The Gift of the Sacred Dog (Reading Rainbow Book)

This was a beautiful story.

Summary:
This story is about the Sioux Tribe and how the horses came to them.
The Sioux people had been searching for the buffalo but could not find them, the people grew hungry and did the Buffalo Dance to try to bring the buffalo back.
A young boy goes to the hills to ask the Great Spirit to bring

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buffalo back. The Great Spirit shows him a vision of an animal called the sacred dog that was a horse. The boy had never seen such an animal. The Great Spirit told him that the animal would help them find the buffalo. The boy then was going to go see the wise man about what the Great Spirit had told him and then he heard what sounded like thunder and out of the hills came the Sacred Dogs. The boy returned with the horses and told the people that they would help find the buffalo. They Sacred Dogs helped find the buffalo and the people took great care of the horses.
Personal Reaction:
This was a good tale of how the horse came to the Sioux people. I liked the story and how it showed that legends/tales are used in the Native American culture.

Classroom Extension:
1. Have children color and paint their own Sacred Dog, by using horse template for younger children and older children can draw their own.
2. Have children think of their own tale/legend to make up and help them write it.
3. Do unit over Horses and use the story of Sacred Dogs to show how the Native American culture used horses.

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The story is about the nomadic Plains Indians before horses were part of the culture. The tribe is starving and a young brave is concerned that the Great Spirit does not know about their dire circumstances. The boy ventures alone up a mountain to pray to the Spirit. While praying, the boy has a

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vision about horses, or in his words, Sacred Dog. On that day horses discovered. With the addition of. Horses into the culture, the Plains Indian no longer feared starvation.

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Gift of the Sacred Dog can be used to introduce students to the Native American culture. Teachers can use this book in when introducing or during a study in native american history, since this book tells the Native American's account of how they acquired the horse. It introduces students to the

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rich culture of oral story telling practiced among Native Americans, and can be used to teach students about the history of storytelling itself.

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