"23.976" "I will tell you as it was told to me... as told by the elders to my Grandfather." "When a young person was seeking his way... looking for answers to guide him along the Good Red Road of Life... the elders took him up to the mountain... and put him up for four days and four nights." "No food, no water." "Just his buffalo robe and the canunpa, the sacred pipe... and his self." "Be quiet!" "This was called the hanbieceya:" "to seek for a vision... a dream to show him the way." "Is your name No Ears?" "I am Eagle Boy." "Who speaks to me?" "The Spirits?" "There are other mountains you could have picked." "Why here?" "All night long we have to hear you singing, crying... talking to yourself." "What are you, crazy?" "I come seeking a vision." ""I come seeking a vision"." "You are not worthy of a vision, Eagle Boy." "You will not give up this quest." "You are a warrior." "What happened, Grandpa?" "Did he get eaten?" "Did he get eaten?" "Eagle Boy!" "I don't remember now." "Grandpa!" "It was told to me so long, long ago by my Grandpa." "Who heard it from Black Elk." "Who heard it from his great-grandpa." "Who heard it from the storytelling stone himself." "Bear Butte must 've eaten him." "I know it." "Well, he knew he had to go through many tests to find his vision." "So he began to sing, to call on the helping spirits." "And then..." "You better get my money, boy." "I will tell you what happened another day." "Sometimes the stories come, sometimes they go." "Just like that one over there." "What happened to you?" "Nothing." "Looks Like something." "Something to do with that Mae Little Wounded?" "Mom!" "You know, if you want to win her heart... you give her the end of the bread." "Give her the end of a loaf of bread?" "Old Lakota woman secret." "She'll think I'm psycho." "Can I borrow some cash?" "Yeah, there's a million dollars in casino money underneath my dresser." "Just leave me a few thousand." "Whatever." "What 's this?" "Fight?" "I fell off a horse." "You never been on a horse... to fall off of a horse." "Listen." "I need to talk to you, Shane." "Why?" "It 's about Grandpa." "He's getting old." "He's been talking about, you know, taking the journey." "He's been talking about taking that journey for a long time." "He's almost eighty-seven." "He told Eddy Two Bulls he was a hundred and two." "He told this white lady looking for an Indian name that he was 49." "I'll be home later." "I know Grandpa, Shane." "This is going to be his last Powwow." "He wants to go to New Mexico to the All Nations." "Why?" "He's a storyteller." "One of the last old ones." "People need him." "Can't he just send an email?" "He's too old to go six hundred miles." "But you're old enough to drive." "Why me?" "Because he don't want no one else." "He wants you, Shane." "He wants you to get him to the Powwow." "I can't." "Can't?" "I got things to do." "Like what?" "Summer on the rez." "What are you going to do, get in trouble?" "Volunteer work, community service." "Help my mother pick chokecherries." "Anything but that." "Get me to the Powwow." "I'll give you my best pony, 1966 V-8 Special." "It 's name is Many Miles With No Muffler." "But it runs fine." "I can't keep this, Shane." "Why not?" "Yeah, I guess you got a point." "Why not?" "Damn, Mae, I have to ask you something." "What do you want to ask me?" "I want to ask you, you know... if I could have that back." "I pawned a boom box up in Scenic to get that." "I owe Victor's Bloods money for some smoke." "They were gonna kill me." "So I took the boom box up to pawn." "And that 's when I seen it, the ring..." "Give it back at the end of the summer." "Is that you?" "What did I tell you?" "What 's going on, Shane?" "Victor wants his maza-ska." "Look, you'll get your money." "You're damn right..." "The boom box weren't mine neither." "I need to pawn the ring back, just for a few days." "I thought Indian Giver's just a myth." "It is." "Then I'll keep it till you talk to the Old Man about going out with me." "What 's going on out there?" "Shane, where's the box, Bro?" "First you owe Victor money, now you took his tunes!" "I told you I'd get it." "Tomorrow." "Or you got to deal with the Vice Lord." "You owe the Dog Soldiers money." "Or they'll find you in the Badlands." "It is a fine pony." "What?" "It is a fine pony." "How many miles to Albuquerque?" "Many." "Many..." ""My heroes have always killed cowboys."" "I see." "That 's your war shirt?" "Man wears that shirt..." "does that make him an Indian?" "I am an Indian." "You're an angry Indian." "I don't trust any Skin who ain't angry." "Right." "The white man stole all our land." "So for the rest of your life you'll blame all your troubles on Custer... and not even try to make a life." "What are you doing?" "I forgot something." "What did you forget?" "How far it is till Albuquerque." "We made a trade for a1966 pony." "You can keep your 1966 pony, Grandpa." "I really don't need this right now, okay?" "I've got problems, man." "Ah, you're pitiful." "The Spirits told Eagle Boy..." "I don't need stories, Grandpa." "Eagle Boy could do nothing but hang on for his young life." "See?" "I am a strong-hearted warrior... worthy of a vision." "Two more nights." "Stay strong." "You will receive your vision." "You will return to camp... with wisdom and power." "Help me!" "Help me!" "How do you Like that, Spirits?" "Do you see how powerful I am?" "Now, give me a vision!" "So, what happened?" "What?" "To Eagle Boy... what happened?" "The Thunderbird made a great storm." "Lightning came out of his eyes." "Eagle Boy tried will all his might to meet the trials of his hambleceya." "Could he, or could he not?" "You're the storyteller, man." "I will tell you tomorrow." "If I'm still in this world." "You can't leave me hanging!" "I'm the storyteller, man." "I can do what I want." "New Mexico is that way, isn't it?" "You will learn what happened to Eagle Boy when we get there." "And I tell it as it was told to me." "Let 's ride!" "Who the hell's chasing us?" "Just some guys, Grandpa." "They must be after Three Moons, my war horse." "No, they're after my ass." "They're better off with my horse." "Turn here." "That 's not a turn!" "Turn!" "You see, in the old days, it was not so easy to win a girl." "Blue Bird Woman." "Here he comes again." "High Horse from Spotted Tail's band." "There were many trials a man had to go through." "It was not two days ago, High Horse... that you came to my camp with a fine pony." "Now you come with two." "I am going to die." "And I wish for you to have these excellent ponies." "Why are you going to die?" "I have heard of no war with the Crow." "I am going to die." "If I cannot have your daughter, Blue Bird Woman." "I am going to walk into a Crow enemy camp and throw away my life." "Do you own a death song?" "I do." "A strong one." "Good." "Go sing it." "And don't come back." "It is me." "High Horse." "My father has