Manataka American Indian Council
Why Buffalo Has A Hump
Long
ago, when the world was very young, the buffalo had no hump. He got his hump one
summer because of his unkindness to birds.
He
liked to race across the prairies for fun. The foxes would run ahead of him
carrying flowers and
tell the little animals that their chief, the buffalo, was coming.
One
day when Buffalo was racing across the 
plains, he went in the direction of the
place where little birds live on the ground. They called to him and to the foxes
that he was going where their nests were, but 
neither paid any attention to
them. Buffalo raced on and trampled the bird's nest under his heavy feet as the
fox sat eating. Even
when he heard the birds crying, he ran on without stopping.
No
one knew that Nanabozho (Grandfather) was near. But he had heard about the
birds' ruined home, and was sorry for them. He ran 
ahead, got in front of
Buffalo and the foxes, and stopped them. With his stick he hit Buffalo on the
shoulders, hard. Fearing that he would receive another blow, Buffalo humped up
his shoulders.
But Nanabozho only said, "You shall always have a hump on your shoulders, from this day forth. And you shall always carry your head low for shame."
The
foxes, thinking to escape from Nanabozho, ran away, dug holes in the ground, and
hid themselves. But Nanabozho found them and gave them their punishment,
"Because you where unkind to the birds, you shall always live in the cold
ground."
Ever
since then, foxes have had their homes in holes in the ground and buffaloes have
had humped shoulders.