How a man stole 300 horses

Let me share with you a Lakota Native story in order to show you how easy it is to steal 300 horses by one man. The story is adapted from the movie Dreamkeeper.

There was a man who was in love with a girl but her father was not in favour of their relationship. Not even three horses in exchange for the daughter would satisfy the father… The unhappy man plotted a plan to abduct his girl, dressed up as a Spirit of Death. The father saw through the trap and banished him from his village. The man was ashamed and went to the enemy’s village for his own death. He screamed, “Kill me! I am your enemy!” When he got to the enemy’s village, everybody was scared and ran away. There was just an empty village and 300 horses left in the pen. Suddenly, the man’s horse got spooked and, as a result, the other 300 horses spooked as well. They ran over the fence. Our man jumped on one of the enemy’s horses and brought all 300 horses to his girlfriend’s father. By coincidence, these 300 horses were stolen from his village a long time ago and no one was able to bring them back. Our man became a hero and earned his girl!

How did he do it when nobody else was able to? It’s easy from a horse’s point of view: the man’s horse spooked and, in fear, started to run back home – his safe place. At that moment, he was at the front as a draw for the other spooked horses. They thought: oh, there is danger in this fenced up place and there is a loose horse in a beautiful open space. We have to follow him! And they joined him. At that point the herd was moving towards the man’s village. The man jumped on one horse at the end of the herd and therefore created a pressure point behind the herd. Horses were thinking: oh, there is a strong horse in front us running to a safe place and behind us, is a strange human we have to run away from. This way, his own horse brought 300 horses to his safe place – the man’s village – in a simple and natural way.