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(fanfare plays)
♪♪
Haddon.
Those pig-stickers mean what I think they mean?
Yeah, Indian for barbed wire.
Why?
Oh, graves.
Indians hereabout believe their ancestors are buried yonder.
They call it the Mountain of the Dead.
Sort of a sacred burial ground?
Yeah, I guess you might say that.
Even the Indians won't go much past here.
Hey, wait a minute.
We're not going in there, are we?
Of course we're going in there.
Burial ground or no burial ground,
that's the best fur-trappin' country west of the Missouri.
(cocks rifle hammer)
- (whizzing thud) - (grunts) -(horse neighs)
(grunts)
No.
The white trappers passed the lances!
They set foot on the mountain!
They were punished.
We are not here to take scalps,
but to find the spirit of White Buffalo Woman.
Dako...
you are my son, but I ask that you go beyond
the place of the Forbidden Stone
to seek the spirit.
If my brother is to go beyond the Forbidden Stone,
I will go with him, my father.
You know that you go to your death?
We know, Father.
Dako...
Tolka...
By these tokens of my medicine,
the spirit woman will know you, my sons.
You must not fail.
Our lives are pledged, Father.
Let the lances remain,
as a warning to others.
(theme song playing)
♪♪
LITTLE JOE: I wouldn't.
BEN: Because we've got cattle to move, that's why!
We've got fences to build, timber to cut!
- What do you mean, "I wouldn't"? - What I'm trying to
- tell you is... -Right now this is Yorktown, Bunker Hill
and Valley Forge all rolled into one.
BEN: I'll say this just once more.
This is no time for a trip to Nevada City!
- Pa's winning. - ADAM: It's the only time!
If I miss Ira Fairbanks this trip,
who knows when I'll get another chance to see his windmill?!
Listen, anytime Adam's talking like that, he's winning.
Now, you know as well as I
that we have roundup facing us next week,
and you talk to me about windmills!
Yes, windmills! And you know as well as I
that it'll take a miracle to get the water up
on that north section, and Fairbanks' windmill might be it!
Fairbanks' windmill!
All this man has is a theory!
We know nothing about him or his reputation!
Now, you can't leave us shorthanded
just to go to talk to a man who's probably a-a crackpot!
- Crackpot? - Yes, crackpot!
A long time ago, a man fooled around
with a thing he called a cotton gin.
His name was Whitney, and they called him a crackpot, too.
And they said the same thing about a man called Watt,
until his steam engine made history!
And before that, there was a man who thought the world was round.
You missed one.
Who?
In-between those last two gentlemen you mentioned,
there was another man who rode around looking for windmills,
and his name was Don Quixote, and he was a crackpot!
You and your education!
ADAM: Education is progress.
Now, what have you got against it?
I don't have anything against education...
as long as it doesn't interfere with your thinking!
All right.
Just get back as soon as you can.
(Adam clears throat softly)
Thanks, Pa.
(door closes)
HOSS: Hey, Adam,
what...
(sighs) Nice day for a ride.
Hey, Pa, I'd have bet you'd have won that argument.
Windmills!
Well...
guess a man just has to do something about 'em.
(chuckles)
(wind whistling softly)
♪♪
(wind whistling softly)
DAKO (in distance): Listen to me!
(gun hammer cocks)
You must hear my words!
Come down!
Spirit woman.
I carry the medicine of the Shoshone...
and the power of our shaman,
my father Chato.
Our people die in their lodges.
We have need of your medicine.
I am sorry that your people are sick,
but there is nothing I can do for them.
I have already vouched my life.
My people wait.
- I am sorry. - I promised to bring you back.
You are flesh.
Y-Y-You... you are as I,
as other people.
Even as a young squaw of our tribe.
Please, you must not do that.
You must not touch me.
I touch you...
and I live.
My father would not believe that...
I don't care about your father!
Let me be!
I will take you to my father!
He must see that you are nothing but a white squaw...
that you cannot help the Shoshone...
that your very presence here on this mountain of our dead
- is a shame and a desecration! - Get away from me!
I don't care about your superstitions.
They're not for me!
I know what would happen in your village.
You would kill me!
Squaw...
I would kill you here and now.
ADAM: Put it down!
