The Bear Woman

A Blackfoot Legend

Once there was a young woman with many suitors; but she refused to
marry. She had seven brothers and one little sister. Their mother had
been dead many years and they had no relatives, but lived alone with
their father.

Every day the six brothers went out hunting with their father. It seems
that the young woman had a bear for her lover and, as she did not want
any one to know this, she would meet him when she went out after wood.
She always went after wood as soon as her father and brothers went out
to hunt, leaving her little sister alone in the lodge. As soon as she
was out of sight in the brush, she would run to the place where the
bear lived.

As the little sister grew older, she began to be curious as to why her
older sister spent so much time getting wood. So one day she followed
her. She saw the young woman meet the bear and saw that they were
lovers. When she found this out, she ran home as quickly as she could,
and when her father returned she told him what she had seen.

When he heard the story he said, “So, my elder daughter has a bear for
a husband. Now I know why she does not want to marry.” Then he went
about the camp, telling all his people that they had a bear for a
brother-in-law, and that he wished all the men to go out with him to
kill this bear. So they went, found the bear, and killed him.

When the young woman found out what had been done, and that her little
sister had told on her, she was very angry. She scolded her little
sister vigorously, then ordered her to go out to the dead bear, and
bring some flesh from his paws. The little sister began to cry, and
said she was afraid to go out of the lodge, because a dog with young
pups had tried to bite her.

“Oh, do not be afraid!” said the young woman. “I will paint your face
like that of a bear, with black marks across the: eyes and at the
corners of the mouth; then no one will touch you.” So she went for the
meat. Now the older sister was a powerful medicine-woman. She could tan
hides in a new way. She could take up a hide, strike it four times with
her skin-scraper and it would be tanned.

The little sister had a younger brother that she carried on her back.
As their mother was dead, she took care of him. One day the little
sister said to the older sister, “Now you be a bear and we will go out
into the brush to play.” The older sister agreed to this, but said,
“Little sister, you must not touch me over my kidneys.” So the big
sister acted as a bear, and they played in the brush. While they were
playing, the little sister forgot what she had been told, and touched
her older sister in the wrong place.

At once she turned into a real bear, ran into the camp, and killed many
of the people. After she had killed a large number, she turned back
into her former self. Now, when the little sister saw the older run
away as a real bear, she became frightened, took up her little brother,
and ran into their lodge. Here they waited, badly frightened, but were
very glad to see their older sister return after a time as her true
self.

Now the older brothers were out hunting, as usual. As the little sister
was going down for water with her little brother on her back, she met
her six brothers returning. The brothers noted how quiet and deserted
the camp seemed to be. So they said to their little sister, “Where are
all our people?” Then the little sister explained how she and her
sister were playing, when the elder turned into a bear, ran through the
camp, and killed many people.

She told her brothers that they were in great danger, as their sister
would surely kill them when they came home. So the six brothers decided
to go into the brush. One of them had killed a jack-rabbit. He said to
the little sister, “You take this rabbit home with you. When it is
dark, we will scatter prickly- pears all around the lodge, except in
one place. When you come out, you must look for that place, and pass
through.”

When the little sister came back to the lodge, the elder sister said,
“Where have you been all this time?” “Oh, my little brother mussed
himself and I had to clean him,” replied the little sister. “Where did
you get that rabbit?” she asked. “I killed it with a sharp stick,” said
the little sister. “That is a lie. Let me see you do it,” said the
older sister. Then the little sister took up a stick lying near her,
threw it at the rabbit, and it stuck in the wound in his body.

“Well, all right,” said the elder sister. Then the little sister
dressed the rabbit and cooked it. She offered some of it to her older
sister, but it was refused: so the little sister and her brother ate
all of it. When the elder sister saw that the rabbit had all been
eaten, she became very angry, and said, “Now I have a mind to kill you.”

So the little sister arose quickly, took her little brother on her
back, and said, “I am going out to look for wood.” As she went out, she
followed the narrow trail through the prickly-pears and met her six
brothers in the brush. Then they decided to leave the country, and
started off as fast as they could go.

The older sister, being a powerful medicine-woman, knew at once what
they were doing. She became very angry and turned herself into a bear
to pursue them. Soon she was about to overtake them, when one of the
boys tried his power. He took a little water in the hollow of his hand
and sprinkled it around. At once it became a great lake between them
and the bear.

Then the children hurried on while the bear went around. After a while
the bear caught up with them again, when another brother threw a
porcupine-tail (a hairbrush) on the ground. This became a great
thicket; but the bear forced its way through, and again overtook the
children. This time they all climbed a high tree. The bear came to the
foot of the tree, and, looking up at them, said, “Now I shall kill you
all.”

So she took a stick from the ground, threw it into the tree and knocked
down four of the brothers. While she was doing this, a little bird flew
around the tree, calling out to the children, “Shoot her in the head!
Shoot her in the head!” Then one of the boys shot an arrow into the
head of the bear, and at once she fell dead. Then they came down from
the tree.

Now the four brothers were dead. The little brother took an arrow, shot
it straight up into the air, and when it fell one of the dead brothers
came to life. This he repeated until all were alive again. Then they
held a council, and said to each other, “Where shall we go? Our people
have all been killed, and we are a long way from home. We have no
relatives living in the world.” Finally they decided that they
preferred to live in the sky.

Then the little brother said, “Shut your eyes.” As they did so, they
all went up. Now you can see them every night. The little brother is
the North Star. The six brothers and the little sister are seen in the
Great Dipper. The little sister and eldest brother are in a line with
the North Star, the little sister being nearest it because she used to
carry her little brother on her back. The other brothers are arranged
in order of their age, beginning with the eldest. This is how the seven
stars [Ursa Major] came to be.