light, they found themselves in the midst of a
ring of fiery mountains. Our people are called Osaukawug, or Sauk, the
People of the Place of Fire, because that fiery place is where we first
walked in the world. There was nothing to eat. There was nothing around
the people but stones and fire. And they were hungry and greatly afraid,
and they were angry at the White Bear for leading them out of our Mother
to this place.

"But the White Bear showed them a way through the fiery mountains and
over many fields of snow and ice, until he brought our ancestors to this
good land where there is fish and game, where the grasslands are green
and the woods are full of berries and fruit. And our friends the Fox,
the Yellow Earth People, came to be our allies and to unite with us. And
the Turtle opened his heart and the Great River flowed forth. Our
ancestors hunted and fished in the land where the Rock River flows into
the Great River. On the Rock River they built our village of Saukenuk,
where they would dwell in the summer and their women would grow the
Three Sisters, corn, beans and squash, in the fields around the village.
And there at Saukenuk, as our ancestors died, they were buried.

"The White Bear told us we should spend our summers in that land east of
the Great River. In the winter it should be our custom to cross to the
west of the Great River and hunt here in the Ioway Country. And here by
the Great River we Sauk, the People of the Place of Fire, have lived
ever since."

Redbird felt warmth on her back through her buffalo robe. The sun had
risen higher.

Owl Carver called out in his high voice of prophecy, "The White Bear has
come again. He has led Gray Cloud on his spirit journey. Now Gray Cloud
is a true shaman. He still must be trained to use his powers, but his
powers no longer sleep. And in sign that he is a shaman with another
self, he shall have a new name. Let him be known to all the people as
White Bear!"

Redbird heard cries of assent from the people around her.

Owl Carver crossed his arms before his chest to show that he was
finished speaking, and turned to Black Hawk.

"So let it be," said Black Hawk in his harsh, grating voice. "Earthmaker
has willed that the British Band shall be blessed with a mighty new
spirit walker. Let his name hereafter be White Bear."

_If I could make a spirit journey_, Redbird thought, _I too could stand
before the people and advise them_.

She came to a sudden resolve.