The Horse Story

Title: The Horse Story

General Information about Item:

  • Myth
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: KB
  • Date Collected: May 21, 2020

Informant Data: KB lives in Oglala, South Dakota.  She is a part of Lakota (Sioux) tribe.  She is a junior majoring in sociology.  She went to school on her reservation until she went to Dartmouth.

Contextual Data: KB first heard the story at her elementary school.  At this elementary school, they attended Lakota classes.  Her teacher read the students a book which is where she first heard the horse story.  The Lakota relied on dogs to help them with tasks.  For instance, when they moved camps, dogs would be the ones pulling the sleds with their teepees and their belongings on them.  Years later, KB worked at an elementary school.  She was shadowing a Lakota class when she heard the horse story again.  She had not heard the story since was in elementary school.  This was a reminder to her the importance of the story on the Lakota tribe since it was still being told.

Item: On the reservation, buffalo is the main source of food.  However, there was a point in time where there were no buffalos around.  Due to the lack of buffaloes, everyone was panicking.  One night, there was a sad little boy.  He was sad because he saw his little brothers and sisters crying due to hunger.  Later that night, he snuck out and went to the top of the hill to pray.  All of a sudden, a figure comes towards him.  The figures assured him that everything was going to be okay.  He gave them these animals (horses but the little boy did not know it was a horse) that have similar characteristics as dogs.   The figure told the little boy that the horses would help them catch and transport buffalo so they would have food again.  This is a little too much for the little boy, so he passes out.  The next morning, he decides to go to the medicine men to tell them about his encounter from the night before to see what it meant.  To this day, the Lakota (Sioux) still have a sacred relationship with horses.

Informant’s Comments: While going to school on the reservation, Lakota classes taught the students about creation stories, myths, and about the language as well.  They told the horse school to all the students of the elementary school.

Collector’s Comments: This story is important since it gives background on Lakota’s sacred relationship with horses.

Collector’s Name: Emily Lipsett

Tags/Keywords: 

  • Myth
  • Horses
  • Sacred

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