Here is a story from the Lakota oral tradition:

     Our elders tell of our sacred beginnings. The great spirit, who grew out of stone after the earth was made, created our ancestors. He took our bones from stone, our bodies from earth, and our souls from himself and wind and thunders.

     Sun warmed us. Wisdom gave us intelligence. Moon gave us affection. Revealer gave us longing and love for children. All their gifts gave us life.

     A council of the spirits decided our purpose—to respect and care for the spirits—and gave us our name: Pte Oyate, buffalo nation.

     After that nation had lived some time in the underworld, Spider the Trickster, sent Wolf to the strongest young man in the nation. Wolf told Tokahe that life would be easy on the surface of the earth. The holy man, Tatanka, warned Tokahe not to go there. But Tokahe and the people did not listen. And so they found passage to the Black Hills through Wind Cave.

     When the people found life on the earth hard, Spider laughed at their folly. But Tatanka, who had stayed in the Underworld, saw our nation in a vision.

     We could not speak to the spirits. We lost our language and had to invent a new one. We became Ikce Wicasa, the ordinary people. To help us Tatanka came to earth as a great shaggy beast. He could speak for us directly with the spirits. He was willing to give up his life so we could have food, shelter and clothing. And so, from the beginning, Ikce Wicasa lived with the buffalo in the area around the Black Hills.