The Roan Stallion by Alfreda Beartrack Algeo

It is the summer of 1930 and Alfred is on his way to work at the Looking Rock Ranch, southwest of Reliance. Alfred tames horses for the ranch owner, Mr. Looking Rock. At Beaver Creek, Alfred decides to stop at a favourite spot and that's when he spots a blue roan stallion which he identifies as a Medicine Hat horse, sacred to his Lakota people. Alfred is so distracted by the beautiful horse that he doesn't notice the approaching tornado and he and the horse are caught up in it but survive their ordeal. 

Since his father left to find work in the big city over two years ago, Alfred, his younger brother Elmer, and his mother have been living with his grandparents on their farm. But his grandfather is getting older and finding the farm harder to work. Alfred has a secret plan: to win the relay race at the White River Frontier Days and with the prize money, purchase a tractor for his grandfather.  He needs one more horse for his relay team, and the blue roan just might be that horse!

Instead of continuing on to the ranch, Alfred returns home, only to find his beloved yellow lab, Chepa has died. Devastated, Alfred places Chepa on his horse, Anpo and sets out to bury his dog. But while preparing the grave, Chepa opens his eyes and Alfred realizes that his dog has eaten his mother's dough, causing him to pass out. He returns home, thankful that Chepa is alive.

A week later and it is branding day at the ranch. Alfred decides to stay overnight at the ranch  in the bunkhouse so he can start work early the next day. At the ranch he meets Mr. Looking Rock's nephew, Johnny Krugerbery. Johnny takes an immediate dislike to Alfred and threatens him in the bunkhouse. However, the round-up and branding goes without incident.

As the summer moves on, Alfred learns some important information about his father. He also begins training the blue roan to become part of his relay team. But when Johnny attempts to take over his uncle's ranch, Alfred and his friends are not only in danger of missing the relay race, but their lives as well.

Discussion

The Roan Stallion continues the story of Alfred Swallow and his family. Beartrack-Algeo engages her readers immediately with a series of events involving Alfred. On his way to a nearby ranch, Alfred encounters an unusual horse, a blue roan stallion which he identifies as a Medicine Hat horse, he gets caught in a tornado and almost loses his beloved dog Chepa. Beartrack-Algeo moves the story along quickly, having Alfred prepare for the relay race but also get caught up in the events going on at the Looking Rock ranch.

Readers may find this story a bit disjointed. For example, at the end of Chapter 4 Medicine Hat, Alfred's grandfather mentions that Alfred needs to "load your sacred pipe and go to your elder, Peter Flying Crow, to help you interpret your encounter with the sky spirit and the Medicine Hat horse." However, the next chapter skips over this entirely, fast-forwarding to a week later when Alfred is to work at the Looking Rock range. It would have been interesting to read about Alfred meeting Peter Flying Crow and what his interpretation of Alfred's experiences was.  Chapter 6 Big Day which focuses on the branding at the ranch, also does the same, ending with Alfred's decision to sleep over at the bunkhouse another night to see possibly what Johnny Krugerbery might be up to. However the next chapter leads off, several weeks into the future with Alfred talking about his training of the roan stallion. Did Alfred learn anything about what Johnny was up to? 

In The Roan Stallion, Alfred learns more about his father, whom he is eventually reunited with at the end of the novel. Beartrack-Algeo continues to develop Alfred as a character; he is boy determined to do the right thing and live a life of honor, in the tradition of his people, the Lakota. Alfred shows respect to his elders, to the animals and nature around him. He's also not afraid to confront evil when he and his friends take on Johnny and his gang. But at the heart of this story is Alfred, who seeing the difficulty his grandfather is having in working the farm, is moved to act: his goal is to win the relay race prize money so he can buy his grandfather a new tractor. 

