|
Ikotmi is an imaginary person who appears in many Lakota Sioux fables. Generally he is described as a quick-witted schemer with a glib tongue. Most of the fables involving him reflect the high moral values of the Lakota Indians with Ikotmi as the conniver.
At one time the Lakota lived beneath the earth’s surface where life was good and untroubled for them. Ikotmi, with the help of the wolf as a guide, enticed the Lakota to leave the underworld and go the earth’s surface. The allurement to leave was the supposed readily available food, clothing, shelter and, most important, a world where one was always young. Once the Lakota reached the earth’s surface they could not return to the underworld. They did not know how to survive in their new world. Seeing the Indian’s dilemma and realizing he had done wrong, the wolf took them to Wazi, the rattlesnake master, and Wakanka, the old woman, who were living on the earth’s surface. They saw the predicament of the Lakota people and gave them food and drink and took them to the region of the pines (the Black Hills of South Dakota) and taught the Lakota to hunt, make clothes, and create shelters, thereby creating the great Lakota Sioux Nation, the Nation of Crazy Horse.
This shield honors the wolf for his part in the creation of the Lakota Nation. It shows the wolf standing above a hole in the earth from which the Lakota emerged. The wolf paw prints are shown leading the Lakota moccasin prints to the land of sunshine. The abalone pieces represent water. The color red depicts the earth and yellow depicts the sun and the life-giving powers it generates. The shield is made of cowhide, trade cloth, ribbon, old Italian glass trade beads, abalone shells, and coyote fangs (representing wolf fangs).
|