not given me away." "Yet you still return, again and again." "Tonight." "You will find me and my pony by the river." "We will run far away." "High Horse and Blue Bird Woman." "Like two fingers crossed." "A fine woman does not run away with a man." "What must I do?" "I brought many horses but your father sends me away!" "Do you not see that I am beginning to walk upside down Like a heyoka?" "I am a Lakota woman." "I want to be won." "Tomorrow I go run the buffalo with the uncles." "You must watch our daughter as the hawk watches a mud swallow." "A father fears his youngest will run away with a young man." "Never." "She thinks too highly of herself." "Like her father." "She thinks so highly of herself, I believe she might want to be stolen." "Did you not steal a nice woman from a lodge across the Cheyenne River?" "Did she not want to be stolen?" "She was getting old an thinner and there was no one trying to win her." "Tonight, you will tie her hands to her bed." "Are you drinking white man's water?" "I will watch the tipi door until the sun." "You are a foolish old man." "I once had a fine friend named High Horse." "Our mothers taught us to ride by tying us to one pony together... and letting it run." "When High Horse fell, I fell." "We hunted buffalo." "We sang war songs." "Now that friend is gone." "I am here, you fool." "No, your body sits here." "But your spirit chases a girl up the Cheyenne River." "Like a man chasing a ghost pony, never to be caught." "Find yourself another woman." "One whose father is not named Kills Enemy." "When we were boys together as you say, what was it that I longed to be?" "A kit fox warrior." "And you?" "A holy man." "A wise man." "If you were such a man, and I believe someday you will be... what wisdom would you give to your friend High Horse?" "Her father guards the tipi, you say?" "Yes." "All men in the village are warned." "It is so." "Only a fool would steal the daughter of a chief in a camp warned as such." "Or someone who's been kicked in the head by a buffalo." "Or a wanagi, a dark spirit from the great beyond." "Red Deer." "You are indeed a wise man." "A spirit comes!" "What is it?" "It is a wanagi." "A dark spirit." "Offer it food." "Run, or I eat all of you!" "Perhaps he too has come for my daughter." "Chase him!" "What is it?" "The village is chasing away a spirit." "That is all." "Catch him and chop him up!" "It is the only way to be rid of such a spirit." "Maybe I am not so wise yet." "A crazy thing I have done." "It was useless." "High Horse tried everything to have that girl." "But now that he was dishonored, how could he ever go back?" "He had no choice." "He would ride now into the Crow enemy camp and die with honor." "He was not afraid, for he had already thrown away his life." "Here I am!" "I am your enemy!" "What is this coming?" "You must kill me!" "I beg of you!" "Take me!" "You must kill me!" "Run!" "Do not run, Crow!" "Take me!" "Yes, yes, pony!" "Bring them home!" "Like a vision they came." "Crow ponies, up the river." "War ponies, and buffalo runners, and those of the medicine paint." "Those that had been stolen from the Lakota long ago." "Crow horses." "Those stolen from us long ago." "How can this be?" "Great wealth and hope had returned to a people in need." "High Horse!" "It is I." "Since the Moon When The Deer Shed Their Horns... we have tried to steal back our horses from the Crow." "We have lost men... but we have never regained our ponies." "Behold!" "A young man named High Horse!" "You must know this:" "it was not ponies I desired." "Whether it be two or a great herd." "I wanted a son, High Horse." "A son who as a true man... and a doer of great deeds." "Join roads with her and be happy." "The fire I've lit for your daughter will never go out." "Damn!" "This can't happen!" "We have half a tank." "Sometimes the gauge doesn't work." "Why didn't you tell me?" "Because sometimes it does." "It 's gonna rain." "What, the spirits tell you that?" "The bullet I got in my hip in France tells me that." "Hurts Like hell when it 's gonna rain." "You must find some gas." "Take Three Moons, the dun horse." "I was right." "The Trail of Tears." "Come on, Moons." "Let 's go!" "What 's the use, Grandpa?" "He's lame, anyhow." "And guess what?" "We're screwed." "Shut up and pray." "Thunder Beings!" "They speak to an old man." "Listen." "It happened many summers in the past... in the village of the Akwesasne Mohawks." "The great Haudenosaunee." "He was a Thunder Spirit, you see." "And he had watched her all summer long." "He fell in love with a woman, down in the corn... but it could never be." "She Crosses The Water!" "Run to the long house!" "Run, daughter, now!" "Run!" "For she was a Haudenosaunee, a Mohawk, and he... was a Thunder Being." "Sky Woman spoke from above." "She summoned the Thunder Spirit back where he belonged." "Sky Woman, I will turn into lightning and die in the ground below... before I let her go from me." "Father!" "I must touch her." "Father!" "Do not be frightened, Woman-from-down-in-the-corn." "I have watched you for so long." "I could not live another day without you." "I know the way you walk to the river in the morning... and clean your skin." "I watch your long house until the last fire goes out." "No man has ever loved a woman as I love you." "But you are not a man." "I am spirit." "I am Thunder." "You are human." "We are one." ""He has always been troublesome", Sky Woman speaks." ""Have you not been hearing the thunders more than usual?"" "Yes." ""Has not the rain fallen greater than before making the corn grow tall?"" "It is so, Sky Woman." ""Still", speaks Sky Woman." ""lf you wish to return to the Haudenosaunee, go." "Walk that way."" "But if you wish to remain here, in the Land of Sky Woman... take my hand." "I choose to stay... with this one who will love me more than any husband could below." "She was happy there in the Land of Sky Woman... living among the Thunder Spirits." "The Wind Creatures were sent down to gather food for the woman... so that she could eat as her own kind." "Perhaps the woman does not have all she needs." "Today, I can bring you a fine dress, made from the dust of the sun itself." "My mother can weave for you a shawl Like you have never seen." "It'll be made from the sun, stars..." "I am content here, husband." "Only I wish that our long house was not so small." "It is not large enough for a Spirit and his wife?" "It is large enough for a Spirit and his wife." "But not for the Spirit 's child who is coming." "Never were two beings in such deep love." "Two worlds had become one." "Sky Woman, you are the clan mother of all." "But now... you are going to be a Grand Mother." "Speak, Sky Woman, please." "A woman from the land below cannot give birth to a child here... in the Sky World." "She Crosses The Water must return to her Mohawk people... and raise the child among its own." "Thunder Spirit, we