On her left arm she carried what looked
like a stick in a bundle of sagebrush.
Her face was beautiful.

One of the men said, "She is more
beautiful than anyone I have ever seen.
I want her for my wife."

But the other man replied, "How dare you
have such a thought? She is wondrously
beautiful and holy -- far above
ordinary people." Though still at a
distance, the woman heard them talking.
She laid down her bundle and spoke to
them. "Come. What is it you wish?" The
man who had spoken first went up to her
and laid his hands on her as if to claim
her. At once, from somewhere above,
there came a whirlwind. Then there came
a mist, which hid the man and the woman.
When the mist cleared, the other man
saw the woman with the bundle again on
her arm. But his friend was a pile of
bones at her feet. The man stood silent
in wonder and awe.

Then the beautiful woman spoke to him.
"I am on a journey to your people.
Among them is a good man whose name
is Bull Walking Upright. I am coming
to see him especially." "Go on ahead
of me and tell your people that I am
on my way. Ask them to move camp and
to pitch their tents in a circle. Ask
them to leave an opening in the circle,
facing the north. In the center of the
circle, make a large tepee, also facing
the north. There I will meet Bull
Walking Upright and his people."

The man saw to it that all her
directions were followed. When she
reached the camp, she removed the
sagebrush from the gift she was carrying.
The gift was a small pipe made of red
stone. On it was carved the tiny outline
of a buffalo calf.

The pipe she gave to Bull Walking
Upright, and then she taught him the
prayers he should pray to the Strong
One Above. "When you pray to the Strong
One Above, you must use this pipe in
the ceremony. When you are hungry,
unwrap the pipe and lay it bare in the
air. Then the buffalo will come where
the men can easily hunt and kill them.
So the children, the men, and the women
will have food and be happy." The
beautiful woman also told him how the
people should behave in order to live
peacefully together. She taught them
the prayers they should say when praying
to their Mother Earth. She told him how
they should decorate themselves for
ceremonies.

"The earth," she said, "is your mother.
So, for special ceremonies, you will
decorate yourselves as your mother does
-- in black and red, in brown and white.
These are the colours of the buffalo
also." "Above all, also remember that
this is a peace pipe that I have given
you. You will smoke it before all
ceremonies. You will smoke it before
making treaties. It will bring peaceful
thoughts into your minds. If you will
use it when you pray to the Strong One
Above and to Mother Earth you will
be sure to receive the blessings that
you ask."

When the woman had completed her
message, she turned and slowly walked
away. All the people watched her in awe.
Outside the opening of the circle, she
stopped for an instant and then lay
down on the ground. She rose again in
the form of a black buffalo cow.
Again she lay down and then arose in
the form of a red buffalo cow. A third
time she lay down, and arose as a
brown buffalo cow. The fourth and last
time she had the form of a spotlessly
white buffalo cow. Then she walked
toward the north into the distance
and finally disappeared over a far-off
hill.

Bull Walking Upright kept the peace
pipe carefully wrapped most of the
time. Every little while he called all
his people together, untied the bundle,
and repeated the lessons he had been
taught by the beautiful woman. And he
used it in prayers and other ceremonies
until he was more than one hundred
years old.

When he became feeble, he held a great
feast. There he gave the pipe and the
lessons to Sunrise, a worthy man. In
a similar way the pipe was passed down
from generation to generation. "As
long as the pipe is used," the beautiful
woman said, "Your people will live and
will be happy. As soon as it is
forgotten, the people will perish."