John Fire Lame Deer, a Lakota holy man, wrote: The” buffalo gave us everything we needed. Without it we were nothing. Our tipis were made of his skin. His hide was our bed, our blanket, our winter coat. It was our drum, throbbing through the night, alive, holy. Out of his skin we made our water bags. His flesh strengthened us, became flesh of our flesh. Not the smallest part of it was wasted. His stomach, a red-hot stone dropped into it, became our soup kettle. His horns were our spoons, the bones our knives, our women's awls and needles. Out of his sinews we made our bowstrings and thread. His ribs were fashioned into sleds for our children, his hoofs became rattles. His mighty skull, with the pipe leaning against it, was our sacred altar…. When you killed off the buffalo you also killed the Indian--the real, natural, "wild" Indian” (Fire, 130). Forced on to reservations by people who wanted their land in the name of “civilization”, the Indians lost their culture, their history, and their way of