must all lose what we love sometime." "It is the way." "If you truly love this woman... deliver her back to her people, now." "She Crosses The Water, you will raise a boy down below." "You will lead a good life." "But if anyone should ever strike this child... you will lose him." "Please, remember me." "Will you watch over me and our child?" "Always." "Praise the spirit of the rain!" "Get to the long houses!" "My daughter!" "I have come home." "Who took you from us so Long ago?" "Who did this to you?" "I will dig up my war ax from beneath the tree of peace... and I'll find this one." "No man touched me, Father." "The child was born in the Moon of Big Snows." "His name was Thunder Boy." "My grandchild is so full of mischief." "I believe his father must be Abenaki or Ojibwa." "I told you, Mother." "He is son of the Thunder Being." "Child, you were stolen during the storm... by men from another tribe." "You are too ashamed to speak the truth." "Look what you've done!" "Never touch my child!" "If anyone ever strikes him, he will be taken away!" "Spring came to the Mohawk people, and with it the maple ceremony... giving thanks for the rejuvenation of Mother Earth." "Yes, your father says hello!" "I love you, Thunder Boy... just as I Love him." "The boy was smaller than the Mohawks... and his habits were different than the ways of ordinary boys." "Whenever a thunderstorm would approach... the boy would run out and laugh and play." "Mother, I am needed in the squash." "Then I will keep my eyes on my grandchild." "Do not cry, grandson." "You are a good child... even if maybe you come from people we do not know." "Father!" "Up there is Sky Woman." "We do not know who your father is." "Love, father." "Your father is not the thunder." "Your mother went crazy when struck by lightning in the storm." "She wandered lost into a camp of fishing people." "Stop!" "No!" "No!" "Mother!" "I warned you!" "Thunder Boy was gone forever." "Thunder Boy!" "Thunder Boy!" "It was known that the child returned to the Thunders." "Oh, my daughter!" "Heartbroken... she would sing to him for the rest of her life whenever it stormed." "And so did the generations to follow." "Won't be Long, man." "Get him to the Powwow, Let him tell his stories." "Get this rig back and go see Mae's father." "With three hundred horses stolen from the Crow!" "Okay." "Wanna be." "Get this rig back in one piece..." "How come we didn't stop?" "We got to make the Powwow, Grandpa." "When was the last time you seen a white man stop to pick up an Indian?" "Long ago." "It was told among the Klowas... that there lived a brother and sister... who loved each other as any brother and sister." "Though they looked different, and were." "The boy's name was Tehan... and he had been captured from the whites many years before." "His sister's name was Talks A Lot, because, well, she talked a lot." "But he love her, and she loved Tehan as her own brother." "Broken Lance... someone told me you were with the men up on the canyon wall." "Hello, Tehan." "Your head, it is on fire." "Do not insult my brother!" "Sister, please go." "When will someone learn that he is one of us?" "When will a woman see her brother has skin Like the belly of a frog?" "You have stolen our lands and now you wish to steal our ways?" "Go!" "Bear Robe took me for his son." "You insult his honor by insulting me." "For this I will fight you." "Your father is a Kiowa." "You are a Tehan, a Texan, captured from the whites." "I have dreams of your red scalp hanging in my tipi." "I remember the white man's ways." "I do not wish them for my own." "Your blood is not our blood." "You must leave the Kiowa." "If I see you when the sun returns tomorrow... my knife won't stop where it has today." "Tehan." "That one is only angry because he Let his father's ponies run away." "Many colts Lost in the canyon." "He's afraid to chase them because the white men are everywhere." "Do not hate Broken Lance." "It is hard to trust any white man." "Sister..." "I am leaving." "You must not." "I will return." "But only with the runaway colts." "To prove that I am a true Kiowa." "If I do not return... remember me always, as your brother." "Easy there, savage." "Hold it there." "He ain't no savage." "Damn, that's a white in jury." "What 's your name, boy?" "Name?" "You remember that word?" "Name." "My name is Tehan." "I'll be damned." "That 's him." "That 's the red-headed Kiowa they talk about at Fort Sill." "He's one of us." "It's alright." "Hang up that bow." "Get him!" "Get him up this ridge." "You know them better than anyone, Red." "If we push them to the river, do they cross... or go up into the brazada?" "I cannot remember much of how it was." "They're going to surrender to Fort Sill." "Or be pushed north and off their Lands." "I need you, Red." "I saved your Life from the savages." "I need you now." "They will never go north." "They are not cowards, Like some." "I will ride alone to their camp." "I will convince them to gather..." "Leave this fort and you're dead." "Am I understood?" "Come on, son." "Show us your rabbit dance." "I'll give you a cognac." "In the far corner, where the moon makes Light... that is where they keep their powder." "Little Hand!" "What...?" "Brother!" "Quick!" "You red-headed son of a..." "The Kiowa welcomed Tehan home with honoring songs." "There is no choice now." "We must keep moving." "We will find a good place in the North." "I stay." "I stay and I fight, so the women can reach the north." "Then I do also." "Who stays with Broken Lance and fights for the Kiowa?" "Tehan!" "You must travel north with us!" "No." "Broken Lance is right, sister." "Someone must stay and keep the whites back." "Or they will never stop chasing." "You must go, have children... and keep the Kiowa strong!" "You will die here, Tehan." "You could have survived as a white man." "But I am a Kiowa." "My sister stood for me." "Now I stand for her." "Then Let us make war, brother." "If our blood spills, it spills together." "And then returns to the same mother." "And so Tehan fought for the people his heart belonged to." "He truly was a Kiowa... and he passed into legend as the Great Red-Headed Warrior." "I really appreciate it, man." "No problem." "I can almost smell the fry bread." "We are not far." "I'm really hoping they give me an Indian name this year." "You're bringing your horse to the Powwow." "How awesome is that!" "What?" "The horse... is good medicine to the Lakota, as I understand it." "I bet you talk to your horse." "You understand him, he understands you." "Like brothers!" "Brothers of the wind!" "Hey, Grandpa." "He thinks Gandhi picked him up hitch-hiking." "I know this guy from Houston, was adopted at the Powwow Last year." "An elder did the ceremony and everything." "Maybe I'll get adopted this year." "3OO bucks, we'll adopt you." "And give you an Indian name." "Knock it off." "Sorry, man." "I'm really