The Briefness of Life
Crowfoot (Issapóómahksika), a Siksika Blackfoot chief and diplomat, gave this poetic and naturalistic answer to the question "What is life?" shortly before his death in 1890:
It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
This American Indian warrior of many battles and many wounds had differences
with Sitting Bull on joining the fight against the US, but later made peace and
helped the Sioux looking for refuge in Canada.