“Flight of the Eagle ”

Since the Plains Indian shared his home with the animals and the birds, he acknowledged their close kinship and believed that God put them on earth to teach men valuable lessons. He accepted that all things had a common creator and that the animals possessed God -given abilities that he would like to possess such as bravery, craftiness, endurance or physical attributes. The eagle was considered to be a solar bird, and a prime representative of the Great Spirit.

The eagle, being a bird of pray, typified the courage and dash needed for success in war and was indeed studied and emulated by any warrior who had seen the bird as his helper in a vision. The Sioux Warrior in this sculpture aspires to the flight of the eagle.