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Part V in the sacred animals and Native American series: The Bear
Bear Legend: Cherokee
In the long ago time, there was a Cherokee Clan call[ed] the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi (Ahnee-Jah-goo-hee), and in one family of this clan was a boy who used to leave home and be gone all day in the mountains. After awhile he went oftener and stayed longer, until at last he would not eat in the house at all, but started off at daybreak and did not come back until night. His parents scolded, but that did no good, and the boy still went everyday until they noticed that long brown hair was beginning to grow out all over his body. Then they wondered and asked him why it was that he wanted to be so much in the woods that he would not even eat at home. Said the boy, "I find plenty to eat there, and it is better than the corn and beans we have in the settlements, and pretty soon I am going into the woods to s[t]ay all the time." His parents were worried and begged him [to] not leave them, but he said, "It's better there than here, and you see I am beginning to be different already, so that I can not live here any longer. If you will come with me, there is plenty for all of us and you will never have to work for it; but if you want to come, you must first [,] fast seven days." The father and mother talked it over and then told the headmen of the clan. They held a council about the matter, and after everything had been said they decided: "Here we must work hard and have not always enough. There he says is always plenty without work. We will go with him." So they fasted seven days, and on the seventh morning al[l] the Ani-Tsa-gu-hi left the settlement and started for the mountains as the boy led the way.
When the people of the other towns heard of it they were very sorry and sent their headmen to persuade the Ani Tsaguhi to sat at home and not go into the woods to live. The messengers found them already on the way, and were surprised to notice that their bodies were beginning to be covered with hair like that of animals, because for seven days they had not taken human food and their nature was changing. The Ani Tsaguhi would not come back, but said, "We are going to where there is always plenty to eat. Hereafter we shall be called Yonv (a) bears and when you yourselves are hungry come into the woods and call us and we shall come to give you our own flesh. You need not be afraid to kill us, for we shall live always." Then they taught the messengers the songs with which to call them and bear hunters have these songs still. When they had finished the songs, the Ani Tsaguhi started on again and the messengers turned back to the settlements, but after going a little way they looked back and saw a drove of bears going into the woods.
Aho! We are all Related!
It will come as no surprise that Native Americans viewed the bear as a symbol of power and authority. The Kodiac bear of Alaska, a sub-species of the Brown bear, is considered to be the largest living land carnivore. He can measure nine feet in length, four and a half feet high at the shoulder, and top the scales at around 1,600 pounds, but, despite his size and weight, he can run up to about 35m.p.h. The smallest bear is the Malaysian Sun Bear, a very agile climber, is also called the honey bear because honey is what it craves. In all, there are seven species of bear, not counting sub-species: the Brown bear, the grizzly, which can actually smell the difference between a male and a female salmon when they are "fishing," which comes in handy because female salmon are usually full of eggs and bears find them rather tasty and delectable; the Kodiac, the Asian Black Bear, the South American Spectacled bear and the sloth bear. Grizzlies and Kodiacs are true hibernators as Kodiacs can go as long as seven months with no food and grizzlies about four or five. Adult bears are solitary, only exhibiting any kind of social behavior during the mating season.
The author enjoyed interraction with the Spectacled bear, the European Brown bear, polar bear, and the Hokaido bear (Japan), during his zoo tenure. The Spectacled bears were usually quite active during the day and could scamper up exhibit trees very quickly. The European brown bears always acted laid back and mellow. The Hokaido bears were always on the lookout for an opportunity to grab something that they weren't supposed to have. They were very good at acting like they were uninterested until a hose a keeper was using dragged to close to their enclosure where they could shoot an arm out to grab it. Once getting ahold of the hose it was futile to get into a tug of war, which of course is the normal reflex. A human is just no match for that kind of strength. This can be quite embarrassing if there are people around, always rooting for the animal. Hopefully one would be wise enough to be carrying a knife with which to cut the hose before it is literally pulled out of the connector. The bear gets the hose and I, I mean the keeper, gets very wet.
The author once had an occasion to be up close and personal with an anestitized brown bear. Being that close to something so wild, so huge and so powerful is extremely sobering. Humility and respect are your immediate sentiments. The bear and the bison have both struggled to replenish their numbers and those who still ask why this is so vital need only invite the essence of these creatures inside themselves for a closer look.
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