XV. THE GOOD BEAR AND THE LOST BOY
(Iroquois)
boy went out to hunt and crawled into a great hole where porcupines lived. He wanted to get some of the young ones. The dirt fell into the hole behind him and shut him in with the porcupines.
The boy cried himself to sleep, for he knew his father could not find him. When he awoke he saw the mother porcupine as big as a squaw. She gave him some food, but he could not eat. The food was bitter.
The porcupine squaw said, “I will call a council, for I do not know what to feed you.”
The council was held in the woods close by. Wolves, bears, foxes, and deer came. The mother sent her young porcupines to call these animals to the council. The boy was glad he had not hurt any one in the porcupine’s cave.
The mother porcupine stood in the council and said: “I have found this creature in the house I have made [[124]]for my little ones. He is hungry, but he cannot eat what my children eat. Tell me what to give him so that he may live.”
A great gray fox rose then and answered: “I live on geese and the birds of the forest. He is the child of the red man. The red man has fire and clay. He cooks his food; I do not.”
The council decided that the fox should not take the boy.
A wolf stood in the council: “I have many cubs in my den. They are always hungry. I am always hungry. It is better for the boy never to see the place where I sleep.”
And the council agreed that the wolf mother should not take the boy.
The deer did not stand. His head was covered with tall antlers. He sat and looked with kind eyes at the man-child. He said: “I have hidden my family in the thick bushes. They are safe while I am in this council. We feed on wild grass and the tender leaves of the trees. We love one another, but there are many who hunt us. The child could never run as we run. Our eyes see much. We see, we hear, and we run. The child has two feet; we have four. He could not follow us.”
The council said that the deer should not take the boy. [[125]]
The bear rose on his hind legs and said: “I feed on nuts. My little ones are warm and not hungry. I will take the boy.”
The council said that the bear was wise. The boy should go with him, and all the other animals would help to gather the nuts for his feeding. The council fire was put out, and each one went home. The boy followed the bear to a hole in a great tree. The mother bear and the cubs welcomed him, and the boy was happy.
He learned to talk as the bears talk and to walk like them. Nothing hurt him, and he was never hungry. Some Indians saw the father bear one day and chased him. Then they found the mother and her cubs, and all were killed.
The boy hid in the hollow tree. The Indians found him and took him away. He was very wild and did not love his people, for they had killed the bears.
The Indian boy was kept in the wigwam. He learned the ways of his people again, but never did he shoot or trap a bear. [[126]]
Teepee Village
From a Photograph
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