The legendary White Buffalo Calf Woman said that when the last buffalo dies, the world will end. The zookeeper caring for the only remaining American Bison is about to see that prophecy fulfilled.
Dr. John Hollow Horn is a zoo veterinarian entrusted with the world’s last American Bison. Hollow Horn is dying of lung cancer, and the world around him is dying, too, suffocated and starved by pollution and decay.
He shares with his colleagues the Lakota legends he learned as a boy, saying “Guess now that I’m getting near the end, I’m getting closer to my beginnings.”
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This dystopian science fiction short story is based on the legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman, who prophesied that when the last buffalo dies, the world will end.