“‘Grandfather, it is finished now, and I have fulfilled the vow I made to you. Send me the good day that you have shown me. I want to be a nation and live.’ “When I had said this, the people cried out again with a great voice, giving thanks, and my horse lifted his head high and neighed and neighed; and the other horses grazing in the valley heard and raised their voices too. People talked about this afterwards. Some said the power was so strong that even the four-leggeds gave thanks. Others said my horse saw his ghost relatives in the world of spirit, and was crying out to them. “When this was done, Chagla gave me a piece of red cloth, with which I must make an offering to earth, the mother of all. There was a stake pushed into the hole against the bottom of the sacred tree, and he pulled this out. Then I leaned over the horse’s neck and held the red cloth above the hole. As I did this, the horse put his nose to the ground. Maybe he wanted to nibble some grass; maybe the power was strong in him and he was giving thanks. I do not know. Then I sent a voice to the earth and said: ‘Maka, all creeping things, the wings of the air, those that swim in the waters, the rooted ones, the four-leggeds and the two-leggeds--they all belong to you. You are the mother of all, the only mother, she who has shown mercy to her children. Have mercy on me, for I want to be a nation and live.’ Just as I finished saying this, something sucked the red cloth out of my hand and down into the hole. I do not know how this was, but Chagla and I and some others saw it. “Now I had finished, and as I rode back to where the sun comes up and then to the opening and out of the circle, the voice of the people was loud, giving thanks for the good day. When the voice of the people was still, I could hear Chagla. He was facing the quarter where the sun had just gone down, and he was singing: “‘A sacred praise I am making. A sacred praise I am making. My nation, behold it in kindness. The day of the sun has been my strength. The path of the moon shall be my robe. A sacred praise I am making. A sacred praise I am making.’ “When I got off my horse at our tepee, the power left me, and my legs would not hold me. My mother and step-father held me up. When I was lying down inside, Blue Spotted Horse and Chagla came. The last I remember they were washing my body and dropping water and meat juice into my mouth. The people danced and feasted most of the night, but I did not hear them. In the morning, they ’woke me, and when I had drunk some water and eaten a little, I slept. That evening they fed me again and gave me water, and I slept. Next morning I was very hungry and thirsty. So I drank and ate all I wanted. I felt strong again, and my breast did not hurt. Blue Spotted Horse made it heal fast. Look. You can see it yet.” With fumbling fingers the old man unbuttoned his shirt, exposing puckered scars on the skinny chest.