All language subtitles for Into the West (2005) S01E01 1080p BluRay

The white man called them buffalo.

We called them Tatanka:
the majestic ones.

Their story
is the story of our people.

Tatanka lived in the underworld,

until he saw our people in a vision.

He saw that we were needy.

And for the love of us,

Tatanka came up out
of the Earth and became flesh

so that we could eat,
make our clothes

and our dwellings from his hide.

Pte Taoyate, he called us:

The Buffalo Nation.

Soaring Eagle, a medicine man,

could not accept
the terrible vision of Growling Bear,

that the buffalo would disappear

and the Lakota
would live in square houses.

I suppose the best place
to begin our family's story

is with Grandsire Abraham.

Many was the time
as a boy I listened to his tale

of how a cannon subtracted
a leg at the Battle of Yorktown.

I'd have wagered both mine
to see what he saw.

My misfortune was
to be born in a drab age

and to have lived
in the stifle of a barn

where a man was only as good
as the things he crafted.

Wheelwrights we were, going back to the
time when they invented the damn thing.

Wheelers made wheels.

But in my day, it seemed
the wheels made the Wheelers.

All the long day, I lived in my books.

And by night,

I dreamed of a better life
beyond the Mississippi.

Morning, Enoch.

- Hi, Papa. How are you?
- Good.

- Good.
- Nathan.

Morning.

Now that is a thing of beauty.

Anybody see Jacob?

Jacob?

At your age I was repairing
cannon wheels at Valley Forge.

At least you got to see
a bit of the world.

The was the war.
We had no choice.

Thank God you live
in a time of peace.

- Yes, sir.
- Apply yourself to the anvil

and you're set for life.

It takes ten years to make
a journeyman wheelwright.

Another ten for master.

You'll never lack for work.
They need wheels in time of peace.

They need wheels in time of...

Don't you sass me, young man.'

Yes, sir.

You boys knock off for lunch now.

Except Jacob.

You already had yours.

Plow-horse needs shoeing out there.

Good morning.

Who do I see about
replacing a rifle cock?

That'd be me, sir.

If I may, sir,
how did you come by that scar?

Difference of opinion
with a Cheyenne warrior.

Savage thought my scalp might
look better hanging from his belt.

But... I favored where God put it.

But then I fancied
his locks on my belt.

- May I?
- Sure.

My goodness.

- What in the Sam Hill is that?
- Whoa'.

Sacred.

Grizzly.

On its hind legs,

'bout where
that first rafter starts.

Goodness, gracious.

Must be hell out there.

More like a Garden of Eden, son.

You come across some tribes
that give you the girls.

You got mountains
covered with snow in summer.

And forests that go on forever.

Rivers that you
can't hardly see across.

Sometimes you wait half a day
for a buffalo herd to run past.

Big shaggy beast,
three times a horse,

horizon to horizon.

Then the Pacific.

Unsullied by human hands,

as it was on the
eighth day of the world.

See if that'll work for you.

Thank you.

Did you finish shoeing
that plow-horse like I told you?

It's a fine young man you got here.

If he doesn't get knocked
into a cocked hat first.

And you let the fire burn down too.

We could have turned out another wheel
before the end of the day, but not now.

Think you could put
a sharper edge on this for me?

Yes, sir.

Is that... human blood?

Arkansas toothpick
ain't for cutting your steak.

So where are you headed, sir?

O'er St. Louis,
meet up with Mr. Jedediah Smith.

The Jedediah Smith?

God made only one of him
for all of us to look up to.

Who's that?

Well, Mr. Smith opened up
the deep West for trappers.

Looking for a few good mountain men

to explore the beaver populations
out around the Great Salt Lake.

How much can a man
make off of beaver?

As long as they keep buying
beaver hats in London and Paris,

upwards to four or five thousand a year.

Time for you to get back to work now.

All of you.

Oh, now Margaret,
that is a fine-looking goose.

- Do you believe that beaver story?
- Not a word.

Sunday dinner
was another form of labor

with my father Enoch,
my mother Margaret...

Can we say grace first?

...my brothers Ezra,
Nathan and Jethro.

For what we are about to receive...

Grandfather presided over the ritual
with Grandmother Hannah.

The Wheelers pounded iron
six days a week,

but on the seventh,
we pounded each other.

President Adams is saying to Europe,
"Keep out.

It's all ours."

It needs another Jefferson
to take it all.

But isn't the West
just one vast desert?

That's a common untruth, Mama.

