Bonanza was one of the longest-running Western television programs that millions of people loved watching during its prime. Due to its popularity, the mighty adventures of the fictional Cartwright family continue for 14 seasons. Cowritten by Joe Stone and Paul King, The Savage, the second season’s twelfth episode, initially aired on December 3, 1960.

Adam Cartwright sees the dead bodies of two white trappers who dared to endeavor a Shoshone burial ground. Despite the apparent violation made by the trappers, Chief Chato (Hal Jon Norman) refused to scalp the dead bodies, as their priority was to find the “White Buffalo Lady.”

Later, Adam rescues a white Shoshone captive long thought to be a “spirit” woman because of her capability to heal the ill.

Read The Savage‘s plotline, including some interesting trivia, or see the full episode below.

Watch the Full Episode of The Savage

Watch the Full Episode of The Savage:

Main Cast

Aside from Bonanza’s main cast, the second season’s twelfth episode, The Savage, also featured some of the series’ recurring and one-time guest members. The cast includes the following:

• Lorne Greene as Ben Cartwright
• Pernell Roberts as Adam Cartwright
• Dan Blocker as Eric ‘Hoss’ Cartwright
• Michael Landon as Joseph ‘Little Joe’ Cartwright
• Anna-Lisa as White Buffalo Woman / Ruth Halversen
• Hal Jon Norman as Chief Chato
• Victor Millan as Dako
• Bob Wiensko as Kaska
• Frank Sentry as Iowa
• Maurice Jara as Tolka
• Henry Wills as McGregor
• Larry Chance as Haddon (uncredited)

Full Story Line for The Savage

Despite seeing the lances set by the Indians as a warning, two white trappers continued venturing into a sacred burial ground. Arrows fly to each trapper as they cross the place, instantly killing them. Chief Chato refused to scalp the trappers, reminding his sons that they arrived not to take scalps but to find the spirit of the so-called “White Buffalo Woman.” He orders one of his sons, Dako, to go beyond the Forbidden Stone, and Tolka volunteers to join his brother.

At the Ponderosa, Ben and Adam argue about Adam wanting to see Ira Fairbanks’ windmills, hoping to develop the same framework to get the water up on the north section of the ranch. Ben believes there’s no need to do so, as they know nothing about Ira Fairbanks, and Adam going for a short trip to Nevada City will leave them short-handed. However, after seeing Adam’s frustration, Ben allows Adam to go as soon as he returns as soon as he can.

En route to Nevada City, Adam reaches the area where the Indians set the lances and finds the dead bodies of the trappers. He suddenly heard a voice from a distance, then followed to see the alleged “spirit woman.” Dako asks her for medicine, stating that people in their village are dying in their lodges. However, the woman declared that she could not do anything for them. Dako insists she helps them, then grabs her arm to stop her from leaving. By then, Dako realized she was not a spirit as they thought, but a white squaw whose presence at the burial ground brings shame and desecration. Dako is about to kill her when Adam interferes, but Tolka shoots him with an arrow, and Adam falls from the mountain. The woman approaches the injured Adam and introduces herself as the White Buffalo Woman. She tends to his wounds and removes the arrow stuck on his leg.

Adam wakes up at the White Buffalo Woman’s camp. There Adam finds a book that reveals the lady’s name as Ruth Halversen. Ruth stops him from reading further, reminding Adam that he’s there because he helped her. Adam can stay until he feels better, but Ruth warns him to keep away from her.

Although displeased, Ruth starts to answer Adam’s questions about her. She revealed that his father never returned after leaving the wagon. A Bannock hunting party found her by springtime and took her to their village. However, white hunters attacked them, killing those that refused to oblige. Ruth fled to the Mountain of the Dead (the sacred burial ground). That’s where a Shoshone found her, believing she was the White Buffalo Woman, a great spirit woman raised from the grave.

Chief Chato’s sons, Dako and Tolka, haven’t returned, so he believed they failed to fulfill their task. He goes to the Mountain of the Dead with a couple of men.

