"Taku Ca Eya Pi He"
(What They Might Have Said)

by Ryman LeBeau

On a wind chilling November day ten young Lakota men on ponies ride upon a watchman of the Dakota camp. The watchman is about a half-mile from the camp. At this point the ten riders can see a small portion of the Santee Dakota camp. After talking to the watchman for a while they begin to ride down into the camp with watchman leading the way. The camp was set along a bend of the frozen Missouri River. The ten Lakota men who are Charger, Kills Game and Comes Back, Four Bear, Mad Bear, Pretty Bear, Swift Bird, One Rib, Red Dog, Strikes Fire, and Charging Dog meet up with a DakoL1- camp leader named White Lodge. The spokesman of the small group, Charger, dismounts from his pony and White Lodge counters by greeting Charger. "Hau koda." Charger respectfully replies "Hau kola."

White Lodge looks upon the rest of the young men with curiosity until Charger explains why he and his men have come to his camp. "I have come upon you and your band of people in a good way. My friends and I want to have a meeting with you. Us, wolakota wicasa pi (good hearted red men), want to talk serious with an open mind."

White Lodge paid special attention to this man and respected him and his wishes as he replied "Hau, all of you men please come into my lodge where the air is warm and there we can talk."
All ten of the young Lakota men dismount from their ponies and follow White Lodge comfortably to his home. The men take off some of their wrappings and sit down upon buffalo robes provided by White Lodge's wife. Charger and the rest of the men thank White Lodge for respecting them and welcoming them into his home.

Charger begins to speak to White Lodge "You see us here. We are only young boys. Our people call us crazy., but we want to do something good. We have come here to buy the white captives and give them back to their fiends." White Lodge pauses for a moment and soundly replies " These white captives I have taken after killing many of their people. I will not again be a friend to the whites. I have already done a bad thing, and now I will keep on doing bad things. I will not give up the captives. I will fight until I drop dead."

At this point White Lodge seems solid in the decision he has made. After White Lodge finished speaking Red Dog explains to the men that he will fill his pipe for all the people to smoke. As Red Dog begins to fill his pipe the rest of the men observe silently and respectfully. Red Dog begins to sing a pipe song and White Lodge finds his hand drum and assists Red Dog by drumming and a few of the young men join Red Dog in singing the pipe song. When the pipe is finally filled Red Dog says, "Let us smoke so there will be no lies between us." As Red Dog lights the pipe, the rest of the men acknowledge Red Dog's words by saying "Hau." Red Dog takes a few puffs and passes the pipe to his left. The long stemmed, red bowled pipe is passed around the tipi clockwise until every man has smoked the pipe and is passed until all the blessed tobacco in the pipe, is smoked up.

Charger explains to White Lodge "As you can see, we are young still but this doesn't make us fools. We know what we arc doing and have good reasons in doing so. Our people call us crazy. They call us Heyoka Akicita Tiwahe, the Fool Soldiers Band because we came to help the whites. We are only here for the betterment of our people. For we fear for their lives. The great white father is only looking for reasons to get rid of us. And now he has one."

White Lodge looks into the eyes of all the men as they stare into the actions of his emotions, After the short pause White Lodge states "The great white father has many promises that he is not loyal to. This I know is true for all of us. The white man has never helped us; he has only taken what is important to us. This white man has taken the buffalo off of their homelands and forced us to live like a pack of coyotes. He has forced me to take from the whites what I don't have, in order to keep my people well. Until the great white father fulfills his promises then I shall return these white women and children."

Charger thoughtfully says "The buffalo they were the heart of our society. They are the reason we are here to talk. I'm thankful for that but right now we need to make moves like the buffalo once did. The decisions we make now are going to affect us in the days to come. We need to stay together and make decisions together or we will be gone like the buffalo."

White Lodge is in deep thought but is still unwilling to give up the whites, "The buffalo are gone because of this white man. He is the reason why we sit here. I have some of his people and with his people in my hands my people will survive. For I'm unwilling to give up his people. This is the only way that I feel that I'm going to be able to feed my people,"

The men are at a stand still where White Lodge doesn't want to give up the captives. Four Bear calmly speaks to White Lodge in saying "I can see the pain that you and tour people feel but keeping these whites will not make anything better." Four Bear continues with a peaceful tone and says "The white man he is a trickster and has many legs this I know but for the survival of all our people, we need to trick the white man himself."

Charger once again speaks "We all need to walk as one Red Nation. If we don't we won't last The long ride. We can't live our lives like we are different from each other. We are two different men but at the same time we both are actually brothers. We have to treat each other with this respect and love for one another that brothers have amongst them. I have a younger brother who is not anymore bigger than a baby. I know that there are babies within this camp. Those sacred lives they hold do not belong to us. We can only make decisions now that will only help them live their lives and they are the reason I do this."

One Rib speaks up for the first time and confidently says "White Lodge I know that you are a man whose word can be trusted but please let us take these whites off your hands. If you keep these whites they won't cause nothing more than trouble for all of our people. We are willing to buy them."

White Lodge is silent for a few moments and thinks about what the men have told him. With the words of the men in White Lodge's mind White Lodge responds hesitantly in saying, "What do have to give for them?"

Charger says with confidence "We have horses, guns, and blankets to trade for the white women and children."

After the Fool Soldiers trade many different goods for the whites, White Lodge turns the poorly dressed whites over. Leaving the Fool Soldiers with only one horse with a travois. The Fool Soldiers depart from the Dakota camp with the whites in their possession. The young men adapt to their situation and decide to let the two women share the one horse as five of the six children ride on the travois. With the sixth child strapped on the back of Pretty Bear, the Fool Soldiers and the white women and rest of the children begin a 100 mile journey to Ft. Pierre against the winter cold of November.

Lakota Survival

Sitting in the strength of a circle
Fool Soldiers accomplished what some might call a miracle
Only ten young, true Lakota men
Set out to risk their own lives for another man' kin
Lakotas riding through the cold wind and November snow
All the while wrapped tight in the warmth of a buffalo robe
But only to give up the warmth to white hands
As they meet the Santee Dakota's demands
Fool Soldiers not afraid to be brave
As they trade their horse, blankets, and guns
Fool Soldiers' saved eight white lives
Steadily plowing through the brutal cold
Walking together like a herd of buffalo
Going home is the only sound they hear the whites cry
Fool Soldiers on a mission to save lives
Continuously singing Lakota songs
Praying that this journey, they may finish strong
Fool Soldiers not worried about whites being a Lakota's rival
Only promoting the Lakota people's survival