The Legend of the White Buffalo
According to Sioux legend, one summer long ago a beautiful young woman appeared among the Indians at a time when there was no game and people were starving. The woman gave the people a sacred pipe, taught them how to use it to pray and told the Sioux about the value of the buffalo.
One young man desired her body and stretched his hand out to touch her. Woman is sacred and should not be treated with disrespect, lightning instantly struck the brash young man and burned him up, so that only a small heap of blackened bones was left; just as a man can be eaten up by lust. The sacred pipe is also something that binds men and women together in a circle of love.
Before she left them, the woman said she would return. As she walked away she turned into a young white buffalo. The return of White Buffalo Calf Woman marks the arrival of a new era of reconciliation among races and respect for the Earth.