The West has all kinds of trade.
It's a veritable Garden of Eden.

Yes, Jacob's just returned
from the west wing of the house.

Jacob, in fact, has yet to discover
the western side of the barn.

As with all rituals,
nothing ever much changed...

...until that Sunday
when I looked around the table

and said my silent goodbye
to each and every Wheeler.

Heyoka, the clown,
tried to lift their spirits

after Growling Bear's dark vision.

For the boy, White Feather,

there were only questions.

He sought answers among his family.

White Feather was determined
to discover the meaning

of Growling Bear's vision,

and if the future it predicted
could be changed.

White Feather did not have words
to match what he knew to be true.

But he knew that a vision
was a dangerous thing.

He knew a vision
could kill a man.

Jacob'.

You hold up'.

- Jacob'.
- Jacob'.

Jacob, wait'.

Wait.'

So, what do you figure?

Run out and not tell nobody,
hope your scheme works?

I don't expect
Smith and Fletcher

- are gonna tarry in St. Louis.
- Ma and Pa? What do we tell them?

Tell them I love them.

I ain't got time to lose.
I made my last wheel in Wheelerton.

Why would a frontiersmen
accommodate you?

Ask and you shall receive.

Mr. Eternal Optimist.

Nathan, I thought you had
more enterprise in you.

Jethro, you've always
been a blade of grass:

Bends with the wind.

- Wait up.
- No!

You'll be the first Wheelers
to give up the trade.

You'll stay behind, pound on dead iron
till you become as dead as iron.

Come on, Jethro.

Now or never.

Oh, come on.

White Feather could not accept
Growling Bear's vision

that the buffalo would not return.

A ceremony was performed.

The people danced
to give gratitude to Tatanka,

and prayed that he would live
again and again

in the great circle of life.

To lead the buffalo to the jump
was to taunt death.

White Feather knew
that his brothers,

Dog Star and Running Fox,

were chosen
for their ability and courage.

He was proud of them,
but afraid also.

Tatanka spared the boy,

so on the day the boy's mother
was put to rest,

White Feather was renamed
Loved by the Buffalo,

and all agreed
that he had been called

to walk the road of the medicine man.

And so Loved by the Buffalo

took no food or drink in four days.

He cleansed his body and mind

to open his spirit
for a vision to enter.

Stash the horses over there.
Wait till dark.

- What the...?
- Hey!

Hey!

- Get your black hands off of me!
- Let go of him.

When he let go of me.
When he let go of me!

You're dead as mutton if you don't.

So's your friend.

All right, I'm gonna let go.

You let go.

Who's in there?
You answer me, by God.

Just a couple of hungry boys
out for some eggs, sir.

How many are ya?

Just two of us in here
stealing eggs, sir.

Regret to say the wolf in our stomachs
overcame our God-fearing souls.

Well, you only had to knock on
my door to discover Christian charity.

Had your fill of eggs to boot.

We only took enough
to keep the wolf at bay, sir.

Well, go on. Take a few.

Had my hopes up,

what with a big reward
for a runaway slave.

You don't say.

How much was that reward?

Hundred silver dollars.

With your permission,
we'll be on our way.

What about the...?

Nathan!

Let... let the good Christian man
go back to his warm bed.

- Thank you.
- Thank you heartily, sir.

God bless, boys.

What objection do you have

when the thing that stands
between us and ruination is $7?

Man kept his word.
I intend to keep mine.

What man?
He's a runaway.

- That money's mine.
- No, it's my rifle!

Poor as Job's turkey.

You won't bend down
to pick up a hundred dollars

- laying on the ground.
- Man's got a draw a line.

- He did the honorable thing.
- You're a damn dreamer.

- Let go, Nathan.
- No!

Who made you captain
of this enterprise?

You won't be laughing
when I catch you, boy.

There goes our hundred silver dollars.

Damn you, Jacob.

Stop running!

Nice shootin', farmer boy.
See ya.

Nice to see you.
How are you?

We'd been in St. Louis long enough
to see the sights and then some,

but it took more than a fortnight
longer to find what we'd come for.

Mr. Fletcher.

Mr. Fletcher!

Jacob Wheeler!

You remember my brother, Nathan?

Yeah, I remember.

You said you needed men, sir.

Yeah... I said I needed men.

Mountain men.

Well, we'll pull our weight, sir.

Do you suppose you could
introduce us to Mr. Smith?

We sure did come a long way.

St. Louis is...

...raining mountain men,
Jacob, my boy. Nathan.

Seasoned men.

