It was during the time of the first
winter that Wind gave Bear the gift
of sleep.
All the animals of the forest thought Bear was lazy and slow.
They would tease him and harass
the poor soul daily.
They viewed his
kind gentle ways as a weakness.
They would always laugh at his
friends when he stopped
and
talked to them.
Still Bear did not hate or get angry at the animals who made
fun of him,
he just smiled and went
on his way.
He loved his feathered
friends, his underground friends and
his underwater friends.
The only time
he was sad was when he was hungry
and he had to eat one one of them.
One day, Father Wind heard all the
animals talking about how foolish
Bear was. Even Fish turned against
his friend. This made Wind very mad.
In a dream he taught Bear what plants
to eat and all about the bad things
Fish had said. He told Bear Fish was
not a friend but food.
He also told
Bear that because he was kind he
would receive a special gift.
Then Bear awoke wondering what gift Wind would give him.
In the next dream, Bear was sad.
Winter asked him,"What is wrong?"
"I am only good because I have good
friends".
"That is true",
said Winter. So he told Bear to go
and tell all his friends about the gift
that Wind had promised him.
When Bear awoke he ran through
the forest and told all who would
listen.
This made him very tired and
sleepy so he went back to his cave
and fell asleep.
As before, many creatures did not
listen to Bear. They went about their
business. Some even called him crazy.
So Winter decided to teach them a
lesson.
As Bear and his friends slept,
flew away, or gathered food...without
them knowing, Winter came down upon the
forest.
Yet, he made sure that those
who were friends of Bear were not
aware of him or his brother, Wind.
To them it was a time of the gift.
So, as Winter begins his journey
across the land,
one can still see
who were the friends of Bear...
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