Meanwhile, Adam’s horse returned to the Ponderosa. Joe finds no marks on the horse, and Hoss believes no one has ridden it for a while. Ben tried to shrug it off, assuming the horse went down for water. However, after a moment, they set out to search for Adam.

Chief Chato orders Tiowa and Kaska to find the White Buffalo Woman’s camp. Adam encourages Ruth to return with him to where she belongs, telling her that the mountain will never be her home since she’s living there alone. However, Ruth continues to refuse. Ruth reveals that when two men caught and tried to hurt her, she got her hand on a knife and wounded the man’s face, so she ran to hide. Adam reassures her that she can forget about it, and the two share a kiss. Chief Chato suddenly arrives with his men, offering a tribute to the Great White Buffalo Woman. He requests for her to join them back to their village to cure the sickness of his people, but Ruth refuses, stating she must remain at the mountain with the ashes of the past. Chief Chato and his men leave with a plan in mind.

Meanwhile, Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe arrive at the mountain, where they find the bodies of the trappers. They believe Adam did not die but have no choice other than to go further.

Adam gives Ruth a ring, proposing to her. Ruth accepts to be her wife, then excuses herself for a moment to get something. However, once Adam was alone, two Shoshones arrived, forcing him to join them back to Chief Chato. Adam tried to fight his way out, killing one of them in a fight, but eventually had no choice but to join the other. Ruth returns and finds the Shoshone’s body, worried about Adam.

Chief Chato held Adam hostage—a part of his plan to force the White Buffalo Woman to come to their village willingly. Adam argues that they took the wrong bait. However, Ruth arrives, ordering Chief Chato to release Adam, or they will die. Chief Chato insists they return with her. Ruth offers a deal: they spare Adam’s life, and she’ll heal their people. Chief Chato accepts her offer, but Adam opposes, causing the Shoshone men to strike him. Seeing she has no choice, Ruth tells Chief Chato that she’s ready to join them. Chief Chato orders his men to take Adam to Ruth’s camp, where he’ll find his way back.

The Cartwrights find Adam at the camp, severely injured. Adam wakes and tells them that the Shoshone took the woman who saved his life. Joe gets the Bible, and they find the ring Adam gave her. Adam realized that Ruth willingly joined the Shoshone to save his life. This realization further fueled Adam’s determination to go after her. However, Ben thinks it’s time for him to let her go, assuring Adam that they’ll meet again someday.

