Tunka-shila Grandfather Rock
(Lakota [Sioux] Great Plains)

The Lakota (Sioux) people say that in the beginning everything was in
mind of Wakan-Tanka.

All things which were to be existed only as spirits. Those spirits moved
about in space seeking to manifest themselves. They traveled until they
reached the sun, but it was not a good place for creation to begin because it
was too hot. Finally they came to Earth, which was without life and covered
with great waters. There was no dry land at all for life to begin upon. But then,
out of the waters, a great burning rock rose up. It made the dry land appear,
and the clouds formed from the steam it created. Then the life on Earth could begin.
So it is that the rock is called Tunka-shila, "Grandfather Rock,” for it is the oldest one.
Because of that, the rocks must be respected. In the sweat lodge, when the water strikes
the heated stones and that mist rises once again, it brings back the moment of
creation as the people in the lodge sing to Tunka-shila, the Grandfather, the old one.