SOMBRA DEL GRAN ARBOL, LA

For many years, the Blackfoot Indians have lived in peace with their neighbours, the Flatheads, with their swollen stomachs, and with the Shoshone Indians. The buffaloes, the crows and the wild boar are in abundance… The women cultivate the land and nobody remembers the times of war and hunger. For their chief, Buffalo Charge, it was easy to show courage, strength and authority in times of war; but how could he do that in times of peace? For this reason only, he orders that the great tree growing in the middle of the plain be chopped down, so that everyone might know who is in charge.
The tribe witch doctor, Rising Smoke, tries to stop him, shaking his wooden pipe and reminding him that, in the shade of the tree, the women tan their hides, the warriors tense their bows, the children play and the elders recount their exploits. The strongest warriors hit the trunk with their sharpened axes until finally, the tree falls with a tremendous roar. Only when the plain is completely empty, does everyone see that the shade is still there. After Rising smoke has attempted many times to make it disappear, the chief of the tribe asks him for a seed from the great tree and he plants it. Buffalo Charge finally shows his courage, strength and authority when he declares war once again on the white man, but his intelligence was known the day he showed himself capable of putting right his own mistakes.