The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo: A Child, an Elder, and the Light from an Ancient Sky
Nerburn is haunted by a recurring dream about Yellow Bird, the long-missing little sister of his friend, Lakota elder Dan. When he cannot shake the dream, Nerburn goes in search of Dan but first encounters others who pass along mysterious messages for Dan that will reopen memories of the loss of his beloved sister. Nerburn’s timing is auspicious as Dan is near death and has taken up mentoring a four-year-old girl with an uncanny resemblance to Yellow Bird, including her spiritual gifts, communing with animals, and singing more than talking. Because whites perceive her behavior to be odd, the girl is threatened with medication or placement in a white foster home, reminiscent of earlier Indian reeducation efforts. Worried that she represents yet another case of the Indian being driven out from them, Dan and an assortment of allies (not all of them as trusting of Nerburn as he) marshal their forces to protect the girl and her connection to the spirit world. Nerburn takes up his masterful storytelling (Neither Wolf nor Dog,1994; The Wolf at Twilight,2009) to convey the longing of modern Native Americans to stay connected to their culture, the suspicion of outsiders, and the fate of one young girl caught in the balance. --Vanessa Bush