At a time when the Lakota people were in great need, two Lakota men saw a "wakan" (holy) woman floating toward them.

When they met and saw how beautiful she was, one of the men thought of her only in a physical way and acted disrespectfully.

He was struck by lightning and became a pile of ashes.

The other behaved properly and she instructed him to tell his people to prepare a medicine lodge for her arrival.

She taught the Lakota people many skills, giving them the sacred medicine pipe and showing them how to pray.

She told them that the pipe binds together the sky, the earth and all life on it.

She also said that the buffalo is a sacred being, representing the universe and standing in the west to hold back the waters.

When all the buffalo are gone and the waters cover the earth, the sacred hoop will end.

The bowl of the pipe is Sioux, from the historic era in pre-contact style; stem from a Brule-Sioux pipe 1900-10; dress - Sioux 1885; wristband - Sioux 1920; hair ornament - Sioux 1875-1900.