tired." "They got cable." "Ain't staying here." "Why not?" "I'm going to get some coffee." "No cream in mine." "I'm a vegan." "Thanks." "Come on!" "Come on, come on!" "I'm gonna use your outhouse." "I'll hook you up when I get back." "Hey, come on." "Thanks." "Grandpa..." "They got a swimming pool and cable!" "Get in." "What..." "Get in." "Here, take it." "Thank you." "Come on, Grandpa!" "Eagle Boy had now gone three days and three nights... with no food or water." "But he had yet to receive his vision." "Hunger, he had known before, and could withstand it." "His robe shielded him from the cold." "But it was thirst... that tested the strength of his mind, his body and his spirit." "The only vision coming to him was the vision of running water." "Water!" "Water!" "Creator: thank you for making such beautiful water." "Water that I must not drink for another day and night." "I'm seeing a great vision!" "I am Hehaka, the elk." "The one women cannot resist when I sing." "You can drink from this water." "So say the spirits." "No, wait!" "Uncegila lives there." "The snake." "She keeps the water for herself." "If you slay her and take her heart..." "I may drink the water?" "You may have anything you want." "All I want is to make it one more day and night on this mountain... and to return with a vision that gives me strong medicine." "Go toward the sun, Two-Legged... and you will find the cave of a beautiful woman." "Only she has the arrows that can kill Uncegila." "Unceglla was real." "And Hehaka, the Elk, spoke the truth." "If a man could slay her and take her heart... he could have all he dreamed of in his life." "I am up here doing my hambleceya." "Seeking a vision, are you?" "They all come up here for that." "Beggars!" "The elk..." "The elk tells me if I slay Uncegila... if I slay the water monster, take her heart..." "I return with strong medicine and have wisdom and power." "Uncegila." "She can only be killed with the wakan arrows." "I am the keeper of those arrows." "Have pity on me, Old Woman." "What will you give me... vision seeker... for my arrows... that never... ever miss?" "Remove your fine buffalo robe." "Yes... you can have my robe." "It is not the robe that I desire." "It has been many snows since I've been held by a man... so young and strong." "Please." "Maybe I don't need the water." "But you need a vision!" "I smell Hehaka, the elk, on you." "Give me pleasure!" "Old Woman, please!" "All I want is..." "Don't even think about it!" "You did a thing for me." "You have freed me from my old shell." "But you wouldn't give me pleasure... when I was old and ugly, so you will not now that I am young and..." "Beautiful." "Your mistake." "The only way to kill Uncegila is to shoot... one of the four arrows through the seventh spot from her head." "Seventh spot from her head." "Behind the 7th spot lies her heart." "Take it, but beware." "It is Like ice and fire, all at once." "Her heart will speak." "It will ask you to do four things." "You must refuse four times." "After that, do as the heart asks." "Is it understood?" "And Let no eyes but your own ever look upon the heart... or it shall be destroyed." "And with it... the powers given to He Who Kills Uncegila." "Many before Eagle Boy had tried to hunt Unceglla." "They were all blind now, or dead." "But Eagle Boy had the four wakan arrows." "And so he waited." "I do not fear you." "Come and get me, Uncegila!" "Rise from the water!" "Let me see you, Evil One!" "Five, six..." "Come back, Uncegila!" "Do you not see a brave man standing here?" "Come back here, Uncegila!" "I don't want to say anything, but that is a bummer of a closure." "That ain't the end." "Tell him, Grandpa." "Tell him what happens." "Does it matter?" "Does it matter if the stories are no longer told?" "If there is no one to keep the dream?" "What did you guys think of Dancing With Wolves?" "What 's up with that, man?" "Hang on!" "Rednecks after us?" "Indians." "Indians?" "We are Indians, aren't we?" "Don't Lose my horse!" "Dude, this is so not Like what I had in mind." "Will you Let me out?" "Pull over, Shane!" "Victor wants him dead!" "Shoot that fool!" "Shoot the trailer tires!" "Where are they?" "In the Rio Grande." "Just get the hell out of here, Shane." "Just go." "You've made up, all right?" "Just go!" "Just get out!" "You okay?" "Hey, you boys!" "Come on up here!" "We're going to the Powwow!" "What is that, y'all, up ahead?" "Road kill cafe." "Stop." "Back up." "What 's he doing?" "He does this to every dead animal we pass." "He has to honor them." "Been a Long trip, man." "There goes your skin." "Word is traveling..." "you are no good!" "I haven't exactly heard any honoring songs sung for you, Ikto!" "Do not despair." "Come to my Lodge." "Tonight." "My fine wife will cook you dinner." "You trust me with your wife?" "No." "But you are my friend... and I won't watch you turn to ribs and hair." "I will be grateful, Ikto." "When you see the Moon, come to the Lodge of my fat and beautiful woman." "Do not burn them." "Coyote Likes them raw." "There are only two Livers here." "Where is the third for me?" "You will eat what is Left after me and Coyote have feasted." "Leave me alone now." "I will, Fat Woman." "I am going to go out and get a duck." "Coyote Likes a nice duck." "Maybe something will be Left over for the poor woman who cooks." "If Coyote should come while I am out hunting... you be nice to him." "But watch out." "Do not Let him eat everything till I get back." "And don't Let him admire your robe... if you know what I mean!" "Go, you Lazy good-for-nothing." "A woman must eat also." "Somebody is here... under the moon." "Come, Sunkamanaitou." "Come feast in our Lodge." "Where is Ikto?" "Up to no good." "He always is." "Where's dinner?" "It is coming." "Do not move so close." "Why not?" "Me and Ikto..." "we share everything." "You're both good-for-nothings." "Loafers and cheaters." "He's off chasing a woman now, I think." "You know he is." "So Let me..." "You're here for dinner." "Nothing more." "There were buffalo Livers in here." "Cooked and eaten." "Who ate them if not me, and if Ikto is out chasing?" "When Ikto returns and sees there is nothing Left to eat I will be in trouble." "Yes, you will be." "I must have two of something cooking in the pan by the time he returns." "But two of what?" "I do not know... 23.976 and I am afraid." "Now, now, Fat Woman." "Do not worry." "Coyote will make you feel better." "I will sing you a Love song taught to me by Hehaka, The elk." "Yes..." "I am feeling better now." "Closer, please." "You will see what 's for dinner... two of them, cooking in the pan." "You will not feel a thing!" "I have much practice!" "Where are you going, Shunka?" "Never invite him again!" "He is greedy." "He took the Livers?" "Yes!" "He is a scoundrel." "Friend!" "Come back." "I only want one." "If you can catch me, Ikto..." "you can have them both!" "Oh, man..." "Water