I said put it down!
(horse neighs)
(wind whistling)
(grunts)
(gunshot)
(panting)
(exhales)
Who are you?
Help me.
(groans softly)
Come back!
(grunts)
(groans, pants)
(Adam groans)
(exhales)
(inhales slowly)
(sighs)
Who are you?
I couldn't hurt you if I wanted to.
If I wanted your life, I would not have returned.
(Adam gasps)
(fabric tears)
(panting)
Will you tell me who you are?
I'm called White Buffalo Woman.
White Buffalo Woman?
The spirit woman of the legends of the Plains Indians?
I hope you know what you're doing.
Don't move.
(muffled grunt)
(exhales)
(Adam panting)
Thanks.
(Adam panting)
(gasps in pain)
(Adam exhales)
(exhales)
(chuckles) The Great White Warrior.
(groans softly)
(groans)
(panting)
♪♪
(grunts in pain)
Hello?
(horse whinnies)
Hello?
Anyone here?
♪♪
"Olaf Halversen,
"born 1810,
"Bergen, Norway.
(sighs)
"Married Elizabeth Carr,
"Bridgeport, Connecticut,
"1838.
"Daughter Ruth
"born August 3, 1840.
Wife died, 1846."
"July 14.
"We left St. Joe this morning.
"The soldier said it was too late in the season to start,
"but Daddy laughed at them.
"He is not afraid, for at home in Norway,
"he was... used to hard winters and heavy snow in the mountains.
"October 8.
"Our axle is broken, and Daddy left yesterday
"in the morning and hasn't come back yet.
It is cold, and we can hear the howling of the wolves."
That blade would not have missed in the lodge of a Bannock.
And in the home of...
Ruth Halversen?
You heard my name?
The White Buffalo Woman is a myth.
But Ruth Halversen is, or was, real.
(whispers): Go.
Remember this...
you are here because you helped me.
Stay until you can travel,
but keep away from me, or I'll forget I owe you anything.
In other words, welcome.
Aside from your many other accomplishments,
I see you also run a trap line.
I trade the pelts for supplies.
Well, now, I'm a fair hand with hides.
Um, could I help?
Until I can travel, you're gonna have to put up with me.
Now, there's no reason why we can't...
try to understand each other.
How?
We could start with Ruth Halversen.
Ruth Halversen was a child.
What happened after your father left the wagon?
I never saw him again.
In the spring, a Bannock hunting party found me.
They took me to their village.
I stayed there as one of them.
Until the hunters came.
White hunters.
They wanted our furs.
And when we refused,
they attacked us.
All the braves...
the women, the children...
they killed.
I...
I found my way here...
to the Mountain of the Dead.
A Shoshone saw me.
Told his people he had seen White Buffalo Woman
raised from the grave.
To them, I'm a great spirit woman.
Until today, they have left me in peace here,
in my own world,
to live my own life.
Ruth, the only real life for you
is with your own people.
Since the Bannocks died,
I have no people.
♪♪
Shaman.
Where are my sons?
We waited at the place of the Forbidden Stone.
There is no sign of Dako or Tolka.
They would have returned by now, if they could.
My sons have failed.
But perhaps where a son fails...
a father can succeed.
I will go to the Mountain of the Dead.
We shall go with you, Shaman.
♪♪
And they call this the Mountain of the Dead.
(gentle sloshing)
(loud splash)
RUTH: What do you want?
Uh... uh, nothing.
Uh, it doesn't matter.
RUTH: Wait.
Is something wrong with you?
No, there's, uh, nothing wrong with me.
That's just it.
Then what is it you want?
Well, I, uh...
There was a razor with your Bible.
I, uh...
Well, it can wait.
Why do you want a razor?
Well, for shaving.
Shaving?
Well, if you can't remember it,
it's, uh, it's a little difficult to describe.
- You see, most men... - I know.
I remember watching my father.
I'll get it for you.
Uh, no, no, no, no. It can wait.
There is something the matter.
What is it?
♪♪
Um...
my education, uh...
just interfered with my thinking for a minute.
Uh, but it's all right.
- Pa. - Hmm?
Pa, Adam's horse just came in.
Adam's horse?
Yes, sir, and he's still got the saddle on him.
