66. The Porcupine’s Grandson and the Bear
A widower, who had a small son, married a second time. Soon after this event he took his wife and child into the forest to hunt. They lived very happily until the new wife began to think that her husband loved his child better than he did her. This troubled her beyond measure, so that she became very uneasy, thinking of nothing else. Then she began to study how to get rid of the boy, and at last resolved to destroy him.
So one day while her husband was out hunting, she took the boy into the woods to a cave, whose mouth was closed with a rock. She rolled away the stone from in front of the opening, at the same time telling the boy that there were bears in the cave, and that he must run in and scare them, so that they would run out at the other end. He crept in, and immediately the woman rolled the stone back over its mouth, and then deserted him. [[366]]
When night came the father returned from hunting, and immediately missing his boy, asked where he was. The woman answered that he was at play when she went to gather bark, and that when she came home she could not find him, asserting further that she had been hunting in all directions for him, and that she was afraid he had been carried off by some wild beast. The father was nearly crazed by this event, and for many days hunted for his boy, but he could find only the tracks made by his little moccasins far into the woods—tracks which the wicked stepmother had (artificially) made to mislead and deceive the father.
When the child found himself fastened in the cave he began to scream and cry, and his strength was giving way and he was near fainting when he thought he heard a voice saying: “Poor child, stop crying! I am your grandmother. I will give you food.” This was a Mother Porcupine. Wiping away his tears with her paw, she brought him food, which he thought was very good, though it was only hemlock burs. She gave him some of the food which she had saved for herself. After eating he was contented, whereupon she said, “You are very tired, my dear little grandson; come and lie down.” In this way she fed and cared for him a long time.
One day she said: “My stock of food is exhausted, and as it is now spring, we should not be cold out of doors. Your stepmother has fastened us in here. I must call on our neighbors to let us out, and when we are out, I will leave you in their care and go in search of food for myself.” Approaching the opening, the Porcupine called aloud for help. Afterward the boy thought they went back into the cave, and the Porcupine said: “My dear grandson, we must now part. I feel very sad but it can not be avoided. I will give you this advice. They will come and let us out, and you will go with them. You must be obedient and do just as you are told to do, and all will be well in the end.” Soon they heard noises with the sound of voices outside the cave, and after a while a great crowd seemed to be collected. The imprisoned ones heard the chief of the assembly say: “All who heard the call have come.[323] Now we want to know who will roll the stone away?” Birds came and pecked at it in vain; they could do nothing. Then the smaller animals scratched at it. One after another failed. At last a wolf came forward, saying, “I can pull the stone away; I am the man to do it.” Pushing his long claws under it, he pulled and pulled, until at length he exerted so much strength that his hold gave way and he fell over on his back. Then the deer tried with his long horns to raise the stone. All tried, every one in his own way, from the smallest to the largest animal (for all were present that had heard the call), except the she-bear; she sat at a short distance with her little family around her, consisting of three young cubs. When all the rest had failed, she said, [[367]]“Well, I will try.” Walking up slowly and majestically to the blocking stone, she examined the scratches made by the other animals until she made up her mind how to act, and then she very quickly got the stone away. Then peeping in, she saw a Porcupine and a human being, whereupon she hurried away from the opening as though she was greatly frightened. As the other animals looked in, they, too, took to their heels until they were far enough away to make sure of escape; then they waited to see what was to take place.
The Porcupine, coming out, told them not to be frightened. Said she, “We are very poor, my grandson and I.” She told them further how he came there and that her stock of food was exhausted, adding, “Many of you are well able to care for him, so I want you to take charge of my grandson.” All, even the birds, announced their willingness to do so. “Now,” she continued, “I want to know what you will give him to eat, and when I make up my mind that my grandson can live on the food that any one of you can supply, I will give him to that one. To my faithful friends, the birds, I give thanks; you may go, for I do not think my grandson could live on anything you could give him.”
All had brought specimens of what they could furnish and had laid them before the Porcupine. The wolf, coming forward, laid down what he had. The Porcupine examined it and then asked, “What would you do in case of danger?” “Of course we should run,” the wolf replied, thereupon running off to show her, and then coming back. “No, my grandson can not go with you; he could not run fast enough.” The deer came forward with the most suitable food, but when the Porcupine asked, “What would you do in case of danger?” the deer ran off at such speed that his horns could be heard rattling through the woods. Last of all the old bear came forward, saying: “You have all failed. Though I have a large family of my own, I will take the boy and will feed him as I feed my cubs, on blackberries, chestnuts, and fruit.” When asked what she would do in danger, going back to her little cubs, she gave them the sign of danger, at which they all crouched down beside a log while she lay at their side watching. She said: “That is what I do, and thus we lie still until I think the danger is past. I know where the berries grow in abundance, and I will take them there. I know also where my winter quarters will be; there my cubs will get nourishment by sucking my fat paws.” The Porcupine then said: “You are the one to care for my grandchild. I wish you to take good care of him. I am now going for food.” The boy never saw the Porcupine again. The child thought the bear took him by the hand, and that she was like a human being, and that they were all like real people.
She led the boy and the cubs to the place where the berries and chestnuts were abundant. They played as they went along. The [[368]]young bears became very fond of the boy. When the old mother bear was lying asleep in the sun, and they were at play, the cubs would pull the boy’s nails to make them long like theirs, and they tried to teach him how to climb and run up the trees as they did. At last he was almost equal to them in skill in these exercises, his nails having grown long and sharp.
One day the old bear woke up and could not see the boy. At last she saw him high up in a tree a long way off. Then she scolded her cubs and was angry with them, and made the boy’s nails as they originally were. So the many days of summer passed. The cubs and the boy were great friends and they had him sleep between them and their mother.