Full Script and Dialogue of The Savage

[Music]
those pig stickers mean what i think
they mean
yeah indian for barbed wire why
oh graves indians here bob believe their
ancestors are buried yonder they call it
the mountain of the dead
sort of a sacred burial ground yeah i
guess you might say that even the
indians won't go much past here
hey wait a minute we're not going in
there are we of course we're going in
there
burial ground or no burial ground that's
the best fur trap in country west of the
[Applause]
missouri
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
happy
so
no the white trappers past the lances
they set foot on the mountain they were
punished
we are not here to take scalps
but to find the spirit of white buffalo
woman
[Music]
darko you are my son
but i ask that you go beyond the place
of the forbidden stone
to seek the spirit
[Music]
if my brother is to go beyond the
forbidden stone
i will go with him my father you know
that you go to your death
we know father
[Music]
marco
tulka by these tokens of my medicine
the spirit woman will know you my sons
you must not fail our lives are pledged
[Music]
father
let the lances remain as a warning to
[Music]
others
[Music]
so
[Music]
i wouldn't because we've got cattle to
move that's why
we've got fences to build timber to cut
what do you mean right now this is
yorktown bunker hill and valley forge
all rolled into one
i'll say this just once more this is no
time for a trip to nevada city
paul's winning the only time if i miss
ira fairbanks this trip who knows when
i'll get another chance to see his
windmill
listen anytime adam's talking like that
he's winning
now you know as well as i that we have
roundup facing us next week and you talk
to me about windmills yes windmills
and you know as well as i that it'll
take a miracle to get the water up on
that north section
and fairbanks windmill might be it
fairbanks windmill
all this man has is a theory we know
nothing about him or his reputation
now you can't leave a shorthanded just
to go to talk to man it's probably a
crackpot crackpot
crackpot a long time ago a man fooled
around with a thing he called a cotton
gin his name was switney and they called
him a crackpot too and they said the
same thing about a man called what
until his steam engine made history and
before that there was a man who thought
the world was round
you missed one who in between those last
two gentlemen you mentioned there was
another man who rode around looking for
windmills and his name was don quixote
and he was a crackpot
you and your education education is
progress now what have you got against
it
i don't have anything against education
as long as it doesn't interfere with
your thinking
all right let's get back as soon as you
can
thanks bob
[Music]
hey adam what
nice day for a ride
[Music]
hey poor i'd bet you to won that
argument
windmills
guess the mind just has to do something
about them
foreign
[Music]
[Applause]
hmm
listen to me you must hear my word
come down
spirit woman
i carry the medicine of the shoshone
and the power of our shaman my father
chat
our people die in their lodges
we have need of your medicine i'm sorry
that your people are sick
but there is nothing i can do for them i
have already watched my life
my people wait i'm sorry i promise to
bring you back
you are flesh you
you are as i as other people
even as a young squavar tribe please you
must not do that
you must not touch me
[Applause]
i touch you and i live
my father would not believe that i don't
care about you father
let me be i will take you to my father
he must see that you are nothing but a
white [ __ ]
that you cannot help the shoshone that
your very presence here on this
mountain of our dead is a shame and a
desecration get away from me
i don't care about you superstition
stand up for me i know what would happen
in your village
you would kill me [ __ ]
i would kill you here and now
put it down
i said put it down
[Music]
okay
who are you
help me
come back
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
ah
hmm
[Applause]
who are you
i couldn't hurt you if i wanted to
if i wanted your life i would not have
[Applause]
returned
will you tell me who you are i'm called
white buffalo woman
white buffalo woman
spirit woman of the legends of the
plains indians
i hope you know what you're doing
don't move
thanks
the great white warrior
wow
oh
[Music]
wow
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
bye
hello
[Music]
hello anyone here
[Music]
you
[Music]
foreign
ola halverson born
1810 bergen norway
married elizabeth carr bridgeport
connecticut
1838
daughter ruth born august 3rd 1840
wife died 1846.
july 14th we left saint joe this morning
soldiers said it was too late in the
season to start but daddy laughed at
them
he is not afraid for at home in norway
he was
used to hard winters and heavy snow in
the mountains
october 8th our axle is broken and daddy
left yesterday in the morning and hasn't
come back yet
it is cold and we can hear the howling
of the wall
that blade would not have missed in the
launch of a bannock
and in the home of
ruth halverson you heard my name
a white buffalo woman is a myth
