WHY THE BUFFALO NO LONGER EAT PEOPLE. 4I 
Again a ritual was recited for the buffalo to come. As they re- 
cited the ritual the errand man stood by the pole and would strike at 
the pole with an ash stick that he had in his hand. “Come, buffalo,” 
he would say, at the same time striking the pole. “You spoke to our 
people and promised to come when the people were in need of food.” 
After reciting the ritual the priests recited other rituals. 
The buffalo came about three days after the ceremony. The chief 
ordered the crier to go through the village and let the men know that 
a whole buffalo was needed for the ceremony. The men went out, and 
a whole buffalo was brought into the ceremonial lodge. All the people 
were then invited, and the old priest told the people the following story: 
There was a village of Buffalo. They were human, but had horns. 
When the Buffalo wanted meat they met in a tipi where there was the 
sacred bundle known as Knot-in-the-Tree. In this tipi a ritual was 
recited. It took them four days and four nights. The third night, the 
Buffalo gathered about the tipi where the ritual was recited. The 
fourth day, the four Buffalo who sat singing the ritual arose and went 
to the side of a hollow cottonwood tree that stood by the side of a steep 
bank. By the tree was an ash pole. Here the whole village of Buffalo 
stood around the hollow tree. Another ritual was recited, then the pole 
was taken up and the tree was struck three times. The fourth time, 
the people were heard crying, and some were singing. The first to come 
out was a man by the name of Cut-Nose (Kritstaricuts). "This man 
seemed to be wonderful, for he always escaped his enemies. Next 
came a multitude of people. They escaped and ran over the prairie, the 
Buffalo killing them. Cut-Nose ran and returned to the hollow tree 
and crawled in, when the flood of people stopped coming out. The 
people were killed, and were taken to the tipis, where they were cut up, 
and their meat was placed upon the arbor they had built. 
In one of these runs there was one boy among the people who was 
very handsome. A Buffalo cow chased the boy away out among the 
hills, but finally gave him up. ‘The boy kept on running until he came 
to a deep ravine. There was a thick bush of dogwood covered with 
grapevines, in which the boy hid. Now and then the boy would go 
hunting, killing small birds for his food. 
One day, as the boy was crossing a ravine, he saw sitting on the 
side of a hill a fine-looking woman. The woman’s hair was not braided, 
and she wore a buffalo robe. The robe looked white. There was a 
peculiar look about her that attracted the young man. The woman arose 
and started west. The young man followed. Towards evening the 
young man came to a bottom land, and there he saw a fine tipi. The 