Men more Indian than white.

Men who can speak Apache,
Cheyenne

and Mexican.

Nathan, hold on!

Sorry, Jacob.
Maybe next time.

Where the hell you been?

St. Louis loves the Brothers Wheeler.

I couldn't lose a hand.

Ten times I tried to quit,
ten times they made me stay.

I won this.

It is an escritura.
That's Spanish for "deed."

I won that at poker too.

It's a mere hundred acres in Tejas.

You 25, me 75.

What do you say about that,
Brother Jacob?

Tejas ain't even
in the United States, Nathan.

So, what?

They don't speak English.
They're Catholics.

With a hundred acres, son,
who cares?

I made up my mind.
I'm going with Jedediah Smith.

Hey, you see that furry creature? That's
the kind of man Jedediah Smith wants.

But who cares beans?
We've found our fortune in Tejas.

- I want to see the Pacific Ocean.
- Then what?

I don't know.

I got a bird in the hand in Tejas.

You're after
the will-o'-the-wisp out West.

With adventurers and criminals.

I say we stick together.

Yeah, well,
why should I stick with you?

There's a reason why our father
gave you the grunt work

and me the precise
measurements of wheel making.

Because you never had a head, except
for dreamin'. And here you go again.

Are you coming or not?

I thought of our mother,
vexed by her perfidious sons,

always consoling herself
with the notion that we had each other.

But we didn't allow her
even that much comfort.

I leave from the steamboat
within the hour if you change your mind.

Nathan went south,
and I went west.

I put my best foot forward
and bought a new, old suit of clothes

for the occasion of meeting
the great Jedediah Smith.

It was not easy to find Mr. Smith

because he endeavored
to stay upwind of me.

And then suddenly
he stood in front of me.

Well, I just want to see what
no white man has ever seen before.

If a horse throws a shoe,
I'm a first rate farrier.

Been at it since I could pick up
a hammer.

- Can you shoot?
- Why, I'm a hunter. It's my rifle.

Exactly what kind
of game do you hunt?

Rabbits and deer, sir.

You ever kill a man?

No, sir.

I admire your spirit, boy.

But only the best of the best
will be chosen.

So you go on home.

Nobody here
will think the worst of you.

Maybe next time around.

With all due respect, sir,
you ever kill a man?

My friend,

Mr. Smith cannot count
the savages that fell to his hand.

Well, you know what?

It's pretty easy to kill a savage
out to scalp you.

But you ever hunt down an
innocent rabbit, done you no harm?

Cut it down in cold blood and eat it?

Nobody in Wheelerton
would have believed it.

I was riding with a legend.

Hearty as a buck, a crack shot,

a walking encyclopedia
of Indians and their strange habits.

Mr. Smith was like
no man I ever knew.

And I would never be the same.

The buffalo jumpers,
Running Fox and Dog Star,

had their eyes on two sisters,

but had to prove themselves
to a more dangerous opponent

than stampeding buffalo.

The small, skinned rabbit

did not impress
the girls' protective father.

Two brothers married two sisters

and walked the path of old tradition.

Loved by the Buffalo
studied the power of plants,

of roots and herbs.

He learned how to cure
the body and the spirit

using songs and ceremonies.

But the holy man did not know
all the powers the boy was given.

Loved by the Buffalo
discovered he had the power

to take another's pain upon himself.

He knew the power
was not his own,

but that of Wakan Tanka.

Watch this.

See?

Washtegla.

Now watch this.

See? Enouk neo.

Pot.

Thunder Heart Woman
would carry the medicine wheel

that Growling Bear
gave to her brother.

In it she would keep
her family and her memories,

and that gave her comfort.

Days passed into months,
until I lost track of time altogether.

Riding with Mr. Smith, I saw
the grandeur and majesty of the West

as few white men had ever seen it.

Mr. Fletcher,
is that path passable?

Path ain't even jack-assable.

Everywhere I looked I saw
treasures of immeasurable beauty,

and I longed for my brothers
to share them.

- Back!
- Get... Mr...

Shoot him!

Praise the Lord
for providing our supper tonight.

- Amen.
- Praise the Lord.

Get out of there, boys.

- Fetch my bag, Mr. Wheeler.
- Yes, sir.

- What do you need from it, sir?
- I got it.

- Here we go.
- All right.

Put my scalp... Mr. Wheeler?

Yes, sir.

Thread the needle.

Sew it back on, son.

- Go ahead.
- I ain't never done nothing

- like that before.
- Neither have I, son.