but ruth halverson is or was real
go
remember this you are here because you
helped me
stay until you can travel but keep away
from me or
i'll forget i owe you anything
in other words welcome
aside from your many other
accomplishments i see you also run a
trap line
i trade the pelts for supplies
well now i'm a fair hand with hides um
could i help
until i can travel you're gonna have to
put up with me
now there's no reason why we can't try
to understand each other
how we could start with ruth alverson
ruth halverson was a child what happened
after your father left the wagon
i never saw him again in the spring a
bannock hunting party found me
they took me to their village i stayed
there as one of them
until the hunters came
white hunters they wanted our furs
and when we refused they attacked us
all the braves the women
the children they killed
[Music]
i i found my way here
to the mountain of the dead
so shawnee saw me told his people he had
seen
white buffalo woman raced from the grave
to them i'm a great spirit woman
[Music]
until today they've left me in peace
here in my own world
to live my own life ruth the only real
life for you
is with your own people since the
bannocks died
i have no people
[Music]
shaman
where are my sons we waited at the place
of the forbidden stone
there is no sign of daco
or tulka
they would have returned by now if they
could
my sons have failed
but perhaps where a son fails a father
can succeed
i will go to the mountain of the dead
we shall go with you shaman
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
they call this the mountain of the dead
[Applause]
what do you want uh
uh nothing uh it doesn't matter
wait
is something wrong with you
no there's uh nothing wrong with me
that's just it
then what is it you want well i uh
oh there was a razor with your bible i
uh
well i can wait why do you want a razor
well for shaving shaving
uh well you can't remember it it's uh
it's a little difficult to describe you
see
most men that i know i remember watching
my father
i'll get it for you no no no no no wait
there is something the matter what is it
[Music]
um my education uh
just interfered with my thinking for a
minute um but it's all right
so
oh hmm paul adam's horse just came in
adam's horse yes sir he still got the
satellite
there's no marks on me puff no nothing
oh it seems to be all right yeah
nobody's ridden him for a while either
yeah
full boy probably got down for water
come on pie you know better than that
well i think we'll go after
joey get some food ready all right
us settle up the horses better bring a
[Music]
spare
[Applause]
my father had a big strap to make his
razor sharp
does it hurt a little
has to be done though otherwise a beard
be down here
some men let the beards grow but uh
others share them all
ouch
[Laughter]
i think you would be better off would
you bear down to here
you know i think maybe you're right
very nice when you smile
you've done enough i can finish
it looks much better naturally it takes
a real engineer
anytime sit down
building a roof with one leg man has
turned his keep
not with a wound like this do you know
what your name means
my name ruth
means compassion
pity
until now i never believed it
you will be able to leave very soon
why are you afraid of me i fear no man
ruth
you forgot this
[Music]
so
no kaska no
do you two wish to be struck down by the
medicine of the white buffalo woman
as my son was
her powers are greater than all the
medicine and the
that is why she must go back with us
only she can save our people from the
great sickness
find her camp then return to me
and a certain man of bethlehem judah
went to sojourn in the country of moab
he
and his wife and his two sons you read
very well
the old testament book of ruth like you
she uh she'd gone into a strange land
and the name of the man was elie miller
and the name of his wife naomi
and treat me not to leave thee or to
return
from following after thee
a long time ago my father used to read
it to me
that part of my life died with him
[Music]
finish the quotation for be the thou
ghost
i will go and wear thou lot just i will
lodge
and thy people shall be my people
and thy god my god
ruth
come back with me bye
where where you belong leave white
buffalo woman where she belongs with the
graves of the past
[Music]
i found peace here the people who are
buried here have found peace what you
found is a hiding place
what can your world offer me that i
don't have right here
people of your own kind i know nothing
but
evil of my father's people look ruth
you say this is your home where you
belong it can't be
why can't it be because you're alone
i have a stubborn father and two
hard-headed brothers
to me they're home no matter where they
live
well i i have no one
on this mountain you're a legend and a
legend leads a lonely life
in the world out there you wouldn't be
alone
music books sound of laughter
all you have to do is is come back
and let me do the rest
ruth come back with me no no let me be
you
can't keep on running whatever you're
hiding from must be faced and now
it can't please let me go tell me ruth
tell me now what really happened
