The Comanche People moaned aloud to the Great Spirit:
"O Great Spirit, our land is dying and we are dying too. Tell us what we have done wrong to make you so angry. End this terrible drought and save your People before we perish altogether. Tell us what we must do so that once more you will send the rain and restore our land to life."
For three days the People prayed this prayer and dancers danced the prayer. And the People waited and waited, prayed and prayed, but no rain came. And it was very hard on the little children and the old folk.
Among the few children who had not died from hunger was a small girl named She-Who-Sits-Alone. Apart from the crowd, she watched her People pray and dance. In her lap she held a doll that she treasured above all things. It was a warrior doll with a bone belt and beaded leggings, and on its head were blue feathers from the blue jay.
She-Who-Sits-Alone spoke to her doll. "Soon," she said, "the elders will go off to the top of the mountain. They will listen to the winds that carry the wisdom of the Great Spirit. Then we shall know what to do once more to make the rains come and restore the earth."
The elders ? in accord with what she had told her doll ? went to the hills to listen to winds carrying the voice of the Great Spirit. After many sunsets the elders returned and the people gathered to listen to their message.
The elders said solemnly, "The Great Spirit says that the people have become selfish. For years they have taken from the earth but they have not given anything back. So the Great Spirit says that they must make a sacrifice. They must make a burnt offering of their most valued possession. Then the ashes of such offerings will be scattered on the winds to the four corners of the earth. And when this sacrifice is done, the rains will come and life will return to the earth."
The People gave thanks to the Great Spirit for telling them what they must do, and they went back to their tepees to look for their most valued possessions. One warrior said, "What shall I give? I'm sure the Great Spirit does not want my new bow." A woman added, "I know the Great Spirit does not want my special blanket either." And so it went all throughout the village. Everyone had an excuse to keep what he or she valued most.
Except She-Who-Sits-Alone. She held her warrior doll to her chest and at last spoke to it. "It is you the Great Spirit wants, for you are my most valued possession." And she knew what she had to do.
Later that night, when everyone was asleep, She-Who-Sits-Alone crawled out from her blanket, took a lighted stick from the campfire and crept outside. She went to the top of the mountain, placed the lighted stick on the ground, and spoke aloud: "O Great Spirit, here is my warrior doll. It is the only thing I have from my mother and father. It is my most prized possession. Please accept it."
Still holding her doll, she gathered some twigs and fanned up a fire and held her doll near it. She hesitated and tears began to roll down her cheeks. But then she thought of her parents and grandparents and her friends who had died from the hunger, and thrust her doll into the fire.
When the flames died down and the ashes cooled, she scooped them up and scattered them to the four winds. She was now tired. So on the hill she fell asleep without her doll, but with a smile on her lips.
The next morning the sun awoke her. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and looked out over the hill. As far as she could see where her doll's ashes had fallen, the ground was covered with beautiful blue flowers like little bluebonnets. They were as blue as the feathers in her doll's hair.
When the People came out of their tepees they could hardly believe their eyes. They ran to the mountain where She-Who-Sits-Alone was gazing upon the wonderful sight. There was no doubt in their minds. The flowers were a sign from the Great Spirit that they were forgiven. And, then and there, they sang and danced and thanked the Great Spirit. Suddenly in the middle of their song and dance, a gentle rain began to fall. The land began to live again and the people were saved.
From that day on She-Who-Sits-Alone was known by another name, the One-Who-Loved-Her-People. And to this day, every spring in the People's land, now called Texas, the Great Spirit remembers the love of the little girl and fills the valleys with beautiful bluebonnet flowers.

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