Comes When Needed Bear
Whenever Wankandon went hunting on the mountain, he took care to think as little as possible of the Spirit of the Bear. For it is well known that whoever can see Bear without being seen by him will become the mightiest hunter of his generation, but he can never be seen by anybody who is thinking about him.
On the other hand, if a tribesman should himself be seen by the Spirit of the Bear Walking, there is no knowing what might happen. Hunters who have gone up on the mountain and never come back are supposed to have met with him. So between hope of seeing and fear of being seen, it is nearly impossible to hunt on the mountain without thinking of Bear.
Wankandon alone hoped to accomplish the impossible. He might have managed it at the time his thoughts were all taken up with wondering whether the daughter of the Medicine Man could be persuaded to marry him, but at that time he did not hunt at all. He spent his time waiting at the spring where the maidens came with their mothers to fill their water bottles, making a little flute of four notes and playing on it. After he was married, however, he tried again to dispossess his mind of the thought of Bear. “For”, he said, “when my son is born he will have pride in me, and keep a soft place in the hut for the man who was the mightiest hunter of his generation.” Thus it was that he never went out to hunt on the mountain without thinking both of his son and the Bear Walking.
In due time the son was born and thought Wankandon had not yet become the mightiest hunter, he was very happy. Always when he went on the mountain he remembered his wish and so missed it.
In the course of year the tribe fell into war with the people of the north and the son of Wankandon went out to his first battle. But, as it turned out, the battle went against the tribe and the son of Wakandon was brought home shot full of arrows. Then the heart of Wankandan broke when he buried him. He said, “Let me go, I will build a fire on the mountain to light the feet of my son’s spirit and then I will lament him.”
Clad in all his war gear he went up on the mountain and all the way he thought only of his son and how he should miss him. So, when he had lighted the spirit fire, he said “Oh, my son, what profit shall I have of my life now you are departed.” And as he wept he saw something moving on the slope before him. He looked, for his eyes were by no means as keen as they had been, and behold, it was the Spirit of the Bear Walking.
Tags: bear, North America