Just about every aspect of recent events had taken the Heiders by surprise the birth of the white calf, the Indian prophecy that the calf was sacred, the newspaper stories, the TV broadcasts, the worldwide headlines, and all the people who had come to see the calf. Much had changed in their lives in a little less than a month's time. But what had really caught their attention was a prediction made by Floyd Hand, a Lakota elder who had come to see them just a few days after the white calfs birth.
Floyd Hand had traveled from the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota to Wisconsin because he had had a vision and felt it was important that he come in person to tell the Heiders. A man with a powerful presence, Hand told Dave and Val about the prophecy of White Buffalo Woman. The Heiders were slightly awed but also a little dubious of holy men, wherever they came from. Hand then told them of his vision: The calf's sire "would lay down his life for the calf." Hand had seen a large obstruction in the bull's intestines. The bull was going to die. On September 1, just twelve days after the calf was born, the bull died during the morning hours.
A local veterinarian was called to conduct a postmortem on Marvin, the bull. The vet found a large blood clot in Marvin's stomach. The results of the postmortem certainly seemed to confirm Floyd Hand's prediction. Was this coincidence or was his vision verified? Perhaps even more than the birth of the white calf, the death of Marvin and Hand's prophetic vision of it unnerved the Heiders.
There was just so much to absorb, even if they couldn't comprehend it all. And throughout all of this, the people kept coming. And they called, and they wrote. During the first few months, the telephone rang about every three minutes, sometimes until eleven o'clock at night. While I was interviewing the Heiders, a man from England called to offer his congratulations and a donation of money.
People sent letters asking for photographs, information anything. Artists requested photographs from which to paint pictures. Entrepreneurs sent samples of merchandise they wanted to market. Although most of the people who contacted the Heiders were seeking spiritual meaning, others were simply looking for a new product line.
Because of all the interest, the Heiders found themselves facing major and unexpected expenses, everything from upgrading the fencing around the pasture to putting in portable toilets. Numerous offers were made to buy the calf, even the entire herd. Various Indian tribes wanted Miracle for religious reasons. Rock star Ted Nugent, who had written a song about the white buffalo, contacted the Heiders about buying the calf. From circuses to corporate buffalo ranchers, the offers came in.
The Heiders decided to keep Miracle. From the beginning, even before they understood the full significance of the white buffalo calf, Dave and Val had felt a genuine responsibility to make sure that Miracle received proper care, that she not be exploited, and that all people would have access to see her. The opportunities and challenges of the next two years would test their decision.
CHAPTER TWO: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Lakota legend says that in early times, there were no buffalo on the plains. Then one day, buffalo emerged from the earth. The Lakota, who were too small and too weak to kill the buffalo, were always hungry. The buffalo, with a wisdom greater than that of humans, saw the hardship of the people and took pity on them. First Buffalo said, "My tribe and I will come back to you in great multitudes. Use us well, for one day, we will go back into the earth again. And when we have gone, the Indians will be no more."
The myth of the origin of the buffalo is common to all of the tribes who have lived on the Great Plains: the Lakota and other bands of Sioux Indians, as well as the Cheyenne, Crow, Blackfoot, Apache, Comanche, Arapaho, Pawnee, Kiowa, Mandan, Hidatsa, and many other peoples. The story differs in detail from tribe to tribe, and even within tribes. Some versions claim that the buffalo emerged from a lake, while others claim that they emerged from a cave or from the inside of a mountain. Yet, all the stories symbolize the close bond between humans and buffalo, a relationship based on mutual trust and obligation. The buffalo nation would let the humans eat their meat, wear their hides, and use their bones for tools, and in return the people had to be respectful of the buffalo and to honor them in appropriate ways.
The people hunted buffalo and their families grew. But sometimes the people fought and killed each other, for they did not know how to live properly. They did not know the proper ceremonies and rituals to honor the buffalo nation. At times the buffalo herds were not to be found and many people died of starvation. During such a time, the Lakota were visited by Pte San Win, the White Buffalo Woman (Color Plate 2). According to legend, she taught the Lakota how to live properly and instructed them in the necessary rituals. She presented them with a sacred pipe, and she promised to return in times of need.
The story that follows is an abbreviated version of the myth as told by Archie Lame Deer, a Sioux medicine man from the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
A long time ago, before the time that people remember today, the seven sacred council fires of the Lakota came together The sun shone all the time and there should have been game but there was none, and the people were starving. Two young men set out on foot to look for game. This was the time before the people had horses. For a long time, the two young men did not find anything. They then climbed a hill to get a better view of the land. Far in the distance they could see a being coming toward them. They knew it was holy wakan because it floated rather than walked.
As the being came closer, the young men could see that it was a maiden, more beautiful than they had ever seen before. She wore white buckskin that shone brightly in the sun. Her dress was decorated with marvelous quill work of sacred designs, in radiant colors that no ordinary woman could have made. The holy one was White Buffalo Woman. She carried a large bundle and a fan of sage leaves. Her eyes revealed great power.
The two young men were awed by her beauty. One of the young men had evil thoughts, and wanting to possess her, reached out his hand. Being very holy, she could not be disrespected. The brash young man was instantly struck by lightning. Only a few charred bones were left where he had been standing.
The other young man had acted honorably. White Buffalo Woman told him to return to his people and tell them that she was coming to their nation and that she carried a message from the buffalo nation. The young man ran back to his camp and told the chief what had happened. The chief sent the crier through the camp, announcing for everyone to prepare for the coming of the sacred one. They raised the big medicine tipi. After four days, they saw her coming toward their camp. She carried a large bundle before her.
The chief invited her to enter the medicine lodge. White Buffalo Woman entered and circled the interior in the direction that the sun turns. She made an altar with a buffalo skull and instructed the people on the proper rituals. She opened her bundle and gave to the people the chanunpa, the sacred pipe, and she taught them how to smoke the pipe and care for it. The smoke rising from the bowl was the living breath of the great Grandfather Mystery, she told them. She showed the people how to use the pipe in prayer, and the right words and gestures.
"With this holy pipe, " she said, "you will walk like a living prayer. With your feet resting upon the earth and the pipestem reaching into the sky, your body forms a living bridge between the Sacred Beneath and the Sacred Above. The Wakan Tanka [Great Spirit] smiles upon us, because now we are as one: earth, sky, all living things, the two-legged, the four-legged, the winged ones, the trees, the grasses. Together with the people they are all related, one family. " She taught the people how to be holy and to live as part of the living world.