OKWARIKOWA

This is a Mohawk story about a village on the bend of a river a long time ago. On one sunny day, a hunter was out in the forest looking for game. While walking along a trail, he stumbled on a hole. He stood back, scratched his head, and thought to himself; ‘’This wasn’t here yesterday.’’ He went up hill to get a better look at the hole. His hair stood up. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. That hole was not just any hole; it was the footprint of a bear. Cautiously and very quietly, the hunter followed the trail. It circled the village and went far into the woods.

As time went on the woods became very quiet and very still. The animals were disappearing. The people of the village knew that the bear who made those tracks was killing all the animals.

Because of this there was no meat on the meat racks and people were becoming very hungry. The Clanmothers and Chiefs called for a meeting. At this gathering, one of the Chiefs said; “We must get rid of this bear that is killing off all of the game. Our people are hungry and scared.” They all agreed.

The young men, like all young men, were eager to hunt this bear and thought of it as a challenge. They gathered their weapons and set out to kill this great bear. The bear’s trail was very easy to find. They followed the trail for a few days, when, over the crest of a hill they saw him. He was huge. He was taller than the trees and as big as a house. The hunters wanted to run back to the people for safety. Then they thought of those at home who were hungry. They attacked, and the air was filled with arrows and spears. It had no effect on the bear, because it’s skin was so thick that the arrows couldn’t go through.

The arrows only made the bear very angry. He turned and charged after the hunters. Realizing that their weapons were useless, they ran for their lives. This bear could run like the wind and in no time at all the bear caught up to the fleeing hunters. Most of them were killed.

Only two hunters escaped and made it back to the village.

They told of what happened and that the rest of the hunters were dead. Many times the men of the village went to battle with this monster bear. Each time they failed and as a result, many men were killed. This bear continued to kill the game and the people were becoming sick from lack of proper food that the animals provided.

The whole village feared the giant bear. At night they kept close to the fire because for some reason bears 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 nigh 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 nights, 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 this vision must be true. Without hesitating, they grabbed their weapons and set out to ding and kill the bear.

The bear must have had the same dream because as soon as he 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.