And this is a traditional story that was given to me by the Salish people that ties into the story of a man, a Salish man who tried to save the buffalo.
Long ago there were no buffalo on earth. Sun Buffalo Cow looked down from the sky and saw the humans were suffering. I will go and change into earth buffalo she sang. I will be meat for my Indian people. Her words were heard by the humans below. Then Sun Buffalo Cow ran along the trail that led to the cliff. She jumped from that high place to the foot of the cliff far below.
The people came along then and saw the dead buffalo. “Our mother has spoken truly,” they said. “Here is food for us.” Then they heard the sound of hooves rumbling like thunder. They looked out and saw great herds of buffalo covering the earth.