Thanks to Anu today, we can all share in this:

"What is life? 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".

Crowfoot, Native American
warrior and orator (1821-1890)


...it is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime....

Life's pretty evanescent.

I searched for "Indian orator Crowfoot" and got quite a few sites. Here is just one http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/quotes.html

I believe there are now over 200,000 North American Bison; a far cry still from the 30 million that spread across the plains before the European settlers arrived on the scene, but a viable number never the less. I would love to see a large herd. A shame that the Passenger Pigeon could not be saved; are there any preserved in the museums? Perhaps it is a suitable case for cloning one day using DNA from the dead tissue. Could Jurassic Park ever become a reality?

I loved that one, too, mm. thanks for bringing it up here.

growing up in South Dakota, I've seen as many bison as there are to see, mostly. they are an amazing creature, full of the earth.

They don't, or at least didn't, fence in the herd in Yellowstone Park: the "buffles", as my daughter called them years ago, simply walk right through them. There are some, raised privately, right here in Louisville. (Presumably behind electrified fencing!) They are enormous creatures, definitely of the earth, because they're too heavy to be of the air; some have shoulders the heighth* of a man.

*Apparently I have used a word that isn't a true word. But this is the way I pronounce it, when I'm using height in this sense. Here's what Atomica notes:
USAGE NOTE The pronunciation of height with a final (th), (hîth), which is rarely heard now, reflects the original spelling and pronunciation of the word in Old English. During the Middle English period, the (th) varied with (t), with the final (t) predominating after the 15th century. Another pronunciation, with a (th) sound coming after (t), (hîtth), is often heard, but it is generally regarded as nonstandard. In a recent survey, 90 percent of the Usage Panel disapproved of this pronunciation, which probably came about by association with width, breadth, and length.

But, back to the quote: did you-all notice that all the references are to either light or warmth, two things that we humans have craved since the dawn of time?

"...light or warmth, two things that we humans have craved since the dawn of time?" - Jackie

That's what drives human endeavour. To make the cave a little brighter and a little warmer. And to bring the food in. The drive evinces itself in many different ways of course.

To make the cave a little brighter and a little warmer. And to bring the food in.
Yes. Besides the hide being used for warmth/shelter (I think some tribes made teepees from them), buffaloes were and are used for food. My husband had a buffalo steak when we went out to eat a couple of weeks ago.
And if I may add on a bit to making the cave a little brighter, a corollary result is the dispelling of the shadows. We also have an innate distrust of deep shadowy places, wherein we cannot see what danger may lie... (Ooh, the very word 'shadowy' gives me the shivers!)
The drive evinces itself in many different ways of course. Were you thinking of any in particular?

My father bought some buffalo meat and made a main dish of it with a garnish of squid. He called it his bison-tentacle recipe.

A favorite back in 1976, no doubt.

bison-tentacle
Augh, I finally got it. Thanks, Musick!