Native Sun News Today: Book brings 'Tasunka' horse legend to life


The cover of Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend

Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend
By Ernestine Chasing Hawk
Native Sun News Today Editor
nativesunnews.today

RAPID CITY –– To connect with the ancients and rekindle his imagination to “paint pictures of the wonderful magical animals and colorful birds on the walls of young minds,” artist and storyteller Donald Montileaux traveled to the picturesque heart of the Oglala Lakota Nation, Kisa Park.

In Kisa Park resides the proverbial Lakota wisdom keeper, Itancan (patriarch) Alex White Plume. While visiting this pristine native homeland of his ancestors, Montileaux reconnected to the folklore and lifestyle of the Lakota that has been lost to time.

Montileaux spent a week riding Indian ponies, sipping wahunpi and wojapi and other traditional treats of nature, listening to stories around an evening campfire, and sleeping nights inside a tipi.


Donald Montileaux with a copy of his book Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend. Photo: Montileaux Art

These events inspired the multi-talented Oglala Lakota artist to write and illustrate his latest book titled, “Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend.” The book also contains the translated Lakota version of the story which was translated into Lakota by Agnes Gay, the assistant archivist at Oglala Lakota College in Kyle.


Read the rest of the story on the Native Sun News Today website: Tasunka: A Lakota Horse Legend

(Contact ErnestineChasing Hawk at executiveeditor@nsweekly.com)

Copyright permission Native Sun News

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