Long ago it was the cottonwood tree who taught us how to make our tipis, for the leaf is an exact pattern of the tipi, and this we learned when some of our old people were watching little children making play houses from these leaves. This too is a good example of how much grown men and women may learn from very little children, for the hearts of little children are pure, and, therefore, the Great Spirit may show to them many things which older people miss.
— Black Elk , All Our Relatives by Paul Goble