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American Life

Great Buffalo and Crow had begun their journey in the late morning. The sun was beginning its final daily descent and Crow was in a tree awaiting the great beast. Butterfly fluttered by and Crow took off after her.

"No!" screamed Great Buffalo, while charging to block Crow's flight.

Startled, Crow almost crashed. "What is your problem?" he screamed at Great Buffalo.

"You would have eaten her," Great Buffalo screamed back.

"No, I would not do that."

"Yes, you would. Circle of Life and all," snapped Great Buffalo.

"I would not eat that butterfly. It is poisonous and I, in turn, would die," Crow said with arrogance.

Crow flew on ahead and Great Buffalo began remembering. On the Vision Quest with his father, Great Buffalo had seen the caterpillar his father pointed out.

"What is it?" the young buffalo asked.

"It is a caterpillar. It hatched out of eggs laid by Butterfly," his father replied.

"No. How can that be? Birds lay eggs but birds come out of the eggs. Buffalos give birth to baby buffalos. Lizards come from lizard eggs. How can this wormy looking thing be the child of Butterfly. How is this possible, Father?"

"That, my son, will take some time to explain."

The next morning, Young Buffalo could not find Caterpillar. "Father, its gone again."

His father was grazing on breakfast grass and yelled back, "No, you are just not seeing. Look again, differently."

Young Buffalo went back to where Caterpillar had been the night before, on the same bush, on the same leaf. This time he saw the transformation. Where Caterpillar had been was a green sack. Spellbound, Young Buffalo stared.

He turned to yell to his father, only to find the huge buffalo just behind him. "Father," he said in awe, "What has happened?'

"Caterpillar has built a cocoon around itself. Inside the Caterpillar will transform into something different."