Once, Iron Shell, a headman of the Sioux, was among the last to leave the encampment during a move to a summer village location. As he and his family were leaving the old site they came across a forlorn, ancient woman sitting alone with a small suppy of food and water.
"What is the reason you sit here, Grandmother?" Iron Shell asked her.
"I am old and worthless," she replied. "My son can no longer care for me, so I shall sit here to die."

Iron Shell did not feel that this was right, so he arranged her on a travois with her meager bundles and made her a member of his procession.

When Iron Shell's party reached the new camping site, he led the old woman on the travois to her son's lodge. This was a poor family and they owned only one horse. Iron Shell called on the son saying, "Here is your mother." And pointing to the horse that carried her on the travois, he said, "Here is a horse for her. Don't you ever again leave her like that."

The son was glad to see his mother and as long as she lived, he dragged her from camp to camp with his family.