The Great Hunter |
There once was a great hunter, who had the power to change himself into any animal of the forest. The hunter's son wanted to be a great hunter too, but the land they lived in was too cold. The boy's hands were so cold that he could not fit his arrows into his bow. He begged his father to make summer come. His father promissed. The father climb to the top of a tall mountain as a bear. At the top of the mountain he tried to jump high enough to break the hole in the sky. He changed into many friends the otter, the beaver, the lynx, the badger and the fisher cat. The fisher cat climbed up through the hole. There the hunter found a land of flowers and birds and summer. The sky people were nowhere to be found. In some of their tee-pees there were many cages of birds. The hunter knew that if he released these birds, they would fly through the hole in the sky and carry summer to the Earth. He opened all the cages. The birds flew out and down to Earth. They made such a noise that the sky people heard it. They hurried to close the hole in the sky. The hunter changed himself into a bear, but the sky people shot him with their arrows. They stretched him out in the sky. You can see him at night as the Great Bear in the sky. Hey-Yah-Hey |