week 11 story: Little Bear

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Raising Little Bear

The old woman lived alone in the village. People took pity on her and offered their food. They would hunt, she would take a portion, and return home. One day, a hunter asked if she wanted a bear cub and she accepted. She loved this Little Bear and raised him as her own: fed him, offered her bed, and made him a collar. Eventually, he could communicate back to his mom. Little Bear would be very cautious when he played with the village children. He never wanted to hurt anyone. His mom told him to never attack a human unless he was attacked first. Little Bear became a member of the village. 

Attack of Little Bear

Little Bear outgrew the children quickly. He began to play with the adults and help them with their hunting. Little Bear was a strong and excellent hunter. A northerner heard of Little Bear and wanted to harm him. One day, when Little Bear was hunting alone, the northerner attacked him. Little Bear hated to attack but he knew he would die if he didn't. Little Bear killed his attacker and carried him back home. This scared his mom and the old woman said, "Little Bear you will need to leave soon, it is too dangerous." Saying this broke her heart. 

Without Little Bear

The old woman procrastinated sending Little Bear away. But finally, a day with no clouds arrived and she said, "Okay Little Bear it is time for you to go." The old woman couldn't imagine sleeping in her bed without Little Bear and began to weep. The two embraced each other, and as Little Bear walked off the old woman rubbed oil and soot down one side. Now, in the north there is a legend of a bear the size of an iceberg, an excellent hunter, with a large black mark on his side. 

Little Bear after his mom. Source: WikiMedia Commons

Author's Note:

This original story is about a foster mom who begins to care for bear cub. I kept almost everything close to the original version. I definitely left out a few parts of the story but I didn't seem them necessary to tell the story the way I did.  She took him in, trained him to behave, to play gentle, and be kind to humans. I wanted to edit how long the actual story was so I chose to retell using 3 micro fiction stories. I thought this was a good choice to do for this story since there 3 distinct periods within the original story: before the bear, with the bear, and the bear leaving. The original story mentions ice fishing, so I figured Little Bear would be a polar bear, since the black marking showed up so well. 

Bibliography
The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son

Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen