Sweet Medicine and the Four Sacred Arrows
Sweet Medicine (Motsé'eóeve) was the great prophet and law-giver of the Cheyenne people. He journeyed to Nóávóse (Bear Butte) in the Black Hills where Ma'heo'o (the Wise One Above) gave him the four sacred arrows—the Maahótse. Two arrows were for hunting, to ensure success in finding buffalo, and two were for warfare, to protect the people from enemies. Sweet Medicine also received the structure of Cheyenne government, the Council of Forty-Four peace chiefs, the military societies, and the system of legal justice. He predicted the coming of horses, white men, and the loss of the buffalo. He al