The Legend of the Bear Family

Many, many generations ago, a Penobscot, his
wife, and their little son started out from their
village to go to Canada. They were from
Penobscot Bay, bound for a great council and
dance to be held at the Iroquois village of
Caughnawaga. They went upriver to the point
where they had to make a 20-mile portage to
reach another river that would take them to the
St. Lawrence.

The man started ahead with the canoe on his
back, leaving his wife to pack part of the
luggage to their first overnight campsite. The
little boy ran alongside of her. While she was
busy arranging her pack, her son ran on ahead
to catch up with his father.

The man had gone so far ahead, the boy became
lost. The mother assumed the boy was with his
father. When she arrived at the campground,
they discovered that their son was with neither
of them. They began a search immediately, but
they could not find him.

The parents returned home to tell their story to
their tribe. All of the men turned out for a wide
search party, which lasted for several months
without success. In March of the next year, the
Penobscots found some sharpened sticks near
the river. They concluded that the boy must be
alive and had been spearing fish. Footprints of
bears were seen, and they thought perhaps the
boy had been adopted by a bear family.
In the village, there was a lazy man who did not
enter into the search, but lay around idly.
Everyone asked him, "Why don't you help hunt
for the boy? You seem to be good for nothing."
"Very well, I will," he replied. He went right to
the bear's den and knocked with his bow on the
rocks at the entrance. Inside, a great noise
arose where the father, mother, baby bear, and
adopted boy lived. The father-bear went to the
entrance, holding out a birch-bark vessel. The
lazy man shot at it and killed the bear.
The mother-bear says, "Now I will go." She took
another vessel, held it out at the entrance, and
also was killed. The baby bear did the same and
was killed. All of the bears were laid out dead
in the cave. Then the lazy man entered and saw
the little boy terribly afraid and huddled in a
dark corner, crying for his relatives and trying
to hide.

The lazy hunter gently carried him home to the
village and gave him to his parents. Everyone
gave the lazy man presents: two blankets, a
canoe, ammunition, and other good things. He
became rich overnight.

The boy's parents, however, noticed that their
son seemed to be turning into a bear. Bristles
were showing on his upper back and shoulders,
and his manners had changed. Finally they
helped him to become a real person again, and
he grew up to be a Penobscot Indian like his
father. He married and had children. Forever
after he and all of his descendants were called
Bears.

They drew pictures of bears on pieces of
birch-bark with charcoal and left them at camps
wherever they went. All of their descendants
seemed to do this and declare, "I am one of the
Bear family."