Okwari:kowa

 Continued from last week...

The whole village feared the giant bear.  At night they kept close to the fire because bears, for some reason, are afraid of fire.  The people in the village could hear the bear’s loud call as he circled the settlement in the darkness.  Each night the bear circled closer.  The people knew if the bear became hungry enough, he would enter the village and eat the people.

One night, three brothers had a powerful dream.  Their dreams were exactly the same.  They dreamt that they killed the giant bear.   For two more night, each brother had the same vision.  The number three is a special number among Iroquois.  Since three brothers, three nights in a row, had the same dream they said that the vision must be true.  Without hesitating, they grabbed their weapons and set out to find and kill the bear.

The bear must have had the same dream because as soon as the saw the three brothers, he turned and ran towards the setting sun.  The brothers followed in hot pursuit.  The bear came to a wide river.  He looked back at the brothers and without pausing, he leaped over the river.  The brothers said, “If he can do it, we can do it!”  With the power of their vision, they jumped and found themselves on the other side of the river.  The bear reached a tall range of mountains.  Again, he looked back and jumped over the mountains.  The brothers said, “If he can do it, so can we!”  They did.  The bear came to the edge of Great Turtle Island (North American Continent).  He looked back and then at the sky.  The brothers said, “If he can do it, we can do it!”  They followed the invisible trail.  To this day, you can still see the brothers chasing the great bear.  On a clear night look up into the starry night sky.  The constellation called the Big Dipper is actually the bear and the three brothers.  The four stars that make the cup of the dipper is that monster bear.  The three stars that make the handle are actually the three brothers.  During the autumn months the giant bear, like all bears, gets ready to hibernate for the winter and slows down.  The brothers catch up and shoot their arrows.  Red blood and yellow fat from the bear’s wounds fall to the earth.  The blood and fat lands on the leaves turning them red and yellow. Each year the bear always manages to escape and continues to run all year long.  Every fall he forgets why he is running and slows down.  Each year he is wounded by the brothers.  So the next time you see the leaves change color or the next time you see the big dipper in the sky always remember that the brothers are still chasing that giant bear who roamed the earth so long ago.