Black Elk participates in the well-known Battle of Little Big Horn. Although Crazy Horse fought with the white men on the Rosebud River, it was only to prevent them from attacking at the sun dance. During this time, the Indians just wanted to be left alone because they were, after all, on their own land. Feeling increasingly threatened, Black Elk relocates with his people to a big camp near the Greasy Grass (Little Big Horn River).
The medicine man Hairy Chin dresses and paints Black Elk as a bear to participate in a curing ceremony for Rattling Hawk, who was shot in the hip at the Battle of the Rosebud the week before. When Black Elk dresses as a bear, he regains some sense of his vision and can feel that danger is approaching. Rattling Hawk is healed, and Black Elk and the other boys go swimming later to wash their paint off. Everyone around them is having "kill talks," recounting the brave deeds that have recently been performed, and dancing.
