The buffalo huntBefore we got our first horses, we used to tie grass into our hair. We built a fire with fir and cedar wood and we walked in the smoke. Then we went creeping through the grass against the wind, and we waited for the buffalo to raise.We always hit the buffalo where there were no bones, in its flesh, so it would die quickly. The buffalo must fall on its knees and not on its side. When the buffalo fell on its knees, it was easier for us to cut it open in the back, separate the flesh from the bones, then we placed the flesh inside the body again, and covered it with the skin of the animal. We pierced the skin, and tied it together so the buffalo was whole again. Then we pulled it towards our encampment. At the beginning it was very hard, but as we pulled it across the ground, the hair was shaved off and the buffalo slid easily, like a sled. When we got horses, we rode side by side with the buffalo and shot an arrow into its heart with a small bow, so that our love for the buffalo went into its body and made it die fast. It never suffered. Then we cut their bellies open. When the buffalo has been killed, we ask its forgiveness and we pray that the Creator takes it back home with its fear and its sickness, and that it leaves behind its courage, its speed and its strength. We never get sick when we eat meat. Even today, it’s very important to ask the forgiveness of the meat that we feed upon, so that the fear of the animal doesn’t get inside us as we eat it. Nowadays our people still hunt in this manner during the whole year, except when the hunt season opens for the White man, because the White man shoots first and then asks : « What was that ? »
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