Buffalo Before Breakfast Read Free

braver.
    Black Hawk stopped and slid off his pony. The pony headed for the grazing pasture.
    Then Black Hawk led them to a tepee. It was covered with buffalo designs.
    â€œGrandmother is inside,” Black Hawk said to Jack and Annie.
    Inside, the tepee looked like a small round room. A fire burned in the center. Smoke rose through a hole at the top.
    An old woman sat on animal skins. She was sewing beads onto a moccasin.
    She looked up at Jack and Annie.
    â€œGrandmother,” said Black Hawk. “This is Jack and Annie from Frog Creek, Pennsylvania.”
    Jack and Annie both held up two fingers for “friend.”
    Grandmother raised two fingers also.
    Then Jack took off his coonskin cap. He gave it to Grandmother.
    She put the cap on her head, then laughed. Jack and Annie laughed, too.
    Grandmother’s laughter and kind face reminded Jack of his own grandmother.
    â€œYou wish to learn our ways,” she said.
    Jack and Annie nodded. Jack could tell she was wise.
    Grandmother stood and left the tepee. They followed her.
    Outside, everyone was busy again. They all seemed to know that Jack and Annie weren’t enemies.
    Jack looked around the camp.
    Men and boys carved bows. Women and girls pounded meat and sewed clothes. One girl was adding claws to a buckskin shirt.
    â€œThe bear claws will give her the strength of the bear,” said Grandmother. “She will sew on hawk feathers, elk teeth, and porcupine quills, too. All will give her the power of the animals.”
    Jack pulled out his notebook and wrote:

    â€œI have strong animal power when I go on a buffalo hunt,” Black Hawk said proudly.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” asked Jack.
    â€œI will show you,” said Black Hawk. “Wait.”
    Black Hawk went back inside the tepee.
    Annie turned to Grandmother.
    â€œWhy does he hunt the buffalo?” she asked.

    â€œThe buffalo gives our people many gifts,” said the old woman. “Food from his body. Tepees from his skin, tools from his bones.”
    Jack started making a list.
    â€œCups from his horns,” Grandmother went on. “Ropes from his hair. Even winter sleds from his ribs.”
    Jack finished his list.

    â€œThat reminds me of the seal hunter in the Arctic,” said Annie. “He used all the gifts from the seal’s body. He didn’t waste a thing.”
    Just then, Teddy began growling and barking.
    Jack and Annie turned around. They both gasped.
    Coming out of Grandmother’s tepee was a huge wolf!

The wolf had yellow eyes and sharp teeth.
    Teddy snarled and barked. Annie rushed forward to grab the little dog.
    Suddenly the wolf stood up on its hind legs!
    â€œYikes!” said Annie.
    She leaped back.
    Then she and Jack started to laugh.
    The fierce wolf was Black Hawk wearing a wolf’s hide! His head came out through a slit near the wolf’s neck. He gave Jack and Annie a little smile.
    â€œThat’s a great wolf suit,” said Annie.
    â€œWhy do you wear that?” asked Jack.
    â€œThe wolf is the most powerful hunter of the buffalo,” said Black Hawk. “When I wear his skin, I feel his strength.”
    â€œWow,” said Annie.
    Black Hawk looked at his grandmother.
    â€œMay I show them the buffalo now?” he said.
    â€œOnly
show
,” said Grandmother. “Do not hunt. We have enough meat today.”
    She looked back at Jack and Annie.
    â€œLakota never take more buffalo than we need,” she said.
    â€œThat’s good,” said Annie.
    Black Hawk handed his wolf skin to Grandmother. Then he ran to the grazing ponies.
    He climbed on his. Then he herded two ponies, one black and one yellow, over to Jack and Annie.
    â€œHi, Midnight. Hi, Sunlight,” said Annie, naming the ponies. She patted their noses.
    â€œAnnie,” whispered Jack. “How are we going to ride without saddles or reins?”
    â€œJust hold on to their manes,” she said, “and grip with your