Once again, the author also uses the character of Alfred's grandfather to show the impact of the white man on the Lakota way of life. When they are preparing for the relay race, Alfred remembers the day he helped Grandfather build fences for their pasture and how the idea of sectioning off the land and building fences is foreign to the Lakota.
"In the old days there no fences and no land ownership, and the buffalo were plenty. Now we find ourselves fenced in like prisoners on reservations. The government issues a card telling us we are Indians, as if we don't know who we are. We are the People, the allies. They ask us to show them this card in order to get food to feed our starving babies. They ask us to show them this card if we want permission to leave our fenced-in reservation. They want to know where we are going and when we will return. Maybe they approve the request, maybe not. Inside the fenced-in reservations, they gave us small parcels. Giving us our own land back? The land were my people hunted our buffalo and cared for our babies? I don't understand. They expect us to be farmers, to grow crops from the poor seeds they give us, but the crops often die. They expect us to be ranchers and fight over the land they gave us. but the sick cattle they send to replace the buffalo they killed often die. They expect us to build fences on the land they gave us, so here we are, Grandson...building fences."

The Roan Stallion is a short, heart-warming story set at the beginning of the Great Depression. It has plenty of action, and believable characters who highlight some important virtues such as charity, consideration, industriousness and determination. This short novel also informs young readers about the Lakota people who shared the prairies with the vast herds of buffalo and how their lives were changed forever by the coming of the white settlers. A third installment of this series is much anticipated!

Book Details:

The Roan Stallion by Alfreda Beartrack-Algeo
Summertown, Tennessee: 7th Generation Book Publishing Company     2023
121 pp.

The Land Grab: The Legend of Big Heart by Alfreda Beartrack-Algeo

The Land Grab is the first in a trilogy about Alfred Swallow and his Lakota family's life as Lakota people attempting to save what's left of their traditional way of life and their beliefs. In this short story, Alfred and his grandfather struggle to prevent corrupt government agents from stealing their land.

It is 1929 and eleven-year-old Alfred Swallow lives with his grandparents, Thomas and Lucille Plenty Buffalo, his nine--year brother Elmer, and his mother. They live on the Kul Wicasa Lakota Reservation in Iron Nation, South Dakota. Prior to this, Alfred and his family lived in a house two miles west of his grandparents. Alfred's father had moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming to find work and send money home. But months later they had to move in with Alfred's grandparents. Despite this Alfred and his family are living according to their traditional values.

For the first day of spring, Alfred along with his brother Elmer and their grandfather, walk to the Missouri River for a water ceremony. Grandfather tells Alfred that soon it will be time to dream his spirit name, the name that will protect him. Alfred has already had such dreams but he doesn't tell Grandfather. Alfred's face is painted with sacred red-earth clay, his scalp lock bearing a golden eagle feather and he's wearing a pair of hard-soled quilled deerskin moccasins. Playing an elk-skin drum, Alfred sings the four directions song while his grandfather prays to the Great Spirit, Creator.

On Easter Sunday, after attending services at the Messiah Episcopal Church, Alfred decides to go to Medicine Creek to catch some fish for dinner. Accompanying him is his yellow Labrador, Chepa. He also brings his canvas tote bag containing water, dried deer pemmican and his sketch book and charcoal sticks. As he begins to draw an old gray cedar tree, Alfred hears Chepa bark. The black stone he picked up at the Missouri River seems to grow warm and vibrate.

Alfred notices a gray wolf next to the cedar tree, bearing her teeth and growling. He can hear her wolf pups likely near the cedar tree. Then with Chepa charging the wolves, the alpha wolf attacks Alfred, biting him in the thigh. He manages to strike the alpha wolf with a piece of driftwood, making him retreat. A large golden eagle comes to Alfred's rescue, dropping tree limbs in front of him. He is able to make a dogwood travois and walks home with a badly wounded Chepa on the travois before collapsing. Alfred awakens a week later, weak but recovering, to find his grandmother has stitched his wounds.

Alfred's best friend, Orson High Elk comes to visit and helps him repair the chicken coop after it had been raided by a fox. As they finish, the two boys watch as a black Model T pulls into the driveway. It is Mr. Jim O'Neil, superintendent for the Lower Brule Agency. Superintendent O'Neil offers Grandfather "fifty-six cents an acre for your six hundred and forty acres along the river bottom." Grandfather adamantly refuses O'Neil's offer, telling him that six hundred and twenty of those acres belong to Alfred and Elmer as allotted acres. He also tells O'Neil that what he is doing is illegal, that the price is unfair and too low, and that tilling the soil during a drought and planting non-Indigenous crops like Russian olives is not wise. He orders O'Neil off his property. Furious, O'Neil warns Grandfather that he will use the power he has to forcibly take his land.