pump, man." "The 1966 pony has died." "We came far." "Yeah, but not far enough, Grandpa." "Sorry." "We came far." "Heading to All Nations?" "We were..." "Hop in!" "No, my horse." "Three Moons..." "we can't Leave him." "Are you alright, Grandfather?" "We are Lakota." "We will find our way." "I'll see you there, Brothers." "Have a good time with Grandpa." "Later, Bro!" "See you Later!" "There they go." "With a van full of Cheyenne hot ties." "And we're stuck here with a horse that rode in with Lewis and Clark." "Coyote has a strange sense of humor." "Grandpa, it 's over." "I know." "Behind the seventh spot is her heart." "Unceglla laid dead... slain by a young vision seeker who could hardly believe... the warrior deed he had performed." "The heart of the Ancient One was like fire and ice at the same time." "Eagle Boy had killed the beast." "But it was her heart that held power." "Eagle Boy." "You have done what many before you have tried." "I beg of you now... do not remove the horn from my dead body." "Have you no mercy?" "Please." "Take the horn and stick it into the wound at the 7th spot from my head." "The spot where your arrow struck." "Do it." "You have nearly completed your vision quest, Two-Legged." "You have gone days without eating." "You have slain Uncegila." "Now feast!" "Cut from the body and roast some meat." "I'm not hungry." "I now have a power stronger than hunger." "But you are still an Indian." "Does not an Indian always honor his kill?" "Toss some tobacco into the water." "You must!" "To give life to the children of Uncegila?" "I will not!" "I have made my four requests, and you have defied all of them." "Now what I ask of you, you must do." "Or lose the power you have won." "Return to the camp of your people, but always keep me hidden in your lodge." "No one but you must look upon me." "Go, Two-Legged." "Take your power down to your people." "Eagle Boy had the power he dreamed of." "Women came to his lodge by the dozen." "You must never look inside my lodge!" "It was a fine day for that boy." "And it is a fine day for an old man." "Because I will ride into the Powwow on my horse." "Yeah, awesome." "Would you have left this horse to die?" "No." "I would've put the red-headed Kiowa on him and wished good luck." "This horse is good medicine." "How do you figure?" "He's a dun horse." "He is sacred." "But back long ago, in the camp of the Pawnee... no one knew this..." "The Pawnee were great farmers, but during the season of the hunt they move their cast to follow the buffalo." "Do not look at the camp grandmother, it will only make your heart feel sad." "I look at that camp, because i can see, they're moving... and soon go in and look what is left behind." "Someday grandmother i will be a great hunter... and no more we'll be without." "Hej... ?" "But if not..." "We will surviwe." "Even if we must follow that camp." "Dirty Belly and his grandmother followd like revers peaking up beans left behind." "This is how it is told." "They left you behind, Dun Pony." "It is worthless." "They left it for the coyotes." "If we were Apache, we could eat it and be well." "But we are Pawnee, and cannot." "Leave it." "Grandmother, we will take this horse with us!" "It will slow us down." "We must follow the camp!" "Come now!" "It will carry our packs." "We will travel well." "If it keep your tongue from wagging like leaves in the wind, bring it!" "I wish we were Apache." "But then, there is hardly any meat on his ribs." "He is our very own horse." "How poor are we now?" "Even more so." "On this day, in the camp of the Wolf Clan... buffalo scouts returned... bringing news of a holy slighting..." "Chief Iron Spoon had craved for." "Iron Spoon!" "You have found the North herd!" "It is so." "They are in the valley." "And he's there, with them." "The spotted bull." "He is magnificent." "His coat can be seen from the mountains." "Men of this band, gather." "An old man speaks." "in the valley, the buffalo have come." "Among them is the spotted bull." "He who brings me the spotted robe shall receive 12 of my best ponies... all of my best horses, and the hand of my daughter, Little New Rider." "This charge shall be an honorable one." "Mount your ponies and gather below." "The hunter on the fastes horse shall kill us ?" "." "What these ?" "see today?" "Grandmother this part bullets been seen in the valley." "The low valley." "The rider who ... chief ... horses... and the chief's daughter." "......." "They always thoes." "What are you doing?" "I must take this chanse." "For us grandmother." "Do not be foolish child, we are laught out enough." "Dirty Belly... have you come to sell us a pony we left behind?" "I wish to run in this race." "Pick your place in the grass, and prepare." "When I give the signal, the charge begins." "Pawnee!" "Pawnee, listen to me." "Lead me to the creek." "Hurry." "Gather mud from this creek." "Dig for the clay." "Paint me with it." "Prepare your ponies!" "Hurry!" "The Spotted Bull was taken... but the hunters could not believe whose spear had made the kill." "Dirty Belly was victorious beyond his dreams." "It is the wandering boy, Dirty Belly." "How can it be?" "The runners have returned." "One with the spotted robe." "The tall one with the Appaloosa?" "No!" "Your grandson, with the Dun Pony." "Why do you torment an old woman?" "Go away and cease laughing at us!" "A strange thing has come about here today." "But what is so, is so." "You have brought me the spotted robe, Dirty Belly." "in return, I give you 12 ponies... and my daughter, Little New Rider." "Great Chief." "Your daughter is a fine woman." "And twelve ponies would make my grandmother wealthy." "But I choose to keep the spotted robe." "It did not matter how many ponies or blankets were offered to him." "Dirty Belly refused to part the spotted robe." "You are kind, but the robe is for my grandmother... and the horse, he is mine." "Pawnee." "Pawnee." "From the place where the sun sets tomorrow... a War Party will come." "The Oglalas." "Hear me." "When the warriors are drawn up in line of battle, ready to take blood... climb upon my back." "Ride fast, into the middle of the enemy... and up to the war chief." "Count coup on this chief." "Then ride back." "You must count coup on their bravest warriors four times." "But no more than this." "I understand." "Say this with your fist on your heart." "I hear your voice, Great Dun Pony." "Oglala!" "Oglala!" "They are many!" "Dirty Belly?" "To strike an enemy with a coup stick and leave him humiliated... but unharmed was a war honor of the highest rank." "This boy has some kind of great medicine." "Or is it the pony?" "Only a warrior of exceptional skill and bravery... could hope to count coup in such a manner." "Most men died trying." "I counted coup four times." "And I was not killed." "I was not even wounded." "My medicine is strong!" "I will go again!" "Dun Pony." "You