There's no marks on him, Pa, no nothing.
Horse seems to be all right.
Yeah, nobody's ridden him for a while, either.
LITTLE JOE: Yeah.
Fool boy probably got down for water.
Come on, Pa, you know better than that.
Pa, I think we ought to go after him.
Joe, you... get some food ready.
- Right, Pa. - Hoss, saddle up the horses.
Better bring a spare.
My father had a big strap to make his razor sharp.
Does it hurt?
A little.
Has to be done, though.
Otherwise, the beard'd be down to here.
Uh, some men let their beards grow,
but, uh, others shave them off.
Ouch.
(laughs)
I think you would be better off with your beard down to here.
You know, I think maybe you're right.
(chuckles)
(sighs)
You're very nice when you smile.
You've done enough.
I can finish.
It looks much better.
Naturally-- it takes a real engineer.
(chuckles)
- Let me help you. - (Adam groans)
Ah!
(sighing)
Anytime.
Sit down.
Building a roof with one leg.
Man has to earn his keep.
Not with a wound like this.
Do you know what your name means?
My name?
Ruth.
Means compassion, pity.
Until now, I never believed it.
You will be able to leave very soon.
Why are you afraid of me?
I fear no man.
Ruth?
You forgot this.
♪♪
No, Kaska, no.
Do you, too, wish to be struck down
by the medicine of the White Buffalo Woman,
as my son was?
Her powers are greater than all the medicine
of the Shoshone.
That is why she must go back with us.
Only she can save our people from the great sickness.
Tiowa, Kaska...
find her camp, then return to me.
"And a certain man of Bethlehem-Judah went
"to sojourn in the country of Moab,
he and his wife and his two sons."
You read very well.
The Old Testament, Book of Ruth.
Like you, she, uh, she had gone into a strange land.
"And the name of the man was..."
"...Elimelech,
and the name of his wife-- Naomi."
"Entreat me not to leave thee..."
"...or to return from following after thee."
A long time ago, my father used to read it to me.
That part of my life died with him.
Finish the quotation.
"For whither thou goest I will go,
and where thou lodgest I will lodge."
"And thy people shall be my people
and thy God, my God."
Ruth...
Come back with me.
Back... where?
Where you belong.
Leave White Buffalo Woman where she belongs,
with the graves of the past.
I found peace here.
The people who are buried here have found peace.
What you've found is a hiding place.
What can your world offer me that I don't have right here?
People of your own kind.
I know nothing but evil of my father's people.
Look, Ruth, you say this is your home, where you belong.
Well, it, it can't be.
Why can't it be?
Because you're alone.
I have a... a stubborn father and two hardheaded brothers.
And to me they're home, no matter where they live.
Well, I, I have no one.
On this mountain you're a legend,
and a legend leads a lonely life.
In the world out there, you wouldn't be alone.
Music, books, sound of laughter.
All you have to do is... is come back
and let me do the rest.
Ruth, come back with me.
No, no, let me be.
Ruth, Ruth, you can't keep on running.
Whatever you're hiding from must be faced, and now!
I can't.
- Please let me go. - Ruth, tell me.
Ruth, tell me now, what really happened?
Two of those men caught me.
I fell and, and they were,
they were there, laughing.
They grabbed me, and one of them...
one of them hit me and...
(panting softly)
I got my hand on a knife.
His face.
He screamed...
and I broke away and ran.
(sobbing): I ran.
And now you can forget it.
(Ruth sobbing)
♪♪
Chato, Shaman of the Shoshone,
brings you tribute.
I accept your tribute, Chato,
but not your presence here with your warriors.
Only the spirit of the Great White Buffalo Woman
can conquer the sickness that has come to our lodges.
My heart cries for your people,
but the White Buffalo Woman must stay here
with the ashes of the past.
The ashes of the past, or the lies of the white man?
To the spirit woman, Chato, all men are brothers.
It is for me to judge
who is welcome on the Mountain of the Dead.
You have my answer.
Take your warriors.
You must go.
Not without you.
But Adam, don't you understand?
They'll kill you.
I won't go without you.
Then we'll find a way past the Shoshone together.
Wait here and watch.
When the white man is alone, take him alive.
