Tatanka and the Lakota People

After the Great Spirits created the world, the Trickster fooled the Pte Oyate (Buffalo Nation) into leaving the Underworld. They became the Ordinary People and needed help to survive. Tatanka, the holy man, turned himself into a Buffalo and sacrificed his powers for the people. With all that Tatanka provided, the Ordinary - or Lakota - People adapted to the earth around them and prospered. The transformation of the Buffalo Nation into the Ordinary People and their salvation by Tatanka comes from the traditional creation story of the Lakota, or Sioux, Indians. Donald F. Montileaux's beautiful paintings offer dramatic colors and forms to this story of beginnings.