Eagle Flying Bye was a pejuta wicasa (medicine man), akicita, decorated war veteran of World War II, and wakan wicasa (holy man) from the Hunkpapa tribe of the Lakota (or Sioux) Nation on the Standing Rock Reservation. The Sioux Nation was better known for its leaders of the 1800s, such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, and Chief Spotted Tail.
Eagle Flying Bye had spent much of his early years helping his tribal elders prepare medicines and praying over sick people. He had built the reservation’s sweat lodge. He would often travel into town with his grandfather and listen to the old men talk of battles and life on the open plains. His grandmother would also tell him creation stories at night, and in these ways, he had become a keeper of traditional knowledge and culture.
Eagle Flying Bye chanted by the small fire as he prepared the pipe given to him as a child by his great grandmother. He sang the sacred pipe-filling song and prepared himself for a hemblecha (vision quest), lighting a dried braid of different herbs for the smudging ceremony. He then uttered a traditional Lakota prayer:
Grandfather, Grandmother,
to the powers
in the animal nations
of the four winds.
Watch over the sacred pipe,
Grandmother Earth,
and the people:
Our forefathers, elders,
little ones,
and the unborn.
Grandfather,
have pity on me.
I pray through the sacred pipe
for my people, all life,
for health and happiness.
Grandfather, hear my prayer.
I humble myself; help me.
Wakan Tanka, Great Spirit, I long to see you.
The great serpent who shines his light stands at the gate, has become the guardian,
his ever-watchful eye denying any and all their
chance to see heaven. I call forth the innocent
fawn, whose pale face visits me in my dreams …
Let her come forth to face the great serpent.
Eagle Flying By then took the great hollow healing bone that he had beaded in turquoise to make good medicine. He needed to heal himself of any hurt feelings caused by this woman he had beckoned from across the great expanse of Turtle Island.