Comparison

At heart, Chanuka and Neosho are friends, but to their tribes they are enemies. Chanuka is from the Ojibway Indian tribe and Neosho is from the Dakota Indian tribe. The two boys are from very different Indian tribes, so they have different characteristics. The Ojibway Indians live in forests, while the Dakota live on the prairies. Both of the tribes hunt for their food, but the Dakota hunt buffalo and the Ojibway hunt for deer or moose. The two boys love to go on adventures, but Neosho knew so little about moose that he almost got severely injured by one. Chanuka has never gotten hurt by a moose because the Ojibways hunt and understand them.

The friendship between Chanuka and Neosho is not that normal. They have never spoken to each other. Although, Neosho tried to tell Chanuka about himself, he would not listen because Neosho was of the enemy tribe. A symbol of the two boys' friendship would be the moccasins. However, the moccasins are different. Neosho's moccasins are made of buffalo hide and are bigger, while Chanuka's are beaded and smaller.
So, both of the tribes of Chanuka and Neosho are similar in many ways, but are different in many more.

Summary

The Buffalo Dance was about a boy named Chanuka, from the tribe of the Ojibway Indians, and a boy named Neosho, from the enemy tribe, the Dakotas. The land between the Ojibways and Dakotas was unknown. Chanuka liked to explore new places so he went and explored the unknown land. Chanuka found a boy there, hurt. The boy was Neosho, he had been charged by a moose. Chanuka realized that Neosho was a Dakota. Chanuka decided to stay with him for a few days to help him regain his strength and then take him back to his tribe as a captive. Once Neosho was feeling better he tried to tell Chanuka about himself, but Chanuka wouldn't listen, so Neosho just stopped talking. However, the two boys did hunt and fish together. Chanuka and Neosho developed a special friendship during their time together. Chanuka made a decision to not take Neosho back to his tribe and let him go back to his own tribe because of their friendship.

Chanuka went back home alone. After he got home, time passed and he waited and waited for a punishment, but never got one. Later on, the Chief summoned Chanuka to his lodge. The Chief wanted Chanuka to go to the Dakota tribe and see if they had brought in a good or bad amount of buffalo. The reason the Chief wanted him to go was to see how strong they were so the Ojibways could suprise attack the Dakotas once again. So Chanuka went off and did as he was told. Once Chanuka arrived, he saw that the Dakota had brought back a ton of food from their hunting trip. To prove that he did see that the Dakotas had brought food back, Chanuka decided to bring something of the Dakotas back. He was going to sneak off during The Buffalo Dance, but he ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time, so he would get seen and get captured by the Dakotas. The Buffalo Dance was to celebrate all the buffalo that Dakota killed. But all of a sudden, Neosho saw him before anyone else and helped him escape. Neosho was dressed up as a horse in The Buffalo Dance and had Chanuka become part of the horse too. The two switched moccasins, which Chanuka brought back to the Chief.

When Chanuka got back to his village, he went to the Chief and told him the Dakota had plenty of food and it would not be a good idea to attack them. Chanuka was very thankful for the outcome and happy that he had saved his new friend from battle.