Alfred races into the house after O'Neil leaves, questioning Grandfather if they will lose their land. Grandfather is upset but tells Alfred he needs time to consider what has happened. As O'Neil continues to threaten Grandfather, Alfred becomes determined to help save their land. But doing so places both Alfred and his grandfather in grave danger.

Discussion

The Land Grab is based on the life of Alfreda Beartrack's father, Alfred Zeigler's experiences growing up with her great-grandfather, Thomas Plenty Buffalo during the late 1920's. 

The Lakota, like many other Indian nations, did not have the same view of land as the Europeans who came to settle in North America. They saw the land as having no formal boundaries and was something to be used and shared by all. However, when U.S. government agents arrived in the area in 1804, they began to force the various Indigenous nations and tribes into treaties and agreements, the purpose of which was to set boundaries where they could live and in many cases to simply remove them from the land altogether. Further land grabs were designed to disband the nations and tribes and force them into assimilation with the white European culture. One way of doing this was the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887 in which individual heads of households were allotted land in increments of one hundred sixty acres. Smaller allotments were given to other members of a family. The land not allotted to Indian people was sold off by the government to non-Indians. 

In The Land Grab, the corrupt superintendent for the Lower Brule Agency, attempts to cheat Alfred's family out of their land. Thomas Plenty Buffalo learns that land documents are being tampered with, that several people are involved including some in the Office of Indian Affairs, in order to force Tribal members off their land allotments. Thomas Plenty Buffalo sees his land set on fire and is assaulted and kidnapped! With the help of a relative, Alfred's great-aunt, Pearl, and their fierce determination not to be scared off their land, Alfred and his family are able to save their land.

Alfreda Beartrack Algeo has written an engaging story that highlights the connection of the Lakota to their land, features some of their traditional beliefs and practices, and the strong inter-generational bond that existed within Lakota families. For example, upon hearing that the superintendent intends to plant non-native plants during a period of drought, Alfred's grandfather, states that this is not wise and that he will be maintaining the native grasses. When Alfred mentions to his grandfather that he plans to not only shoot the large old turkey but also take another one, his grandfather explains, "One turkey is enough. Remember, we should only take what we need and no more. When we need another turkey it will be there for us."  In fighting to protect his allotment, Thomas Plenty Buffalo is teaching Alfred the importance of integrity and justice. He does this within the law, rather than acting rashly.

Despite Alfred's father seemingly having abandoned his family, Alfred continues to think the best of his father, believing that he will someday return. He has a close bond with his grandparents and other family members. After helping his grandfather save their land and farm from a fire set by O'Neil and Miller, Alfred tells him, "Grandfather, you are my protector and my teacher. I love you deeply and honor you greatly. I will work hard and help you all I can. I hope you have a good night." Alfred shows his deep respect and love of his grandfather, a theme repeatedly demonstrated by the young boy whenever he interacts with the adults in his life. 

Alfred's character is revealed through his actions. He shows courage and compassion when he saves the life of Junior White Hail, the boy who has been mercilessly bullying him at school.  In doing so, he earns Junior's loyalty and friendship and comes to understand why Junior has been bullying him. He shows ingenuity and quick-thinking when he goes to see his Great-Aunt Pearl about the land documents he finds, knowing she can best help his family.

The Land Grab is an easy, quick, high-interest read that will appeal to reluctant readers, especially boys. Beartrack-Algeo's story is action driven, with believable characters who highlight many important virtues such as industriousness, honesty, filial respect, and kindness. Unfortunately, with the exception of Deputy Sheriff John Riggs who accepts the evidence Thomas Plenty Buffalo provides, all the white characters are portrayed as corrupt.

Alfreda Beartrack-Algeo is a member of the Lower Brule Lakota Nation, Kul Wicasa Oyate, Lower Brule, South Dakota. She is a storyteller and artist who currently resides in Colorado.

Book Details:

The Land Grab: The Legend of Big Heart by Alfreda Beartrack-Algeo
Summertown, TN: 7th Generation Book Publishing Company     2022
119 pp.