A small stone, which is usually called a fossil shell of some kind, is known by the Blackfoot people as an I-nis'kim, the buffalo stone. This object is strong medicine and gives its possessor great power with the buffalo.
The stone is found on the prairie, and the person who succeeds in obtaining one is fortunate indeed. Sometimes a man might be riding and hear the singing and if he gets off his horse to find this, he might have to mark the spot and bring the camp back with him to search to try to find the rock. If they find it there is great rejoicing at the find.
Long ago, the buffalo disappeared, and the people were starving. Searching for the buffalo in those days was hard since they did not have horses. Hunters killed elk, deer and other animals that came to the water's edge by the rivers.
In a time when the people were hungry there was a camp by a river bed. One day a young woman was getting water and along the path and she heard the sound of beautiful singing. She listened closely and followed the sound. It sounded like it was close by, but she looked all around and could not see anything.
The song seemed to come from some cotton-wood trees near by the path. Looking closely at the tree she saw it was split, and with it a few hairs of a buffalo which had rubbed there. The woman was a bit frightened and dared not pass the tree. Pretty soon the singing stopped and the I-nis'kim, spoke to the women and said: "Take me to your lodge and when it is dark, call the people and teach them the song you have just heard. Pray, too, that you may not starve, and that the buffalo may come back. Do this, and when the day comes, your hearts will be glad."
The woman went on and got some water, and when she came back, took the rock and gave it to her husband, telling him about the song and what the rock had said. As soon as it was dark, the man called the chiefs and the old men together in his lodge and his wife taught them the song. They prayed too, as the rock had said should be done. Before long, they heard the noise far off. It was the tramp of the great herd of buffalo coming. Then they knew that the rock was very powerful, and ever since that, the people have taken care of it and prayed to it.
George Bird Grinnell (1880) as told to him by Double Runner, Blackfoot Lodge Tales, A Story of a Prairie People, (1993) University of Nebraska Press