Anunk Ite must have been conflicted. She was unbearably lonely for her Pte relatives, but the only way to see them would be if they left their homes in the underworld and moved to this world. Moreover, she would have to conspire with Iktomi–the trickster who had caused her to be banished from her relatives–in order to entice them to leave the underworld. Iktomi, on the other hand, desperately wanted Pte people on this earth so he could play tricks on them.

Dyani White Hawk powerfully captures the instant prior to the momentous sealing of the deal between Anunk Ite and Iktomi that led to her relatives in the underworld being tricked into coming to this world. In a grassy plain devoid of trees and other people, the two conspirators, a cautious distance apart, reach out tentatively to shake hands. The narrative says, “He told her that he was sorry and ashamed because he had caused her to suffer, and that he wished to do that which would please her.” Anunk Ite, standing with her head bowed, covers part of her face, whereas Iktomi hides crouched beneath a painted buffalo robe. In Dyani’s view, the two of them are “ashamed of the exchange they are about to make, and are being really careful, but they both need it.” A small sparkling four-pointed star highlights the crossing of their fingers, and recalls that in addition to their Pte ancestors in the underworld, Lakotas also have relatives in the sky.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder encircling the scene are Anunk Ite’s Pte relatives in the underworld. At the four cardinal directions are leaders wearing buffalo headdresses. They are standing on a thin light-colored band that appears to be quilled and that separates their underworld from a circle of stylized red and blue tipis in this world. The beautiful sunburst design on Iktomi’s robe is based on a painted buffalo robe by Herman Red Elk. It recalls Wi, a powerful spirit. Yet even he was tricked by Iktomi. Now in this world, Iktomi needs to lure more people from the underworld so he can play tricks on them. So when he and Anunk Ite shake hands, Dyani believes “that’s the moment of emergence.” Like their first agreement, which ultimately resulted in their banishment from the underworld, Anunk Ite and Iktomi are setting in motion a scheme with ramifications that even they could not have foreseen.

He sat with his head bowed and his robe drawn over it as if he were grieved or in sorrow. Many times she peeped and saw him sitting thus. In the evening she gathered wood near him, but he did not speak. Then she went to him and asked him why he sat with his head bowed. He told her that he was sorry and ashamed because he had caused her to suffer, and that he wished to do that which would please her. She said that nothing would please her until she could be with her people. He told her that if she would tell him how he could bring her people, he would do so. She told him that if her people tasted meat and saw clothes and tipis made of skins they would covet such things and come where they could get them. He told her that if she would help him he would trick her no more and she agreed. Since that time Iktomi has not played a prank on the double-woman.