Lakota Sioux Indian original art poster Bald Eagle New

Poster of a free hand drawing of a Bald Eagle by Lakota teen from Pine Ridge Reservation, Getty Packen, a registered Lakota Tribal Member

100% $ to Pine Ridge Reservation via the nonprofit group ONE Spirit

Poster measures 12 by 10.5 inches

A long, long time ago, way before the coming of the white man, there
came a winter to the people of the Plains where there was much snow.
When spring drew close, the excessive amount of snow began to melt.
Along with the spring rains, which did not want to let up, the area
began to flood. The Lakota people kept moving to higher and higher
ground, but the rains kept coming.

People became ill with influenza and other sickness. The hunters
were too ill to hunt. The women too ill to take care of the children
and the elders. More and more people died of sickness or starvation
as the water got higher and higher.

The rain did not let up until finally, one young Lakota girl stood on
the highest Butte and watched the flood take the last of her family
and her village. In grief beyond description, she threw herself on
the ground and cried herself to sleep.

In the morning, the moment she awoke, she had the feeling that she
was being watched. She looked around and saw a giant eagle perched
on a rock and looking at her. At first she was afraid, and thought
that the eagle intended to put her on the lunch menu-- as he was
unusually large.

He spoke, and told her that he noticed she was all alone. "Yes," she
said, "the flood has taken them all, and I will die here alone, the
last of my kind."

The eagle looked with compassion at the girl and said, "You will not
be alone, for I will be your friend."

That night, the eagle caught a fish for her. Then he went and flew
to the tops of all the mountains and collected wood for her to build
and fire and cook the fish.

As she cooked and ate, he would be perched on a very large rock, and
they would talk.

As the waters receded, the eagle brought rabbits and other small
game. He tried to convince the girl to return down to the plains and
build a lodge. But she said that if she were going to die alone
anyway, there was no point in returning to the area of her former
village.

One day the eagle told the girl that he had something to do and would
return as soon as he could. He then flew as high as he could and
called out to the Creator, "Grandfather?"

"I am here" replied a voice. Then the eagle spoke his heart to the
Grandfather. "The young girl is all alone. Why have you not seen to
her well being?"

Grandfather replied, "I have looked out for her, I sent YOU to her."

"That is all well and good," the eagle replied. "I can be a friend
to her but she really needs another of her own kind. A young girl
should not be alone."

"Well, there is something you can do," the Grandfather replied "But
the choice will have to be up to you. I will enable you to become a
two-legged. As a male, you can marry her and repopulate the earth
with her kind. However, once you do this, you will NEVER be an eagle
again. You won't ever fly again or enjoy any of the things that you
do now as an eagle."

The eagle was sad, as he really enjoyed being an eagle and did not
want to give that up. He asked the Creator if he could take some
time to think it over, and the Creator said that would be fine.

For four days the eagle flew to all of his favorite spots. He
soared, he dived, he hunted at his favorite places-- the whole time
he thought about the fate of the young Lakota girl.

Finally he flew upwards again calling out, "Grandfather,
Grandfather?"

"Yes?," came the voice, "You have reached a difficult decision?"

"There are still many eagles," the eagle replied. "But she is alone
and we cannot let her be the last of her kind."

"Very well," said the Creator. "I promise you this, the Lakota
people will never forget your great sacrifice, and your kind will be
revered from this day forward. Also, all people who inhabit this
land will revere you-- even if they do not know your story.'

And so, back on the highest butte, the Lakota girl awoke that morning
and was shocked to find a handsome Lakota brave sitting on the
same rock where the eagle always sat when he talked with her.

"The flood took everyone. You must be a ghost?" the girl said.

"No," he said. "I am your friend. I have been here with you all
along. Don't you remember all of the fish I caught for you?"

The girl could not believe it! She fell into his arms and so they
continued their walk here together as man and wife.

Soon, they had a lodge at the site of her old village. They had many
children and when the great eagles would fly up above, they would
explain to the children who their father once was. "Those are your
relatives," they would explain, as the eagles flew by.

And those children told their children, and their children told their
children, and to this day, Lakota people cherish the EAGLE. He is
their ancestor.

The reason that the eagle is on American money and is a symbol of the
USA is because the Creator kept his promise to the eagle. All here
revere his image, even though they don't know his story-- just as the
Creator promised.

And this is the story of the eagle and the Lakota girl.

Aho!

                                                                                  as told by J. Yellow Boy