The Ancient Tale of Standing Bear

Chapter 1

In our last installment, we met Lili Luna, (Little Moon), and the story teller, The Old Ranger. The Old Ranger offered his hospitality to the traveler and Little Moon explained the need for her tribe, The Havasupis, to reacquire the ancient tale of the standing bear. She explained that this lost tale is one of Character and Strength that the children of the proud tribe should have as a lesson to form their early years. Join them as the Old Ranger is about to begin the tale.

The morning broke crisp and cool as the two new friends began their day. As they both settled down, the morning sun was just beginning to warm their faces. The Old Ranger spoke...

Standing Bear "This is a story without a beginning. Whether the forces that created our world were a vast accident, or were a result of the hand of a great spirit is not for this story to tell, but there was a time when the boiling face of the newly formed planet began to cool and the great masses of the continents took their current shape. All manner of strange and exotic creatures swam in the cooling oceans and lakes. The small and the mighty of the beasts roamed the earth and took their places in it. From the white wastelands of the polar extremes to the lush and humid lands dripping with moisture that clings to everything, it was in this environment that many things thrived. Green leave grew. Living things marched and swam, crawled and slithered to fill the spaces not before claimed as their own. Some lived side by side helping one another, others fought mighty battles for control of their piece of the fertile lands. Bit by bit, first in inches then in miles, their territories were staked out and claimed. Among the fish and the fowl were the small and the large animals. There were the good and there were the evil. Misfortunes and mistakes as well as accidents and adventures occurred everywhere. Gradually, changes took hold like moss clinging to a tree trunk. The world slowly became the wonderful place as we know it today. But not everything we see today is the same as it was then. For example, the mighty dinosaur, like many of our animal brothers, no longer roams the mountains and great forests. Some beasts of long ago were of vastly different shapes and sizes than we know them today. Changes occurred more slowly than the wearing down of the mighty mountains. Many seasons had to pass to see such changes. Even the bear, the ruler of the North American mountains and forests, would not be recognized if one could travel back in time. This mighty beast was once the size of a Halloween pumpkin. Until "The Great Change", no one ever heard the mighty roar of the bear and felt the very earth tremble beneath its massive paws.

The story begins with just such a family of ancient tiny bears. You will learn that this is a family not much different from yours and mine except that this is the family that marks the beginning of our tale. The members of this family were the ancestors of Grizzle and Peep, the bears at the center of this story. But first allow me to set the stage.

Mexico map There was a small band of bears that occupied the area of our continent now called Mexico. They lived high in the mountains, where the air is cool, the crystal streams run fast, the fishing is good and the berries are plump with juice. They called themselves The Clan of the Cave.

The leader of The Clan of the Cave, Oroow, as he was called, was a handsome bear with a shiny brown coat. He was the envy of the others in the clan. His lifelong mate, an equal partner in the leadership of the group, was a strong femal with the name of Blanka. Hers was a coat of almost pure white. Together one day, with the great blue sky overhead and wispy white clouds drifting silently on gentle breezes carrying the sweet scents of honey and flowers, they were away from the rest of the group. As the larger group was lolling about near the cave, in the shade of their favorite tree, Oroow and Blanka were nearby enjoying an afternoon fishing in a small well stocked stream. Suddenly their acute senses detected a change in the air. This change was something that was sensed before it was felt. It was with racing heartbeats the two stood still like stone, as the first low tremors began as a base rumble. Their throats went dry as dirt as the ground split around them and white hot flames shot hundreds of feet in to the air. Only their bright, thick, shiny coats kept them from great harm. Smoke, blacker than the winter's night sky, billowed like black rubbery clouds from the cracked earth. The sound alone rocked them from their sturdy little legs. Their ears were hammered with the sound of splitting and rubbing stone. This was an incredible sound that was felt as well as heard and introduced the word 'terror' into their language. The earth continued to heave as the fire and smoke belched around them. With their instincts snapped into place, the two broke into a stumbling run as they tried to make their way back to the safety of the cave. The intense heat, the flying rocks and the ground falling away from their feet caused the poor little bears to scramble and tumble, roll and crawl. Slowly they were making their way back to safety, when just as suddenly as it started, it all stopped... They took a few seconds to adjust and almost immediately broke into a stumbling run over the trail once soft with pine needles but now awash with smoking ash. Their little lungs filled with sulfurous acrid smoke and their little noses burned with the coppery sting of smoke as they broke through the overhanging branches that were now blocking the path. In what only could have been a few seconds, their trembling legs brought them to the ridge that marked the entrance of their compound area. The awful landscape below showed a scene of great sorrow. All their clan was taken from them by a devastating avalanche brought on by the catastrophe. They had no word in their language for earthquake, but it had destroyed all that they loved.

Both Oroow and Blanka were filled with emotions that they had never known before. For two days they neither communicated, nor ate nor drank but the sound of their awful howls filled the bleak and otherwise silent valley.

Slowly, as the shock was clearing from their minds much as morning fog melts with the rising of the sun, Blanka came to her mate's side and gently stroked his singed head and said, "Dear Oroow, this awful thing has not happened for the first time, nor will it be the last. I am afraid the next one could be far worse. It will not be many moons until the little ones inside me arrive in our world. We must now leave what has been our home and seek a new place to live where the cubs can grow without fear. Let us leave now. Let us leave and take with us the many memories of the ones that have gone. We must start anew. Do you not agree? We have heard many tales of others of our kind and we must trust that they will welcome our family and help us to form a new home. Even though life may not be as sweet as it was in the cave, there would be safety for us and the little ones." This land they were leaving was all they had ever known. Life had been good. There were always friends to snuggle with on cold nights and much laughter to pass the time. There had always been stories of other bears, other clans, cousins perhaps. Surely there would be someone to welcome them to the "Land of Big Rivers" far to the north.

Their love for one another and the yet unborn cubs carried them forward. If someone was looking down from above he would see two specks on a vast and dry, open land, slowly moving ahead, ever closer to their destiny, lost in the dark shadow cast by their sorrow.

So it was that in the summer of a time that was not measured, the two remaining descendants of "The Clan of the Cave" began their journey to a new life."

The Old Ranger stretched loudly and looked up into the late morning sky. "The sun is higher now Little Moon, share my simple breakfast and then we will continue."

Introduction