cover image Lying Down Mountain: Book Three in the White Buffalo Woman Trilogy

Lying Down Mountain: Book Three in the White Buffalo Woman Trilogy

Heyoka Merrifield, Heyoehkah Merrifield. Beyond Words Publishing, $12 (192pp) ISBN 978-1-58270-153-0

In this preachy conclusion to Merrifield's White Buffalo Woman Trilogy, a Hopi-inspired narrative and photos of the author's artwork combine for a cliched tale about the dangers hubris. Sacred twins and lovers Spotted Cat and White Bison Calf (now grown and renamed Jaguar and White Buffalo Woman) are welcomed by the Peaceful People into the Land of the Lying Down Mountain. Peace is briefly shattered when a tribe of violent nomads attempts to raid the Peaceful People's land. Tranquility is restored when the tribe offers to share an extravagant feast. Time passes and White Buffalo gives birth to a daughter-Dream Catcher-who, true to her name, has prophetic dreams. The book ends on a note of hope and warning, with preciously prescient dreams about an unbalanced future in which humans are disconnected from and heedless of their impact on the Earth. (Also mentioned are air that burns human lungs and a deadly ""gourd-shaped cloud"" that spills hot ash across the landscape.) Merrifield offers a message of peace and reconnection with the Earth that is well-intentioned if overly simplistic.