- Perhaps Mr. Fletcher could...
- I gave you an order, boy.

Thread that needle
and sew my scalp back on.

Yes, sir.

Isn't this gonna hurt, sir?

I believe it will, son.

But I think it'll hurt the person
being sewed more than the sewer.

- Mr. Fletcher?
- Yeah.

Fetch my Bible, please.

- Hold still, sir.
- Thank you, kindly.

Sorry, sir.

Oh, goodness!

Sorry it hurts you so much, son.

That's right, darling.

Stretch them nice,
you get a good price.

Loved by the Buffalo began
to walk the path of a holy man.

The way was long and dangerous,

but for one who communes
with Wakan Tanka,

many things are possible.

In the medicine wheel,

Loved by the Buffalo learned
the mysterious realities of life.

He saw the sun
and moon and seasons

come and go in a circle.

He saw that all true power
moved in a circle.

When we descended
from the high Sierras,

we came across a friendly tribe.

They called themselves Mohave,

"the people who live along the river,"

and they called us "beaver-eaters."

Mr. Smith purchased horses
to replace those we consumed.

One blanket. Two knives.

A gift.

- Eskesuka.
- Thank you.

- Maricopa.
- Maricopa.

Maricopa.

Maricopa.

- Maricopa!
- It's just dandy!

- Dandy!
- Dandy!

Maricopa!

- Very dandy!
- Very dandy!

Dandy!

You are a most unusual young man.

I'm afraid not, sir.

Well, there they are down there.

What're you doing up here?

Seems like there was this tiny
Jedediah Smith standing on my shoulder

telling me to come up here with you.

- I want to be like you, sir.
- Well, much obliged, son.

You do me great honor.

But you see, sir,

I'm just a...
ape of Jedediah Smith.

I want to be like you,
I really want to be like you,

but there's a part of me
that I feel inside of...

I want to be back down there.
What does that make me?

It makes you a human being.

Just like the rest of us.

Are you tempted too, sir?

Come over here.
Sit down, boy.

Come over here.

Jacob.

We're as human
as the least of them down there.

But we're also more than that.

"As a man thinketh, so he is."
What do you think you are?

The Lord fashioned us
a little above the beast,

a little below the angels.

But he gave us the choice.

And it's great, son.

Some of these men, they come West,
they lose their souls.

West is a place on the map,
not a way to live. Don't forget that.

A man has to know his own mind.

You might begin... your own journal.

Crow!

Baby!

He said that we are his prisoners.

Well, tell him that maybe
it escaped his notice

that he's outnumbered three to one.

He said he would arrest us
if there was a thousand of us.

Dismount!

They're gonna take you to the governor.

Look after the men.

The captain took Mr. Smith away,

"to make the governor's
acquaintance," he said.

Under ordinary circumstances, we
might have welcomed the hospitality

of the San Gabriel padres.

But there was no mistaking
the fact that we were prisoners.

Our time among the Mohave
was to cost us both dearly.

The soldados
wanted to set an example.

It didn't matter if the men
they brought in as horse thieves

were innocent or guilty.
Indians were Indians.

It was a powerful trial
to watch the sun set day after day

over the horizon I had
sacrificed home and family to reach.

Whether any of us
would live to see the wide ocean

that had been
the object of our expedition

now depended on Mr. Smith.

- Gentlemen!
- Mr. Smith!

- I've got news for you.
- Where have you been?

The governor has given us

the most generous,
but strict instructions.

We must depart as we came,

and never return
on pain of death.

We were forced to return east.

I looked back and made
myself the solemn promise

that one day
I would see California again.

Loved by the Buffalo knew
that a vision from Wakan Tanka

would direct the course of his life.

White Buffalo Woman
brought us the sacred ceremonies

so that we could ask
for help in our troubles

and give thanks
for the gifts from Wakan Tanka.

She taught us the Sun Dance.

Once we drank maricopa
with the Mohave and shared their women.

But after we had left them,

a party of beaver-eaters had attacked
the village and left it in flames.

Now we were forced
to run for our lives.

Move, Jacob. Come on!

There! Get in!

Hurry up!

You OK?

You all right?

Be still.

Fire. Fire!

Bully for you, young man.

That should hold them off for awhile.

- Mr. Fletcher.
- Yeah.

The smoke is drifting.

What's that mean?

It means there's a way out of here.

I got a pang telling me,
time to hang up the fiddle.

Hey, listen,
you two just follow the smoke.

