The first Grandfather tells Black Elk that his Grandfathers all over the world are having a council and that they will teach him. Black Elk then realizes that these are the Powers of the World. Each of the six Grandfathers in turn tells Black Elk something about himself and his people's future and gives him a symbolic object. The first Grandfather gives Black Elk a wooden cup of water that contains the sky, which is the power to live, and a bow, which is the power to destroy. He tells Black Elk that his spirit is Eagle Wing Stretches and then turns into a starving black horse. The second Grandfather gives him an herb that fattens the black horse, which becomes the first Grandfather again. The second Grandfather tells Black Elk that he will make a nation live and that he will have the power of the white giant's wing; he turns into a white goose. The third Grandfather gives him a peace pipe with a spotted eagle on it and tells him that he will make well whatever is sick. He points to a red man who turns into a bison and joins the sorrel horses that also turn into bison. The fourth Grandfather gives him a red stick, sprouted and with birds in its branches, saying that it is the living center of a nation and that Black Elk will save many. Black Elk thinks he sees in the shade of the stick a village of people lying like a hoop, the stick in the middle blooming like a tree at the intersection of a red road and a black road. The fourth Grandfather tells Black Elk that the north-south road (the red one) is good and the east-west road (black) is trouble and war. He says that Black Elk will walk with power on both and will destroy a people's foes. He then turns into an elk. The fifth Grandfather turns into a spotted eagle and tells Black Elk that he will have a special relationship with birds. The sixth Grandfather changes before his eyes, regressing in age until he is a boy who is Black Elk himself. He tells Black Elk that he will have his, the Grandfather's, power and that his nation will know great trouble. He gives him the name Eagle Wing Stretches.
After the Grandfathers finish speaking to him, a voice summarizes all he has been given. In his vision, he rides the bay horse until he comes across a blue man in a flaming river. White troops, red troops, and yellow troops try to charge the blue man, and are beaten. Black Elk succeeds in killing him, and knows that he has taken the form of rain and killed drought.
