. And when he got
up it was a fat bison standing there, and where the bison stood a sacred
herb sprang up right where the tree had been in the center of the
nation’s hoop....
“I know now the bison
were the gift of a good spirit and were our strength, but we should lose
them, and from that same good spirit we must find another strength.”