In the Prologue, Momaday says that “In one sense, then, the way to Rainy Mountain is preeminently the history of an idea, man’s idea of...

Momaday is following the geographical path of his ancestors, the Kiowa people, from western Montana and northwestern Wyoming and to the east, to the Black Hills of South Dakota; then south to the area near Rainy Mountain in southwestern Oklahoma. As he traces their migration on land, he also traces their history and culture. He comes to understand how the Kiowa define themselves and place themselves on the American plains and in the realm of the greater universe. Since his grandmother was his own last living link to the native traditions of the past, Momaday has only the Kiowa legends and stories to guide him. Theirs is an oral tradition, as the tales were passed down through the generations by shamans and storytellers. So while the Kiowa journey is both historical and geographical, it is also oral and linguistic. Momaday does his best to capture all of it here.