were my medicine... my protector." "You were a gift from the Creator." "And I disobeyed." "And now I've lost you, my friend." "My friend!" "Tirawa, the Great Mystery, has been good." "Tirawa has let me come back to a boy." "After this, do as I say... no more, no less." "Leave me there tonight, and when the sun appears, come for me." "She is beautiful." "Now, leave me here and come back for me again tomorrow." "When the boy returned the next morning... he found yet another magnificent horse... more beautiful than the last." "For twenty nights he did this... and found his self wealthy with twenty horses... finer than any the Pawnee Nation had ever seen." "He married Little New Rider, the chief's daughter... and had many children." "When the Old Woman died, he wrapped her in the spotted robe... and let her make her journey with honor." "The horse lived for many years." "And so does the Pawnee legend of the Dun Horse." "Well, I don't think this Dun Horse is going to fly." "So why don't we get some sleep?" "I'm tired from all this walking." "That Cheyenne girl was known far and wide for her quillwork." "It was said that her work came from dreams she had." "What she dreamed, she would make." "My daughter... this one is finer than the last you made." "It is the seventh war shirt." "Perhaps the best one." "I see." "But now a mother must ask." "Because the people are whispering." "You have no brothers." "It is true." "Is there a young man courting you?" "Why is it you spend your days making man's clothes?" "You can tell me, my girl." "A dream." "Can a daughter not share this with her mother?" "I am afraid to." "Nah, do not be!" "Somewhere, a long way from here... live seven brothers." "One day all of the world will look up to them." "I am your only child." "I want to find them and take them as my brothers." "That is why you made these seven war shirts?" "For these..." "Brothers." "Dreams are sacred, Quillwork Girl." "They are teachers." "Do you know the path to these brothers?" "I believe so." "in the dream." "I've seen where the river turns and the hill falls back into the pines." "They live in a big lodge and it is painted with seven bear paws." "It is well you go, my daughter." "I will go with you." "in the dream I go alone, mother." "I must." "For days she had journeyed, until she came upon a lodge... planted with seven bear paws, as in her dream." "Who keeps this camp?" "I am the girl looking for brothers!" "Is anyone in there?" "Who comes here?" "I am Quillwork Girl." "Looking for brothers." "Do you have brothers?" "Six?" "They are hunting." "I bring gifts." "Perhaps her mother was right." "Dreams are teachers that tell us of paths to follow." "I wish you to be my brother." "The girl gave those Cheyenne boys war shirts... of the kind that made young men proud." "They never seen such work come from the hands of even the oldest women." "And so Quillwork Girl became the sister to the seven brothers... and they lived well." "She cures meat well." "She cooks fine kidney fat." "These clothes she makes..." "Where did she come from?" "l sent for her." "You, with the gift of No Touch?" "Did not an old woman once tell you not to use your strange gift?" "l wanted a sister!" "Yeah, but did she have to be so fine looking?" "A sister should be fat and ugly... but cook well land do quill work." "The Buffalo Nation sends me this way." "Where is the beautiful one?" "She is my sister." "We want her!" "Leave here now!" "We will return." "We want this quillwork girl for our own." "We wish to marry her into our Nation!" "Perhaps I have brought you trouble." "Perhaps I should go." "You are our sister." "We will protect you." "Hollow Horn." "We were hunting you." "Now you hunt us." "I am in love." "Can you not see it?" "We respect the Buffalo Nation." "You are our brothers." "We will offer you all that we can." "But we will not let you take our sister." "Very well." "If we cannot have her... we will crush you all." "Give me the knife!" "To the trees!" "Hurry!" "Hurry, go!" "Hurry!" "Brother!" "Brothers!" "Sister!" "Up there!" "in that tree!" "Don't stop!" "Run!" "You're too close to the ground!" "Hang on!" "Hang on, sister!" "Jump!" "Jump now!" "Where is he?" "Look!" "Little Brother!" "What becomes of us, brothers?" "What was meant to become of us, Sister." "What was always meant to become of us, Star Woman." "Yes, I dreamed this!" "The white men call it the Big Dipper." "The Cheyenne call it the Quillwork Girl and Her Seven Star Brothers." "You see Star Woman?" "She is the brightest one... filling the night sky with her quillwork." "And that one over there, that 's the Little Brother." "She's so beautiful, that Quillwork Girl." "Things may change down here... but Star Woman is there forever." "The Sky, Shane." "Mountains." "Rivers." "That 's power." "I see her." "Tell your children some day." "Tell them to look up and see." "Soon my generation will be gone, Shane... you'll get by without us." "But remember this... a people without stories is like the wind in the buffalo grass." "Who will keep our dreams?" "Eagle Boy walked with power... as long as he shielded that crystal heart from the eyes of the people." "His arrows never missed." "Tatanka!" "His eyes saw far, like an eagle." "Sometimes farther than he wished to see." "in times when he wished to be alone... his power drew people to him." "People ready to do his will." "Eagle Boy!" "He was no longer certain lf he was free... or held fast by this power." "Is it not good to never want for meat?" "To have any woman you desire?" "To make the buffalo come to you?" "Wait!" "Today you must do everything backward, as a heyoka does." "You keep making new ceremonies for me." "Every day a new ceremony." "If you refuse, Two-Legged, I will take away the power." "Eagle Boy." "It is a good morning." "Good night." "Today is a new day." "What shall I ask you to do?" "Why not ask me to go hunting with the men as I once did?" "Because you have the great power now." "You do not need... to hunt for your meat, no more than you need to woo the little win clinical." "Ah, yes..." "Today is a good day for a ceremony." "Today you will take a woman for your wife." "Eagle Boy tried to get away." "He didn't want a wife." "He wanted a choice." "He wanted to see the Black Hills as he once knew them." "Not as they would be in a world far away." "Are you here?" "I need you now!" "Can you not hear me?" "I am tired." "I am tired of having any woman I want." "I miss trying to earn a young girl's heart." "I am tired... of not hunting for my own food, my arrows never missing." "I can even see into the future now... and I do not want to." "I want to be able to accept the bad with the good, as I once did." "Where are you?" "I just... I just want to be like other men." "Where are you?" "Where...?" "Shane!" "Wake up!" "Let 's ride." "They're waiting for me." "l was dreaming." "l know." "Where're you headed?" "To