And I'll... I'll keep
our friends amused. OK?

Jacob! Bring me my gun.

Thank you.

Listen, Jacob...

...I want you to have that.

No use any Mohave gettin' it
that won't appreciate it.

Learn to use it, son.

Things can get
pretty personal out West.

Thank you, Mr. Fletcher.

Jacob! Light it!

- Jim.
- Yeah.

You're a man
of unfailing rectitude.

Remember me...
to all the boys at the rendezvous.

Get going.

Get going!

- Mr. Smith, I can't do this.
- Of course you can.

It vents.

Now I'm stuck.

I can't do this!
I don't want to die like this!

- Mama!
- Jacob!

The dancer stares into the sun,
sun up to sun down,

moving with the sun,
dancing, tugging at his tether,

pulling, twisting,

trying to tear
the skewer through his skin.

And when he sets himself free,

he is reborn to the world.

He lays on a bed of sage

and recites his vision
to the holy man.

If we'd never found this cave,
it'd be all over.

But in here, like this,
we will die by inches,

and nobody will ever hear from us
again, or know what happened.

The Lord revealed the cave
as he sent a fish to save Jonah

when Jonah was drowning.

I don't need a sermon
when I'm so afeared!

"The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom."

Take hold of my boot
and move with me.

The fish swallowed up Jonah.

And Jonah did not know it was God

who sent the fish to save him.

And Jonah cried out

to the Lord
from the belly of the beast,

"Lord, I don't want
to die like this!"

Now let us pray Jonah's prayer.

"I cried by reason
of mine affliction unto the Lord

and He heard me.

Out of the belly of hell cried I
and Thou heardest my voice."

Now, repeat after me, Jacob.

- I will sacrifice unto Thee...
- I will sacrifice unto Thee...

- ...with a song of thanksgiving.
- ...with thanksgiving.

- Salvation is of the Lord.
- Salvation is of the Lord.

Loved by the Buffalo had seen
how a vision could kill its seeker.

Now he, too,
had a terrible revelation.

The sickness of the spotted face
came to the Lakota.

Some believed it came
from the white man.

Some were not as certain.

When Loved by the Buffalo fell ill,
Soaring Eagle told the people

it was Loved by the Buffalo
that brought the pox.

He told them to send the boy away,

and only then
would the sickness leave.

But deep inside his dark thoughts,

he hoped the sickness
would take the boy.

Growling Bear made a song
to fight the sickness.

He gave it to Loved by the Buffalo
to cure his brother Running Fox

and any who believed.

Mr. Smith and I
had stared death in the face

and lived to tell the tale.

We'd said our goodbyes
and gone our separate ways.

I decided to attend the rendezvous

that Mr. Fletcher had spoken of
with such fondness.

Rob any chicken coops lately?

- Ben Franklin.
- Jacob Wheeler!

- Ain't this some pumpkins.
- Look at you.

Look at you!
Where the Sam Hill you been?

I've been all over.
Come here!

I remember, I remember...

I'll never forget that.

I've been treed by grizzly bears
and tracked by Blackfeet,

but I never was so scared
as when I heard that farmer tell you

about a reward
for a runaway slave, no sir.

I sat in that coop
waitin' for you to give me up.

Sure 'nough... you never did.

I thought about that
every day since.

I want to give you a hundred
beaver pelts as a token of my thanks.

Join us over here for a drink!

Whiskey's just fine.

Yeah!

We've got a young Lakota girl.

Her name is Thunder Heart Woman.

She cooks and
she knows the fur trade.

And she speaks good English.

She's pleasant and agreeable.

Well, sometimes.

Biddin' starts at a hundred dollars.

One hundred!

What've we got here?

Look here!

Looks like love
at first sight to me!

Well, I see
my old friend Johnny Fox

survived another year
in the Sierra Nevada.

All right, boys!
Anyone else in the bidding here?

Two hundred!

Who's the greenhorn?

- Three hundred.
- Four!

Don't do it!

Ben?

You better talk to your friend.

What is you thinkin'?

Johnny Fox can whip
your weights in wild cats.

You trying to buy a sister,
peach fuzz?

Do you even know
what to do with her?

I'm gonna set her free
and send her back to her people.

Sets her free? Why?

You of all people know why.

If I thought different
you'd be back on that plantation.

You backin' down?

Not for flapjacks or French ladies.

Then it's rifles at 20 paces.

Look what you done
got yourself into now.

Come on, little coward.
Come on!

You keep on the move.
Even when reloadin'.

Make yourself small.

