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After the Civil War
(1865-1870)
 The Black Hills, Where Two Worlds Met

The Black Hills, Where Two Worlds Met
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 5 to 7
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.85

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    prospectors, trickster, traditional, finding, behavior, offering, westward, mills, adventurous, mining, sacred, fortune, equipment, history, government, grounds
     content words:    Sacred Land, Black Hills, South Dakota, Lakota Sioux, Wind Cave, United States, Fort Laramie Treaty, Native Americans, American West, General Custer

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The Black Hills, Where Two Worlds Met
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     
Sacred Land

 
2     The Black Hills of South Dakota were a sacred place to the Lakota Sioux. They were the center of the Lakota nation, a special place populated by animals and plants. People did not live there permanently, but a person could travel there for special times in his life and for special ceremonies.
 
3     Legends tell of the spirits of deceased warriors living in the Black Hills. Lightning over the hills represents the spirits of the warriors.
 
4     There are traditional Lakota stories that take place in the Black Hills too. Like many cultures, the Lakota have a creation story. A creation story tells about the first people, like the story of Adam and Eve in Judaic and Christian culture.
 
5     This creation story happens in the Wind Cave. It has a character called a trickster. According to the story, humans lived in an underground world below the mountains a long time ago. Among the creatures that already lived above ground was the trickster. This trickster could disguise himself as a wolf. Disguised as a wolf, he went to the mouth of the cave and tricked the humans into coming out by offering them food and water. From that time on, people lived on the surface of the earth like the other creatures. Other traditional stories about the Black Hills teach good behavior, values, and Lakota history.

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