Albuquerque." "Long way to go." "We've got room in the air-ride for the horse." "We can give you a lift." "No." "Thanks, but we'll get there alright." "This pony's magic." "Are you sure, sir?" "Long way to go." "I can't believe you just did that." "What 's wrong with you?" "What 's wrong with you?" "We're gonna die out here." "Then we'll die like warriors." "It 's not a good day to die, Grandpa." "It 's a terrible day to die. 1OO degrees, we're walking down the highway." "There's nothing brave about it." "You ask me, I would've..." "Me!" "That 's all I hear from you!" "There is no word in our language for "me", "I"." "Just "we"... "us"." "Where did things go wrong?" "It must be when men stopped listening to the four-leggeds." "And the winged ones." "The animals." "He removed himself from the circle, see?" "He can't hear the raven no more." "Can you?" "Sometimes." "Ask him how much further it is until we get to Albuquerque." "Raven." "Keeps one eye in the future... yet one eye in the past." "So his journey is always straight." "Gather!" "Gather Chinook!" "Gather here Clatsop and Clackama and Salish." "Gather Skillets and all hunters of the salmon." "The raven told the chief of the village that bad things were coming." "The fish were leaving the waters." "The land was growing dry." "indeed, children had begun getting sick." "But the sickness was now spreading ... to even the strong men, the hunters." "The Great Spirit is crossed with the Two-Leggeds." "Still are those among you who took more from the waters... than they needed." "What can be done, Raven?" "What can be done to appeal to the Creator?" "The Great Mystery is just that, a mystery." "Father..." "Be calm." "Go and care for your sick." "I am the chief of this village." "I will find the medicine that we need." "Not even the Great Chief's daughter was spared the sadness." "Her husband was dying, and she knew he would not survive another night." "I have asked the Creator for help." "I have asked the Elders." "Still... our people are dying, and we..." "She could only hope and pray that her father had found a medicine... and answer of any kind." "This old man had never come to the wedding feasts... or the Salmon Dance." "He had lived always apart from the people." "Some even believed he had long ago taken the journey to the other side." "I have lived one hundred summers... and one hundred snows." "I don't even know how old I am anymore." "But I know this." "I have been kept alive for a reason." "And from where the sun has risen today... I understand why." "My father was a shaman among the Chinook." "When I was a boy, fishing here, in this river... he told me that a great sickness would befall the people... everyone." "Every man and child would die... unless an offering was made, to the Great Spirit." "What must we offer?" "A daughter of the headman... and daughter of the man who is or was chief... must go to the high cliffs above the sacred river... and give herself back to the earth, back to Creator." "And when this is done, the sickness will leave this land." "I have spoken, and it is so." "I have told my father's secret." "Now I will take the journey to the other side." "And so... honoring the vision of The Old One... the daughters of all headmen, all chiefs, came forth bravely... to the central fire." "I have made my decision." "We will meet death with courage." "No woman from this tribe shall be asked to take the journey." "Council has ended!" "Go to your camps." "All will be well, my wife." "Do not worry." "The sickness will pass like the wind on the water... soon." "If I die... I go bravely." "She loved her husband as she loved her father... as she loved her people." "Creator." "I stand up here before you, your daughter." "I don't want to leave." "But if I do... will you make the sickness pass quickly from the people?" "If you accept me... show me that you hear me." "Show me in the sky." "Otter Woman?" "Where are you?" "When the sun rose over the water, so did the sick of the village." "Strength slowly returned to the people." "The waters ran clear." "It was truly a sacred happening." "What has brought this blessing to the village?" "Creator... my daughter has taken the journey for us." "Show me that you have received her into the Other World... I beg of you." "The waters from those falls continued to drop from those cliffs... for many summer moons... and the people remember why." "That girl didn't think of herself... she thought of her people." "I'm hungry." "Me too." "Maybe the raven will lead us to some buffalo." "I don't want buffalo." "I want a cheeseburger." "Hey, it 's a stray." "It must belong to someone." "We haven't eaten since Santa Fe." "We've got a bit of cheese spread left, somewhere." "I can't wait to see this." "I've gotta do this, cow..." "Over them bluffs there, that 's the road to the Powwow." "They're waiting for me." "We're getting very close." "If this is the right road..." "It might be the wrong road." "It might be the wrong road?" "Might be going down The wrong road" "Gotta get to the Powwow of course Hauling gramps on his mobile horse I don't know that song." "is it Arapahoe?" "I know this place." "Are you sure?" "Follow that trail." "We're getting close." "I see tracks of a pony that I once knew!" "There is only one Black feet hunter who cut his arrow stone in this way." "Your father..." "he took the journey long ago." "I know his tracks." "I know his stone work." "He is hunting this way, and we will follow him." "It has been two winters since his father has gone... and still he does not let him go." "It is not easy to let fathers go." "Perhaps not, but we must find game, or we perish." "I turn back now." "Look, Whirlwind Dreamer!" "You see how the tracks run now!" "He is after buffalo!" "Father." "Father!" "It is time to let me go, Ekuskini." "Father!" "All he found there was a stone." "Or was it just a stone?" "For that stone held the memory of his father and had great medicine." "With that stone close to his heart... he hunted well and found many buffalo for many years to come." "That is how it was told to me by a Black feet at the great Powwow." "That Black feet has moved on." "I don't know if the story has survived." "Why don't you tell the one about how us Lakota used to eat dogs?" "Maybe that'll inspire us, huh?" "You couldn't catch a cow, how are you going to catch a dog?" "I'll bait him in with some cheese spread." "That could work." "Got any coffee?" "How could you do this to me?" "We followed the road, that 's all." "You set me up!" "All this time, we were headed here." "No Powwow." "You ripped me off!" "You skunked me!" "Grandson..." "Nice trailer house." "Ain't bad." "Breakin' wild horses." "For a rancher." "Janine gets the money, don't she?" "Yeah." "But it 's only money." "They need you back there." "I had to find some work." "A young man needs his father." "I'm riding it out, Dad." "I'm