Buffalo stretched to the horizon across the grassy hills. Two brothers were walking towards them. As they walked they saw within the herd a white buffalo calf, something neither one of them had seen before. While they watched it, it began to raise itself up and as it did, its appearance became human.
The apparition began to move slowly towards them, becoming more and more visible as they stood there watching. Anxiously, the brothers waited and at last over the crest of a hill came a beautiful woman. She was wearing a white buckskin dress decorated with dark porcupine quills. At her side she carried a pipe bag which had on it the symbol of the four directions. Remarking on her extraordinary beauty, the first brother said that he would like to lay with her in the grass. "Put aside such thoughts," said the second brother. "This woman is sacred, perhaps a vision, but certainly not one to be approached in a way that is not respectable." But as he spoke, the woman walked past him into the arms of his brother and said, "Come to me -you shall have what you desire."
As they fell into the grass, they disappeared in a cloud-like mist and the sounds of their lovemaking could be heard. When the mist settled, the woman was standing. At her feet lay the decomposing corpse of the brother. As the other brother's eyes fell upon the body he was filled with fear, but before he could move the woman said, 'Don't be afraid, while you stood there your brother lived a lifetime getting what he wanted, but because he looked only to my outer beauty he never knew my spirit. You wanted to know my spirit so l will go with you now and teach your people.'
White Buffalo Calf Woman was God incarnated for the people she came to. She taught them how to call the buffalo with their dance and their songs so they would not go hungry. She gave the people the sacred pipe and taught them the power of the four directions. Her message for all the people of the world was: any man who takes a woman for physical beauty will never know her spirit, but a man who knows her mind and spirit will also know God.
