Black Elk regains consciousness after experiencing his vision and feels as if he has returned home after a journey. His parents tell him that he was deathly ill for twelve days and that Whirlwind Chaser, the medicine man, cured him. Black Elk's father gives Whirlwind Chaser a horse to express his gratitude. Black Elk wants to tell people about his experience, but he feels that the meaning of the vision cannot be put into words; he is afraid that he will be misunderstood. Whirlwind Chaser tells Black Elk's parents that there is something special about him, which makes Black Elk afraid that he knows about the vision.
Black Elk feels alienated from those around him and wishes he were back in the place of his vision. He goes hunting to forget about the vision, but cannot shoot a bird because he remembers that the Grandfathers of his vision told him he would be a relative of the birds. He does shoot a frog, however, and then weeps at having killed it.
Standing Bear speaks to affirm that Black Elk suffered his illness while the Indians were moving camp. He says that after he recovered, Black Elk was not himself and seemed more like an old man than a young boy. Standing Bear goes on to say that the big bison hunt, which took place shortly after Black Elk recovered, distracted people such that they did not notice Black Elk's strangeness anymore.
Black Elk continues his story about the bison hunt. A crier came to the Indians one day and told them to break camp because a large herd of bison could be hunted nearby. Standing Bear remembers that the hunt was in July and that, at the age of thirteen, he killed his first mature buffalo. Black Elk describes the great celebration after the successful hunt and the games the young boys played, including endurance trials, as part of the festivities.
