Native American symbols are geometric portrayals of celestial bodies, natural phenomena and animal designs. The meaning of the Four Ages of Man symbol signifies the milestones in a person's life. Their birth and infancy, their youth and adolescence, their maturity in Middle Age and their wisdom in their old age. A Sioux Indian legend recounts that the buffalo represents the universe and the four directions. Because they stand on four legs, they represent the four ages of man. Each buffalo with a severed leg represents one of the ages of man has passed. When the buffalo loses all his legs and all of his hair an end time will come and water will cover the Earth.