She will hear my words... or watch him die.
Dear Lord, accept these souls into Heaven.
May they rest in peace forever and ever.
Amen.
(whooping and cheering in distance)
Well, from the signs, Adam got this far.
But he didn't meet the same fate these two trappers did.
Well, where do you think he'd go from here?
Must have gone into the mountain.
Adam would know better than that.
Yeah, maybe he had no choice.
Well, we're not going to find him
standing around here.
♪♪
You weren't asleep at all.
Didn't you ever hear of the spider and the fly?
Now I know why they gave me my name.
My folks must have known that
I belonged in the Garden of Eden.
I wonder if they knew about me...
...and the Shoshone.
Ruth...
we'll leave tonight.
I want you to have something.
When a man is betrothed to a woman...
...he gives her a ring.
And as long as she wears that ring,
they belong to each other.
Adam, I will be your wife.
I love you very much.
Love...
honor...
and obey.
I kind of like that last word.
That last word, Mr. Cartwright,
we'll talk about when I get back.
Adam?
It's a beautiful ring.
(splash)
(rifle hammer cocks)
♪♪
(speaking native language)
(grunting)
(grunts)
(grunts, groans)
(thud)
Adam?
(birds chirping)
(neighing)
(birdlike whistling in distance)
Joe?
(Ben sighs)
We must have missed something.
There's only one thing to do.
Go back to where we buried those trappers
and start all over again.
And turn over every rock, if we have to.
(animal howling in distance)
Shall I bring the spirit woman now?
No, Kaska.
The spirit woman must come to us willingly.
She won't come here.
She will for you.
It won't work.
You got the wrong bait.
She is here.
Ruth, get out of here.
You dare violate the sacred lodge
of White Buffalo Woman?
You would not hear my words.
And this one?
Do the Shoshone make war with the wounded?
My people must have the medicine of the spirit woman,
or they will die.
RUTH: And the white man?
He will die...
unless you go with us.
Release him, or you will die now
by the hand of White Buffalo Woman.
Then destroy us now.
We will not go without you.
My people need you.
Ruth, don't.
RUTH: Stop!
Spare his life,
and you shall have the medicine of White Buffalo Woman.
(animal howling in distance)
Cut him loose.
Ruth, you can't. I won't let you do it...
Ruth.
Ruth! Ruth, no! Don't! Run!
Get out of here, Ruth!
Ruth! Go!
(groans)
Wither thou goest,
I will go.
I'm ready, Shaman.
When we are beyond the Mountain of the Dead,
take him to the camp of the spirit woman.
He will find his way back to his people.
I am ready, Shaman.
We must hurry, Spirit Woman.
Already, too many of our people lie dead.
Even your sons.
Even my sons.
We will do all we can for the Shoshone who still live.
Pa! Hoss!
Adam?
(Adam groans softly)
Let's turn him over.
Easy. Easy with him.
Adam?
Pa?
Yeah.
Ruth?!
Easy, boy.
Dat-gone, Adam.
Looks like you tangled with a grizzly.
Yeah, and got beat.
The Shoshone took Ruth.
Who?
Girl that saved my life.
She lives here.
A girl here?
Fever.
She's not imaginary.
She's real.
Her name is Ruth Halversen.
There's a Bible in the hut.
How come the Shoshone took her, Adam?
They thought she was a spirit.
A reincarnation of one of their gods.
I'm going after her. I got to find her.
You try to stop me, I'll walk all over you, both of you.
LITTLE JOE: Pa?
Found a Bible.
Some writing in the front.
An Olaf Halversen.
Daughter Ruth, born 1840.
Oh, something inside, marking a page.
I gave her this ring.
I wanted to marry her.
If she left
this ring behind,
then she must have gone of her own free will.
She did it to save my life.
That's why I've got to go after her.
And if you do that,
you sign her death warrant, for sure.
Oh, she... she's a girl.
She's not a spirit woman, that's true.
But the Shoshone believe she is.
And if you destroy that belief in her,
you destroy her.
You destroy them, too.
That's right, Adam.
If they believe in her that strongly,
then, maybe she'll be able to be of some help to them.
You've got to let her go for now, Adam.
Maybe someday...
Come on, let's get some food.
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