Yellow Turnip

Her life among the stars was serene and beautiful, but after a time she began to pine for her people on earth. The Star People had warned her not to touch a large yellow turnip which grew in their cloud fields, but she tipped it over and saw, through the clouds, her own village below. Because she had disobeyed their warning, the Star People sent her back to earth to teach her people the ways of the Stars.

White Buffalo

Meredith took a puff from the feathered pipe and watched the cattle grazing in the valley below. She noticed a humpbacked cow, somewhat like a buffalo, with a little white calf frisking and nursing beside her.  

Meredith's mind drifted back to her childhood, to another favorite childhood tale, the story about White Buffalo Calf Woman, who fell in love with Star Man and went to live with him in a sky realm far beyond the clouds. 

Seized

Two hunters watched as a beautiful woman dressed in white approached their village. Her hair was long and braided on the right side with a buffalo skin thong. She seemed to be walking on air and shimmering with light. One of the hunters was seized with desire to possess her, but when he came close, she surrounded him in a thick cloud, and after it had cleared, nothing remained of him but bones. The second hunter, who showed her great respect, offered to take her to his village, but she told him she would come in four days.

In Love

When the time had passed, White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared to the people of her own village. They did not recognize her as the same maiden who had disappeared forty years ago, because she still appeared young, while they had aged.

Her mother and father were still alive, although quite old. Her mother looked closely into White Buffalo Calf Woman's eyes and said, "Yes, you are my daughter." They hugged each other and cried. When she related where she had been, everyone was amazed. "How could you live among the stars?" they asked.

"It was easy. I was in love," she said.

Medicine Bundle

The people sat together in a sacred circle.

"Here is a gift for all of you, sent by the Star People," said White Buffalo Calf Woman, handing the bundle to her elderly father. He untied the hide thongs and removed the fur wrappings. A long chanupa or peace pipe was nestled in a bed of sage. He carefully lifted the pipe, holding his left hand under the bowl and his right hand on the stem. Placing some sacred herb in the bowl, he lit it, took a puff and passed it on to the others. When it returned around the circle to White Buffalo Calf Woman, she took a puff and passed it back to her father.

Farewell

White Buffalo Calf Woman prepared to leave her people again. "A time of chaos will come, but I will return to help you," she said. "When a sacred white buffalo calf is born, the time of peace will be at hand."

As she walked away, her feet seemed to leave the ground. A cloud whirled down upon her and spirited her away.

Hope

Meredith's mind came back to the present and she looked about, collecting herself. Then she folded up her notebook and put her pen away. She carefully wrapped the pipe and pouch in the medicine bundle. As she rose to go, Meredith felt hope creep into her heart.