Walking Eagle

Now everybody form a circle and sit down and we'll know you
I'm going to take you on a trip in time to a point when I was a boy living in the province of Alberta in Canada
Walking eagle, great chief of the stony, also known as Morley Beaver, would bring his
Braves and their families into town
And while they visited the stores and trading posts, the tiny papooses dressed in
A beaded buckskin and snugly wrapped to boards were placed in a row on the store shelves
The papooses nеver cried
Chief walking еagle would tell me stories of life in the forest and of how he learned
To forecast weather from the animals
His forecasts were always accurate
One day the great chief invited me to a sacred celebration called a Sundance, which was being
Held by another tribe
Now somebody in your circle take a puff from a piece of pipe and pass it to a friend
Pass it all around
Hold hands and sway from side to side
If you feel it, act out the scene and body sign language
Now it's evening
The Indian people have arranged their tipis in a giant circle around the edge of a valley
In the sound holes
The ceremony is in progress
Each tipi goes from a small fire inside around the circle four horses walk on each as a man
And a child and they are singing
In the center of the valley is a giant tipi made from the tallest popular trees hanging
From the top are yards of brightly colored cloth
Inside the ceremonial lodge the medicine men sit cross-legged on the ground in a circle
Around a painted buffalo skull and a small fire
They appear to be having visions
Perhaps they remember how it was when their great people lived alone in the land
On either side of the medicine men are short willow barriers
From behind one a group of men or braves who wear their hair and long brains rises and
Sings
Now and then they disappear and a group of women appear from the other side
Each woman has a small feathered whistle in her mouth and the sound soars like a wild
Bird as the women move to the rhythm of the drums
The sacred Sundance continues for three days and three nights
This is a special ceremony because the son of another tribal chief had hurt his arm
On the third night, even though we live a few miles from the valley, the drums are as
Loud and as intense as if they are in the backyard
Look up and you can see the great sheets of brightly colored northern lights dancing in the sky
The drumbeats continue aloud and strong
The mountains echo their message
Before the end of the third day more magic happened
The roads and trails to town became filled with carts and wagons full of people from far
Across the mountains even across the great divide
Some to pay their respects to the boy who was rapidly becoming well and for then on was
Called Cut Boy
And after the third night, walking eager and his people return to the forest
Then packing their tents and belongings on sleds made of animal hide stretched between
Two poles and pulled by a horse
The drums began to fade
All became quiet in the sand hills
Pass the peace pipe to a friend
Pass it all around
Never put it down, my friend
Never let it down