Seven families of Pte people chose to leave their underworld homes and come to this world. Their leader was Tokahe. But since the cave route is too complicated for Pte people to traverse on their own, the wolf met them in the underworld and guided them to this world. The seven families of men, women and children followed the wolf all day through the cave. It is interesting to note that when Tokahe and the other three scouts traveled through the cave, they did so during a full moon, instead of during the day. Thus, whereas the scouts emerged onto the earth in full daylight, now the families had to do so in darkness.

Earlier in the narrative, Iktomi told the wolf to guide Tokahe and the families far from food and water. But Anunk Ite was unaware of his scheming. She longed for her relatives, and expected the wolf to guide them to her. In the traditional way, she might have left an “invitation stick” at the entrance to the cave to tell her relatives that she was looking forward to sharing a meal with them soon.

The idea to create a modern interpretation of such a reminder came to Tilda St. Pierre in a dream. In the dream, she was given a handful of thin sticks and asked to deliver them, but she didn’t understand what they were. After she awoke from the dream, she asked an elder about the sticks and was told that they were invitation sticks. Invitation sticks traditionally were sent by a messenger to invite people to a feast or important event and tell them the time and place. When the recipients arrived, they presented their sticks to the host as evidence of their invitation. The hosts reciprocated by feasting the guests and often gave them presents. Tilda adds that both the guests and the hosts “have to honor that invitation.”

Tilda sees her invitation stick as one Anunk Ite would have left at the entrance of Wasun Niya for the new arrivals “to come take a look at this beautiful, fresh, green world with different plants and edible berries and different animals for the Lakota people to nourish themselves.” Adorning the invitation stick are representations of objects in this world that did not exist in the underworld. According to Tilda, the invitation stick “represents everything that is important to the Lakota people.”

Six brave men chose to go with Tokahe. They took their women and children and went from the camp. The wolf met them and guided them through the cave, all day