Grandmother took him along to forage for food and medical herbs. Eagle Plume helped carry her leather bag stuffed with the best.

“Why do you dig these roots so far from camp, Grandmother? There are many closer to our teepee."

“The best are here. It is like the gathering of berries. You do not go to the deep forest for those, you go where the sun has been shining on them to make them sweet. Roots and herbs must not be taken where it is too wet or too dry. They have more medicine where the sun has given them strength and not robbed them by making them too dry.”

“You know so much, Grandmother!”

“When you grow into a man who can tame a pony I will tell you many medicine secrets. But you must grow into a good man because medicine secrets are treasures that cannot be given to bad men. I will pray to Wakan Tanka that little Eagle Plume will become a great and wise medicine man when he grows up. To be a brave warrior it is great, but it is greater to become a wise medicine man, and greatest of all is to be both a wise medicine man and brave warrior chief.”

They picked wild rice, roots, berries, and fruits, and little Eagle Plume learned how to find and gather all one needs to live on the land.

On his thirteenth Flower Season Eagle Plume broke and tamed his first pony by taking it deep in the great river and riding it in the water until it was exhausted, then breaking it on shore. To mount a young colt when it was fresh would have been almost impossible on the dry land, but in the river Eagle Plume could easily do this. He had to be very careful though, for horses can drown quicker than a man. His father had told him that if a horse has water running into his ears, it grows weak. As the boy rode he guided the young horse by clinging to its mane with one hand.

That year he had a dream and saw a giant Wasichu with long yellow hair. Half his face was also covered by yellow hair. He carried a flaming stick in his hand with which he burned teepees. In his dream Eagle Plume saw a powerful wind rise which bent down the prairie grass until it was flat against the ground. He saw a great buffalo rise from the earth on its four legs, charge against the yellow-haired pale eye, gore him again and again, then trample him until he was dead.

Eagle Plume told his dream to his father who asked him to repeat it to Grandfather Strong Eagle. The old wise one smoked a pipe and told the boy he must reenact the dream for the people and make himself look as much as possible like the white man in his dream. Long Blade, a great warrior, had heard many stories about what the Wasichus had done to the forest tribes. Long Blade had traveled east with a woman of the Forest People whom he loved. The woman had traveled through Sioux country between the Black Hills and the plains to guide traders who were looking for yellow river pebbles.

Not long after this dream Grandfather told Eagle Plume to go up for three nights to the sacred mountain to cry out to the Great Mystery, Wakan Tanka, for a vision. He cried and cried, a whole day and night, and on the third night he fell asleep.

His grandfather laughed.

Soon after Eagle Plume was given a new name. He had more control of his horse than anyone in the Dull Knife's band. He made his horse obey the slightest movement of his body while riding bareback. Eagle Plume had taught his mount the war dance that keeps a target ever moving, and the people said he looked one with his horse. So he received his new name: Dancing Horse.

---

Hundreds of buffalo hide teepees were raised by the women, their doors facing the direction of the rising sun. At the center of each band was a semicircle of teepees in which the medicine and the chiefs' lodges stood. Hunters had brought plenty of meat for the great camp. Antelope, deer, and elk were abundant and a few of the scattered lone bull buffalo could be seen beyond the river.

The braves of the different bands were making ready for a joint buffalo chase across the water beyond the first rise of the foothills where the grass was thick and lush. The scouts had sighted a mighty grazing herd many thousand strong and found several other herds, but the big one west of the tributary creek would be the first to be hunted. The building of new lodges was assured as were abundant warm winter robes for the people.