ridin' that horse out." "You can't do it alone, Sam." "We just drag each other down." "We can pick each other up, too." "Your Grandpa once told me:" ""One twig might bend... but the bundle will always remain strong."" "This horse you are riding out..." "we have no power over it." "If you can face your defeat... and trust in Wakan Tanka... you will find you way back to the center." "You are not alone on this road, son." "You gonna offer your son something to eat?" "Casino on the Rez now, yeah?" "I'm going to go over there one night." "I'd like to win a million dollars." "What 'd you do with a million dollars?" "Buy a sports car." "Buy me a young white woman who wants an Indian name... and drive to the All Nations Powwow in style." "They got a pizza joint on the Rez now, too." "He got you all the way here?" "Yep." "He knew where he was coming?" "No." "I get it." "He told me I was taking him to the Powwow." "You are." "It starts when the sun comes up, and we're going." "Well, maybe we should leave right now." "No." "Old Man's tired." "Rest here." "Go in the morning." "I can't believe this!" "Your mother still over at Lone Man School?" "What do you care?" "Maybe you should go. lf you've come here to tell me what I already know." "You don't know nothing." "l didn't know you were coming." "l didn't know you were leaving!" "One surprise after another, huh?" "No." "No surprises, Shane." "I'll give it to you the way it is." "Your old man ain't no good." "So why don't you let him be no good by himself and not hurt nobody else?" "That 's cool with me." "That 's what I want too, man." "I don't need no one telling me what road to walk either." "That 's enough!" "I didn't come all this way to listen to this baloney!" "I've made this journey for one reason." "The people want to hear the stories." "That 's all." "Like I said... stay the night and rest." "Then get to the Powwow and tell your stories." "Our stories, Sam." "The ones that are leaving me." "Some I can no longer recall." "Before I leave this world, I want to..." "You've been saying that for the last thirty years, Dad." "You're like the Ever ready Rabbit..." "drum and all." "I will finish the story of the Black Hills Dreamer..." "The Legend of the Vision Quest... tomorrow." "Take the bed, Dad." "Me and Shane will sleep outside." "Like Indians." "The old man, he tell you stories all the way?" "One or two." "He pulled you on the Powwow trail, didn't he?" "Him and his Powwows." "The Powwows ain't real, you know." "Just Indians dancing for the white man." "Fry bread and baloney." "Maybe.." "Then why are you doing it?" "Because he's my grandfather." "And it means something to him." "Hey, Sam." "Got company?" "We got that torch water, Sam." "Canada brand." "Take your whiskey somewhere else." "You think you're too good for us, brother?" "Too good to ride with us?" "You can move on down the road." "I'm on the wagon." "Who's that?" "My son." "His son..." "Family problem." "We'll catch you later, Sam." "You know where to find us." "Don't mind him." "That 's just Coyote." "Lives over in Hobbs." "He's going to go all night." "He's a pisser, isn't he?" "Yeah." "Go with him, Shane." "Stay with him." "Stay on the Red Road." "And leave you down this one?" "You were talking in your sleep last night." "I was?" "Yeah. in Indian." "I don't talk in Indian." "You did last night." "Take that to Grandpa." "The Powwow's starting." "Get on the road." "Grandpa!" "Let 's ride!" "Got your coffee, Grandpa." "We're almost there, Grandpa." "You gotta get up." "You got to get to the All Nations." "They're waiting for you." "You got to get to the Powwow." "He's gone, Shane?" "Long ride back to Pine Ridge." "You okay?" "He didn't finish it." "The Vision Quest." "He never finished that story." "Like he said himself:" ""Who will tell the stories?" "Who will tell us about Eagle Boy?"" "He came down off the mountain with a lot of power, Eagle Boy." "Power he wasn't sure he wanted." "He was alone... all alone." "It is Eagle Boy!" "He has returned!" "Today you face me East once again." "It is a sacred direction." "Yes, it is." "My grandfather once told me it is the direction of the Eagle." "It is the place from where light and understanding come." "Then understand this." "Today I have a new ceremony for you." "No." "Today I have a new ceremony for you." "That is not how it is, Two-Legged." "I say what is so, or you lose your great powers." "No more will I do as you say." "You defy me?" "I who have given you the greatness you have long desired?" "Look at me!" "You have the power to see ... into tomorrow." "You have everything you want." "You are more than a human being now." "I am just a human being." "Do as I say, or lose your powers!" "It is a good day... to let my people see the truth!" "Look!" "The heart!" "The heart of Uncegila!" "It has been four days... and four nights... and nothing!" "l am angry, Grandfather." "Why?" "I have returned with nothing." "I have no more knowledge than when I went up four nights ago." "You were looking so hard for wisdom and power... would you even know if it was offered to you?" "You went looking for a vision the way a hunter chases a buffalo." "The way warriors go after scalps." "You fought the spirits." "You believed that they owed you something, a vision." "Suffering by itself brings no vision." "Nor does bravery... nor sheer will power." "A vision comes as a gift." "If from your vision you have learned only this, Grandson... then already you have learned much." "For true power and wisdom comes from within." "When a man realizes his oneness with all creation." "When he realizes that at the center of the universe dwells a power... greater than his self." "This center is everywhere." "It is within each of us." "Go now, and walk the Good Red Road..." "Mitakue Oyasln." "Mitakue Oyasin." "All My Relations." "That 's the way it was told to me, anyway." "A long time ago." "Dad..." "You sure about this?" "Yeah." "Gotta get there." "I'm proud of you, Shane." "I'm really proud of you, man." "When you get home, I'll be there." "We'll be there." "Really?" "Ain't no word for "me" or "l" in our language." "Just "us"." "Our stories." "You get there, man." "I know you're old, Three Moons." "This ain't fair." "Let 's fly, Dun Pony." "Yeah, Moon!" "Yeah, yeah!" "That's it." "Here you go!" "Hey, that 's a nice horse." "Where'd you come from on this pony?" "South Dakota." "You're a Pawnee!" "Yes." "Wolf Clan." "To us, the Dun Horse has medicine." "Hey, at the give-away, I'll call your name." "This horse will be yours." "I know this pony." "Belongs to Pete Chasing Horse, the Storyteller." "He sent me." "Shall I tell you stories?" "Shall I tell you how it was told by the old ones... to my grandfather's grandfather long ago?" "This is how it was told to me." "Let me tell you, and you will remember to pass it down." "For this is how it happened, long ago..." "Ripped by SirCharles"