“I see you like my little birds,” the Spirit said in a rumbling voice.
Little Bear could find no words to answer him.
“I know you are here because a Crow warrior has stolen horses from your hunting party,” the Spirit went on. “You want to get them back so that your grandfather will have a good buffalo hunting horse and you can trade for a roan colt. You gave me a present. Come, I will show you how to get your horses.”
Little Bear got on the horse behind the Spirit and they rushed off towards the setting sun. They soon saw the Crow running ahead of them. They followed him through woods, across streams, and over rocky ground. Once they lost the Crow in a snowstorm. The wind blew the snow at them so hard that the Spirit and Little Bear had to get off and walk. They came upon the Crow again in a small canyon. He was scraping snow aside to make a place where he could build a fire.
“We can get the horses while he isn’t watching,” the Spirit said.
At that moment Little Bear woke up. He was still sitting on the rock behind the waterfall. He was cold, hungry, and bewildered. Had Spirit-of-Water-That-Falls shown him how to get their horses back, or was the whole adventure only a dream? Perhaps Grandfather could tell him. Little Bear gathered his arrows and stepped out from behind the waterfall. The sun had gone down and it was almost dark. Great Bear was waiting for him below the pool.
Little Bear jumped across the stream and joined his grandfather. Without a word Great Bear led the way back to their horses. Little Bear noticed Grandfather seemed even more discouraged and disturbed than when they had started for the falls. As he gathered wood for a fire, Little Bear became more worried, too. Probably he hadn’t had a message from the Spirit, but had only dreamed the whole thing.
“Did you get a message from Spirit-of-Water-That-Falls?” Grandfather asked as they were eating.
Little Bear told him what had happened. “Was it a message or only a dream, Grandfather?”
“I don’t know,” Great Bear answered sadly. “I, too, had a vision. All I saw was that we were going towards the land of the setting sun.”