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This is a legend about the first people and how corn was introduced to them.
There was a young man who had been searching for food. He was very lonely and became discouraged when he could not find anything to eat, he went to sleep. When he awoke, he saw a beautiful woman with the hair of golden silk watching him.
As he spoke to her she floated away from him. Finally the lonely young man begged her not to leave and she spoke. She promised to stay with him forever if he would do as she said.
First she took him to a field of dry grass and taught him how to make fire by rubbing two sticks together and then he was to burn the grasses. That night he was instructed to take her silken hair and pull her over the charred earth, an act which she insisted would help his people. He did so and the next morning the two were gone, but where she had been dragged where new green plants emerging from the black earth.
The golden silk in the ears of the corn are reminders that the pale haired woman did not forget them.
First People
Conversation was never begun at once, nor in a hurried manner. No one was quick with a question, no matter how important, and no one was pressed for an answer. A pause giving time for thought was the truly courteous way of beginning and conducting a conversation. Silence was meaningful with the Lakota, and his granting a space of silence to the speech-maker and his own moment of silence before talking was done in the practice of true politeness and regard for the rule that "thought comes before speech."
Luther Standing Bear, Oglala Sioux Chief
The coyote's hearing is very acute and is used for detecting prey and avoiding danger. Movement and position of the ears are used to communicate mood and rank.
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