Buffalo Before Breakfast

She put it on Morgan’s note, next to the silver pocket watch from the
Titanic
.
    â€œNow we have our gift from the prairie blue,” said Jack. “Let your thoughts rise as high as this feather.”
    â€œHey, I just had a thought!” said Annie.
    â€œWhat?” said Jack.
    â€œI bet Teddy had something to do with White Buffalo Woman,” she said.
    â€œWhy?” asked Jack.
    â€œOne second Teddy disappeared in the grass. Then White Buffalo Woman appeared,” said Annie. “When White Buffalo Woman disappeared, Teddy appeared.”
    â€œHmm … ” said Jack. He stared at the little dog.
    Teddy tilted his head and gave Jack a wise look.
    â€œWell … ” said Jack, “maybe Teddy has good medicine.”
    â€œ
Now
you understand,” said Annie, smiling.
    â€œJa-ack! An-nie!” A call came from the distance.
    Jack and Annie looked out the window of the tree house.
    Their mom and their grandmother were standing on their porch.
    â€œYay, Grandmother’s here!” said Annie.
    â€œWe’re coming!” they shouted together.
    â€œLet’s put Teddy in your backpack,” said Annie. “So we can take him home with us this time.”
    â€œOkay,” said Jack.
    But when they turned around, the little dog was gone.
    â€œTeddy?” said Annie.
    There was no sign of him.
    â€œOh, man, as soon as we turned our backs, he slipped away,” said Jack. “Just like last time.”
    â€œDon’t worry,” said Annie. “He’ll find us again soon. I’m sure of it.” She started down the rope ladder.
    Jack grabbed his pack and followed.
    As they started for home, a wind gusted through the trees.
    Jack stopped for a moment to look at the woods.
    Branches waved their leaves.
    Birds left the branches and swooped up into the blue sky.
    Black Hawk’s grandmother is right
, he thought.
All things are related
.
    â€œJack!” called Annie.
    â€œComing!” said Jack.
    He hurried to catch up with her.
    Together they ran out of the Frog Creek woods … up their street … and into their own grandmother’s arms.

THE LEGEND OF
WHITE BUFFALO WOMAN
    Long ago, when the Lakota had no game to hunt, a beautiful woman in white buckskins appeared. She gave the chief of the tribe a special pipe. It had a buffalo carved on its round bowl and eagle feathers hanging from its long wooden stem.
    White Buffalo Woman told the chief that the smoke from the sacred pipe would carry prayers to the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit would answer by helping the Lakota find buffalo to hunt.
    White Buffalo Woman also said that the pipe smoke would join all living things to the Lakota tribe.
    The pipe bowl represented the earth.
    The buffalo carved upon it represented all four-legged animals that live upon the earth.
    The pipe’s wooden stem represented all that grows on the earth.
    The twelve eagle feathers hanging from it represented all the winged creatures.
    As White Buffalo Woman walked away from the tribe, she turned into a white buffalo calf—one of the rarest animals of all.
    The legend of White Buffalo Woman has been handed down from generation to generation by Lakota people.

MORE FACTS FOR YOU AND JACK
    1) The Lakota tribe has also been called the Sioux.
    2) Today most Lakota live on reservations in North and South Dakota. (“Reservations” are areas of land reserved for Native Americans by the U.S. government.) Lakota parents and grandparents still pass on the traditional beliefs of their people to their children.
    3) The true name of the buffalo is
bison.
Bison came to North America during the Ice Age and at one time were the biggest group of large mammals on the continent.
    4) In the 1800s, the U.S. Army was at war with the Native Americans of the plains. They knew the Native American way of life could not survive without the bison. So they decided to kill all the herds. In the years that followed, millions of bison were killed until there were only a few hundred left.
    5) In the early 1900s, many people were upset by the killing of the bison. They asked the government to help save these animals. Captive bison were sent to Yellowstone National Park and protected from hunters. Almost 2,500 bison live there today.

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Magic Tree House #19
Tigers at Twilight

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    Excerpt copyright © 1999 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Published by Random