Brave Buffalo, a Lakota chief said: “The animals want to communicate with us, but the Great Spirit does not intend they shall do so directly; we must do the greater part in securing an understanding.” In the traditional world of the Plains Indians before television and mass media communication, storytelling was the primary method of recording history and communicating collective knowledge. In his new collection of stories, Caldecott Medal winner, Paul Goble masterfully brings to life 26 traditional stories from various tribal nations, including the Lakota, Pawnee, Blackfoot and Cheyenne. It includes the fascinating tale of a young woman who is kidnapped and ends up living with kind wolves and tells the stories of The Gift of the Sacred Calf Pipe, The First Horse and The Song of the Blackbird, which were told not only to entertain, but to explain and preserve the origins of sacred rites and ceremonies and to tell the people's history.