All right, lad.

You will stand back-to-back,
with unloaded rifles.

And after ten paces, well...

...anything goes.

One, two,

three, four, five,

six, seven, eight,

nine, ten!

- Come on, Jacob!
- Now, Jacob!

Come on, Jacob.

Now, Jacob! Now!

You want more! Get your ear!

Now!

Come on!

- My whiskey!
- Come on, Jacob!

Time to go home, little boy.

Time to go back to Mama.

Johnny, quit messin' around!

Thunder Heart Woman!

Get ready to feel some
of Johnny Fox's lightning.

Sold, boys!

We must take out metal.

Who are you?

I'm Jacob Wheeler, ma'am.

Well, now...

By rights, this stuff is yours.

Is there enough there
to cover what I owe you?

Oh, yeah!

And then some.

What's so funny?

A true Southern gentleman seein'
a lady to her daddy's front door.

Even if it is a thousand miles

across Cheyenne,
Crow and Blackfoot country.

A great man once told me

that the West is just a place
on the map, not a way to live.

Benjamin.

You take care. Ma'am.

What's wrong?

I have... baby...

...somewhere in Earth.

Crow took her.

I pray she is not yet on Ghost Path.

Where spirits go.

Jacob.

Jacob!

Loved by the Buffalo knew he had
been given the sign he asked for.

He no longer questioned his sanity,

and understood
that Wakan Tanka was guiding him.

It's Heyoka.

Heyoka makes us see Wakan Tanka.
Makes us laugh.

Arriving in Thunder Heart Woman's
village was like stepping into a dream.

I had looked to find
my destiny in California.

But it was in this place,
among these people,

that my life was to take a course
I had never imagined.

I could not understand their words,

but I could see the love
for a long-lost daughter and sister,

and feel her relief in their embrace.

She told them about her captivity,

the fight with Johnny Fox,

how I had risked my life to free her.

I thought I understood her to say
the spirits had brought us together,

and I figured, well,

she must have been right
about that.

My father offers his possessions.

Well, tell him
I just want to marry you.

Sometimes, two people
go to wilderness for two weeks.

And they return,
as husband and wife.

We kinda already did that.

This is making of relatives.

Take small bite.

This meat, I place in mouth.

From this day,

my home, your home.

And you, his son.

At first I didn't understand
the pain in my heart

for Thunder Heart Woman.

Then it hit me.

Her family was making me a relative

while I know full well my folks
would never do the same for her.

They'd call her a savage...

...soulless heathen.

Why do I feel so at home
here among these people?

Daquessen.

Grab the wheel. It's heavy.

Help me unwrap it.

Take the rope off.

Take the rope off.

Like that...

Then you go around, just like that.

We can save the rope.

When I saw Loved by the Buffalo,

I could not escape
the strange sensation

that I knew him and he knew me.

He saw my scar.

And I saw his
and I imagined the force of the beast

that thrust its head in his chest.

In the wheel,
Loved by the Buffalo saw the threat,

the danger coming from the
people of the wooden wheel,

but he could not say why.

And he began to understand
what Growling Bear meant:

The webs made
by spiders to catch flies.

Something would entangle
the Lakota in a time yet to come.

You trick the iron
to subdue the wood.

Your magic wrongs Wakan Tanka.

Does your God give
you the wheel of wood and iron?

No, no, just
the intelligence to make it.

He will show you a wheel
made by Wakan Tanka.

Great Spirit gives one gift at birth.

We are born, somewhere,
on the medicine wheel.

We are born
with one of the great powers.

Wisdom,

strength,

big heart,

braveness.

Loved by the Buffalo left me
wondering what I was born with

and what I had yet
to acquire on the wheel.

I would spend most of my life
looking for the answer.

The time had come to move the camp.

The grandparents of Thunder Heart
Woman chose to remain behind,

to make their final journey together.

Why? Why can't she come with us?

She will not leave her husband.

We must respect their wishes.

For the first time I stood in awe
of everything that God made.

I couldn't look at a tree anymore
and see so many board feet of timber.

Couldn't look at a beaver lodge
and see so many pelts.

Now, I saw little miracles.

We had the wheel that
takes you from here to there.

But they have a wheel
that takes you to the stars.

Soaring Eagle knew
he had lost his place.

For the first time in his life,
he knew the true meaning of fear.

And Loved by the Buffalo
left his family,

so that he might live
for all the people.

This was the price of his gift,

to pursue his journey
to change the terrible vision

of Growling Bear.