Walking with Grandfather: The Wisdom of Lakota Elders

by Joseph M. Marshall III

My grandparents also taught me that people and circumstances would continuously try to change my sense of identity. And the best and only way to face that was to remember who I am. They illustrated their point with one of the first stories of Iktomi, or the Trickster, that I can recall hearing. Long ago, Iktomi crawled out of his den in a hillside on a fine beautiful day and decided to take a walk. At the bottom of a hill, he came to a pond with sparkling blue water. He lay down on his stomach at the edge to take a drink. Suddenly, a face appeared below him, a familiar face, mimicking everything he did. If Iktomi raised his eyebrows, the face in the pond did the same. After several moments, he realized the face was his. Iktomi spent the rest of the day admiring his reflection. After the sun went down, he returned to his den. The next morning, the wind was blowing as Iktomi arrived at the pond, and he was dismayed to find that his reflection in the water was distorted. As the day wore on, the wind blew harder, and Iktomi’s image in the water didn’t improve. Angry and confused, he stomped home. Bright and early the next morning, he awoke to a cold, rainy day. Nevertheless, he hurried to the pond. The reflection he saw in the water was nothing more than a shadow. Confused, he trudged back to his den. The following day, the rain had stopped, but dark clouds filled the sky. Iktomi saw his reflection in the pond, but it was of a dark and angry face. He was about to slink away in...