two of those men caught me
i fell and they were they were there
laughing they grabbed me and
one of them one of them hit me
i got my hand on a knife his face he
screamed
and i broke away and ran
and ran
and now you can forget it
[Applause]
huh
[Applause]
[Music]
brings you tribute
i accept your tribute shadow but not
your presence here
with your warriors only the spirit
of the great white buffalo woman can
conquer the sickness that has come to
our lodges
my heart cries for you people but a
white buffalo woman must stay here
with the ashes of the past the ashes of
the past
are the lies of a white man
to the spirit woman chateau all men are
brothers
it is for me to judge who is welcome on
the mountain of the dead
you have my answer take your warriors
[Applause]
you must go
not without you but adam don't you
understand they'll kill you
i won't go without you
then we'll find a way pastor shoshone
together
wait here and watch when the white man
is alone
take him alive she will hear my words
or watch him die
[Music]
dear lord accept these souls into heaven
may they rest in peace forever and ever
amen
[Applause]
from the signs adam got this far
but it didn't meet the same fate these
two trappers did yeah where do you think
he'd go from here
must have gone into the mountain adam
know better than that
and maybe he had no choice well
we're not gonna find him standing around
[Music]
here hmm
you weren't asleep at all didn't you
ever hear of the spider in the fly
[Music]
now i know why they gave me my name
my folks must have known that i belonged
in the garden of eden
i wonder if they knew about me
[Music]
and they shall a shoshone ruth
we'll leave tonight
[Music]
i want you to have something
[Music]
when a man is betrothed to a woman
[Music]
he gives her a ring
and as long as she wears that ring
[Music]
they belong to each other
adam i will be your wife i love you very
much
love
honor and obey
i kind of like that last word that last
word mr cartwright
we'll talk about when i get back
[Music]
adam
it's a beautiful ring
[Applause]
[Music]
and
now
[Music]
focal
[Applause]
um
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
oh
[Music]
adam
[Music]
[Music]
aah
[Music]
joe
ah
[Applause]
i must have missed something
there's only one thing to do we'll go
back to
where we buried those trappers and start
all over again
turn over every rock if we have to
[Music]
shall i bring the spirit woman now no
koska
the spirit woman must come to us
willingly
she won't come here she will for you
it won't work you get the wrong bait
[Music]
she is here
[Music]
ruth get out of here
[Music]
foreign
you dare violate the sacred lodge a
white buffalo woman
you would not hear my words and this one
did the shoshone make war with the
wounded
my people must have the medicine of the
spirit woman
or they will die and a white man
he will die unless you go with us
release him or you will die now by the
hannah white buffalo woman
then destroy us now we will not go
without you
my people need you ruth don't
[Applause]
stop
spare his life and you shall have the
medicine
a white buffalo woman
cut him loose
[Applause]
run go for with the thou ghost
i will go
[Music]
i'm ready shaman when we are beyond the
mountain of the dead
take him to the camp of the spirit woman
he will find his way back to his people
i'm ready shaman we must hurry spirit
woman
already too many of our people lie dead
even your sons even my sons
we will do all we can for the shoshone
who still live
[Music]
hey
that going adam looks like you tingling
with a grizzly
and got beat shoshone took ruth
who girl that saved my life
she lives here yeah
fever she's not imaginary she's real
name's ruth halverson there's a bible in
the hut
how come the shoshone he took her adam
i thought she was a spirit
reincarnation of one of their gods
i'm going after it i gotta find her you
try to stop me i'll walk all over you
both of you
huh found the bible
some writing in the front the olef
halverson
daughter ruth born 1840.
there's something inside marking the
page
i gave her this ring
[Music]
i wanted to marry her if she left
this ring behind
then she must have gone of her own free
will she did it to save my life that's
why i've got to go after her
if you do that you sign her deathborn
for sure
oh she she's a girl she's not a spirit
woman
that's true the shoshone belief she is
if you destroy that belief in her you
destroy her
you destroy them too that's right adam
if they believe in her that strongly
then maybe she'll be able to give some
help to him
you gotta let her go for nothing
maybe someday
come on let's get some food
[Music]
so
[Music]
you

Behind the Scenes of The Savage

The episode’s title in German is “Die Frau des weißen Büffels,” which means “The White Buffalo’s Wife.”

Looking for More Bonanza Episodes?

Bonanza is an American Western television program worth watching alone or with family. Due to its popularity, the show lasted 14 seasons, with the NBC network airing it from September 1959 to January 1973. The Savage is the 44th episode out of 430 and the twelfth for the second season.

You can find more about any of the 430 Bonanza episodes here>>