Woman Walks Ahead Page #3

to meet the President

of the United States.

It's beautiful.

But I was hoping for something

a little more traditional.

The Agent doesn't like us

to wear buckskins.

If the white farmers around

here see an Indian in skins,

they get scared.

Well, okay, then.

The suit's fine.

The Agent said we should burn

all the old stuff.

Some we burnt.

Some we hid.

For $1,000, you should

get what you want.

You're gonna need a horse.

No.

- I don't ride.

- What?

In New York City,

we don't need to ride horses.

[WHISTLES]

This is Rico.

Buffalo Bill gave him to me.

He's a circus horse.

It'd be just like

sitting on a chair.

When you click

your tongue...

[WHINNIES]

...he paws the ground.

When he hears a gunshot...

...he dances.

Come on, stroke him.

No, I don't want to stroke him.

Wherever it is we're going,

I'll walk.

- Your shoes.

- My shoes are walking shoes.

I paid $1,000. If I want to

walk, I will damn well walk.

Does the snow stay

on the mountains all year round?

It's not snow. It's bones.

Buffalo bones.

When the buffalo hear a gunshot

they don't run. They stand.

So, the white hunters

could just shoot and shoot

until they were all dead.

We used to spend our lives

following the buffalo herds.

Now they've all gone and

we have to live in one place

and ask the earth

to grow potatoes.

You'll never be free on

the prairie if you don't ride.

Freedom's in the head.

- And in the feet.

- Oh.

My feet are just fine.

Try these.

My old ones, soft buckskin.

Uh!

You got big feet for a woman.

You got small feet for a man.

[SPEAKS LAKOTA]

It means big feet. Maybe that

could be your Indian name.

They called George Catlin

"Mystery Spirit Painter".

Think of something like that.

Whoa.

You gettin' on that

damn horse yet?

You walk behind me, looks

like I've taken you prisoner.

Behind. In front.

So many rules about walking.

Can't I just walk?

Rico's taken it pretty badly

you don't like him.

It's okay, Rico.

She's from New York.

I thought you liked New York.

Too many people with too much.

Too many people

with nothing at all.

Your society values people

by how much you have...

...ours by how much

we give away.

[SIGHS]

Soft. Feel.

We used to use the buffalo's

brains to soften the hide.

Every animal has exactly enough

brains to tan its own hide.

Never too much.

Never too little.

You can look now.

You think you could

wear your feathers?

Why not?

Same reason you don't

wear your wedding dress.

I need you to

come outside, though.

You can paint me in here.

There's no light in here.

You can't see my face?

When you've smoked,

you'll come outside, yes?

Mrs. Weldon, don't talk to me

like you don't know who I am.

I'll be outside.

[CATHERINE TAPS SKETCHBOOK]

[SIGHS]

So, Mrs. Weldon...

...how come you're scared

of horses?

I got locked in a stable.

My dad's best saddle horse

called Sultan.

I was eight years old.

My father...

locked me in there on purpose.

Since then,

I haven't ridden horses.

[SITTING BULL]

Why would he do that?

Decided I needed to be

taught to obey...

...broken like a horse...

...because I wasn't...

behaving like a lady.

It was the way

I wiped my mouth...

...at the dinner table,

our country place, and some...

some grand people

came to dinner.

I was eight years old and...

...I wiped my mouth

with my sleeve.

[CATHERINE] I was traded

from father to husband.

I've decided to change.

I'm trying...

not to care

what people think of me.

That's why I'm out here

on my own in the...

...middle of nowhere.

At my age, it's kind of stupid.

It's damned hard being brave.

[STIFLES SOBS]

[SNIFFS]

So, anyway,

...I'd really prefer

to work outside,

if that's okay with you.

[INSECT BUZZES]

You're not good

at keeping still, are you?

Shoot me, then I will be still.

What would be the point

of shooting you?

Bullets don't seem to have

any effect.

[SIGHS] God damn.

She really is a painter.

[EAGLE CALLS]

The eagle is telling

Sitting Bull we're here.

What?

[SINGS LAKOTA SONG]

You're gonna paint me now?

In New York, I draw

naked people all the time.

I can see without looking.

So, would you take

your clothes off in front of me?

You're not a painter.

No?

I've painted a painting

for every year of my life.

This was the first man

I ever killed in battle,

a Crow on the Powder River.

My name then was Hunkesni.

It means "slow".

Slow?

I thought before I spoke...

...and on this day

I became a man.

You became a man

by killing someone?

Someone who would have killed

my mother and sister.

- How old were you?

- 13.

This is the death

of my father...

...and this is how I killed

the man who killed him.

This is the year when

the measles first came.

Half our village died.

Is that General Custer?

I met with Tashunka Witko,

Crazy Horse.

We decided we needed

to all be together,

if we were to survive.

The Hunkpapa, Oglala, Blackfeet,

Minneconjou, Cheyenne, Arapaho.

Crazy Horse was a religious man.

He said the people needed a sign

for them to believe

in their own strength.

I went to seek a vision

that year.

This was my vision,

white soldiers...

falling from the sky.

Two days later, Long Hair,

Custer, came with his army.

We didn't leave

a single one of them alive.

After that year...

...they tracked down every

chief who fought in that battle,

killed them all.

Except for you.

So, you see?

I am a painter too.

This is one of the most

exquisite pieces of work

I've ever seen.

Then why does it make you sad?

Because you've lived all this

and turned it into

something beautiful.

The only battle I ever fought

against is insignificance.

So, live more.

[WHISPERS] Live more. Yes.

That's what I want to do.

Must have been hell to be in

jail after living like this.

I was never in jail.

This body full of bullets

was in jail.

But I was out there.

The guards thought

I was sleeping.

But I'd made myself

into an eagle.

Is there something wrong?

It's cold.

Why are there no fires?

This morning at Fort Yates,

they issued copies

of the new treaty.

Then they announced

the new winter rations.

Everything's cut in half.

The beef, flour, sugar.

They're gonna starve us

into signing.

When people heard the news,

they came running here

asking for you,

even Arapahoes and Cheyennes.

The Shell King came.

He asked where was Sitting Bull

when his people needed him.

He said you were off

with the white woman,

a government spy,

who arrived on the same train

as the man who cut the rations.

He said you abandoned them.

When Shell King left, most

of the villagers left with him.

They went off to join

the ghost dance.

What's... what's the ghost dance?

An Indian from the south

had a vision.

He said if the Lakota

wear certain clothes

and dance a certain dance,

then the old ways will return.

The buffalo will come running,

scattered across the prairie,

like they used to.

The Indians who died of hunger

and measles, they will return

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