| The Boy Who Lived With Bears |
| There was once a boy whose father and mother had died and he was left alone in the world. The only person he had to take care of him was his uncle, but his uncle was not a kind man. The uncle thought that the boy was too much trouble and fed him only scraps from the table and dressed him in tattered clothing and moccasins with soles that were worn away. When the boy slept at night, he had to sleep outside his uncle's lodge far away from the fire. But the boy never complained because his parents had told him always to respect people older than himself. One day the uncle decided to get rid of the boy. "Come with me," he said. "We are going hunting." The boy was very happy. His uncle had never taken him hunting before. He followed him into the woods. First his uncle killed a rabbit. The boy picked it up to carry it for the uncle and was ready to turn back to the lodge, but his uncle shook his head. "We will go on. I am not done hunting." They went further and the uncle killed a fat grouse. The boy was very happy, for they would have so much to eat that surely his uncle would feed him well that night and he began to turn back, but the uncle shook his head again. "No," he said, "we must go on." Finally, they came to a place very, very far in the forest where the boy had not been before. There was a great cliff and at its base a cave led into the rock. The opening to the cave was large enough only for a small person to go into. "There are animals hiding in there," the uncle said. "You must crawl in and chase them out so that I can shoot them with my arrows." The cave was very dark and it looked cold inside, but the boy remembered what his parents had taught him. He crawled into the cave. There were leaves and stones, but there were no animals. He reached the very end of the cave and turned back, ashamed that he had not fulfilled his uncle's expectations. And do you know what he saw? He saw his uncle rolling a great stone in front of the mouth of the cave. And then everything was dark. The boy tried to move the stone, but it was no use. He was trapped! At first he was afraid, but then he remembered what his parents had told him. The orenda of those who are good at heart is very strong. If you do good and have faith, good things will come to you. This made the boy happy and he began to sing a song. The song was about himself, a boy who had no parents and needed friends. As he sang, his song grew louder, until he forgot he was trapped in a cave. But then he heard a scratching noise outside and stopped singing, thinking his uncle had come back to let him out of the cave. However, as soon as he heard the first of many voices outside his cave, he knew that he was wrong. That high squeaking voice was not the voice of his uncle. "We should help this boy," said the high squeaking voice. "Yes," said a very deep voice which sounded warm and loving. "He is all alone and needs help. There is no doubt that we should help him." "One of us," said another voice, "will have to adopt him." And then many other voices, voices of all kinds which seemed to speak in many languages agreed. The strange thing was that the boy could understand all these voices, strange as they were. Then the stone began to move and light streamed into the cave, blinding the boy who had been in the darkness for a long time. He crawled out, very stiff and cold, and looked around him. He was surrounded by many animals! "Now that we have rescued you," said a small voice from near his feet, "you must choose which of us will be your parents now." He looked down and saw that the one who was speaking was a mole. "Thank you," said the boy. You are all so kind. But how can I choose which one of you will be my parents?" "I know," said the mole. "Let us all tell him what we are like and what kind of lives we lead and he can decide." There was general agreement on that, and so the animals began to come up to the boy one by one. "I'll begin," said the mole. "I live under the earth and dig my tunnels through the Earth Mother. It is very dark and cozy in my tunnels and we have plenty of worms and grubs to eat." "That sounds very good," said the boy, "but I am afraid that I am too big to go into your tunnels, friend Mole." "Come and live with me," said the beaver. "I live in a fine lodge in the midst of a pond. We beavers eat the best bark from the sweetest trees and we dive under the water and sleep in our lodge in the winter time." "Your life is very interesting too," said the boy, "but I cannot eat bark, and I know that I would freeze in the cold waters of your pond." "You could be my child," said the deer. "Run with us through the forest and eat the twigs of the trees and the grass of the fields." |
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