When Bears Learned to Sleep
Seven cycles before the white man trespassed upon our lands, there was a snow-capped mountain, by the name of Awanata. The lower part of the snow line gave birth to a raging stream that, if you traveled far enough, lead into the vast blue ocean. The harsh climate and geography of mount Awanata permitted only a few select species to inhabit it: three grizzly bears, salmon, and a newt. For the greater part of their lives, the bears did not know of the existence of the salmon, but that all changed. This is the tale of the grizzly and the salmon.
One frosty winter morning a grizzly, whose name was Nito, was walking along the sparkling riverbank of Awanata foraging for food. There was a neat blanket of snow covering everything outside his warm cave. The reflection of the sun off the snow made his eyes sore, and he was forced to squint in order to see. Nito wandered for a while, finding various things like berries¸ herbs, and pinecones; that he had been eating, contempt , since he was a cub. As he was walking, he came upon an unfamiliar scent that he couldn't explain. Nito became excited, and began tracking where the odoriferous smell as coming from. He walked up the riverbank for seven minutes, studying the ground for any sign of where the scent originated from. Looking around, a pink color flashed in his peripherals. He walked cautiously walked towards it. Upon further inspection, Nito realized it was a fish, who's head was neatly severed from the frozen body.
"What could this be?" Nito thought aloud. Nevertheless, it looked appetizing, so he helped himself to the mutilated body of the salmon, swallowing it whole. Nito knew that this was the best thing he ever tasted, and when he finished he began to search for clues to how it had got there.
After seven minutes of searching with no progress, he gave up, took the head, and left to return to his cave proclaiming, "If I don't know how it got here, maybe someone else will."
When he arrived back at the cave, his sister Nita greeted him, and her nose instantly perked up.
"What is that delightful smell?" she inquired.
Nito thought before answering, "I don't know, I was hoping you or mom could tell me."
"WHAT?!" a gruff voice boomed from deep inside the cave. Soon after, Nito's mother, Sawancha, emerged.
"I found something." Nito stated bluntly.
"Well, let me see it, because I can sure smell it!" Sawancha declared.
Nito handed her the fish head, and as she examined it closer, turned pale as a polar bear. "Where did you find this?'' Sawancha looked flabbergasted.
"By the stream, sliced neatly from the body, lying in the snow." explained Nito.
"There was another part?" Sawancha exclaimed.
"Yes, it was delicious; the best thing I have ever tasted." Sawancha lunged at Nito, picking him up by his shoulders. Even though Nito outweighed his mother by seven hundred stones, she was still able to lift him with ease.
"Why, Nito?" Sawancha had a grief-stricken look on her face.
"Look, next time I find one, you can have it; just don't hurt me!" he cringed.
"No, Nito, you don't understand! This 'delicious' thing that you found is a salmon, the reason your father died," she explained, " He, too, found a salmon and ate it; although, it wasn't enough for him. He devoted himself to finding more salmon, and wished that the rest of his family could taste the mouth watering, pink, soft, juicy meat. Over the course of seven months he found out a lot about the species; that they live in water, and make the journey from the top of Awanata's stream to the ocean every seven moons. Although, his life's work would soon become his life's downfall. Seven days after you were born, your father finally amassed the courage to try to catch the salmon, and try he did. He tried to jump into the water after them, but was immediately sucked under the strong current and was never seen again. This is why you must not ever try to eat the salmon again!"
"Mother, I must, for it is the reason I was born!" Nito's face lit up with excitement as he realized what his mission in life is.
After giving his mother and sister a bear hug, Nito ventured off down the mountain to a place where he could learn the ways of the salmon. He came upon a standing pool at the bottom of a waterfall, where he noticed a lot of splashing. Nito walked closer to examine what was happening in the pool. There were hundreds of salmon swimming in circles, some picking up speed and launching out of the water, over the waterfall.
"WATCH WHERE YOU'RE STEPPING!" Nito jumped as the sound of the shrieking voice reached his ears.
"Who's there?" he roared back.
"Down here..." said the voice, and Nito looked down. It was a tiny green newt with seven blue spots along its back.
"Sorry, I didn't see you," Nito apologized.
"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say. What are you doing here; come to watch the salmon spawn?" the newt was intrigued, for it hadn't seen another bear near salmon in many moons.
"Spawn?" Nito asked
"Yes, spawn, it's when the salmon try to swim upriver, in order to lay their eggs to have baby salmon."
"Oh, my mother bear told me about this; they do it every seven moons." Nito told the newt.
"Every seven moons." The newt confirmed.
"I want to catch some." Nito said, preparing to jump into the pool.
"I wouldn't do that; it didn't go so well last time." the lizard spoke with a smirk on his lips.
Nito paused, "You knew my father..."
"Yes, he was not the smartest bear, but it's survival of the fittest, you know."
"So do you know how to catch them then?" Nito became inquisitive
"Yes, but it is quite simple, you see. Bears are big, am I correct?" the newt countered with a simple question.
"The biggest." Nito stood up on his back legs and let out a throaty growl
"And fish are small, right?"
"Right, so the bear gets the fish, rips its head off, and has a good meal." he got ready to jump in again.
"Not quite, there is one flaw in your logic. The salmon can swim seven times as fast as you can run." Nito was puzzled, he had not thought about it that way. "Big body bears don't have big brains, do they?"
Nito did not know how to respond to that, for no one has ever made it apparent that he was wrong, except his mother.
"Maybe you can train yourself in order to catch the salmon." the newt suggested
"No, you said they could swim seven times faster than me. I do not think that would work..." Nito countered
"Worth a try though."
For the next seven days, Nito stayed at the pond and practiced catching salmon to no avail. When his body was too sore to swim any longer he bid the newt farewell and slowly walked back to his cave. When he arrived, Sawancha and Nita were excited to see him, for they feared he drown trying to get salmon. Nito ignored them and walked deep into the cave, dropped to the ground, and fell asleep.
When he awoke, he was assaulted with bear-hugs by Sawancha and Nita.
"Why are you doing this?" Nito struggled to get the words out of his mouth.
"Nito, we were so worried; we thought you had died!" Nita roared
"What are you talking about?"
"You were asleep for seven moons, Nito." He immediately pushed away from his mom, shoving her across the cave in the process.
"Wow... you've gotten strong!" Sawancha stated, surprised.
"Yes, I noticed too, when I woke up I felt amazing, almost like I could do anything." Then Nito got an idea.
He ran down the mountain, to the pool under the waterfall and jumped in without hesitation. He was underwater for seven seconds, and emerged with two salmon in each paw!
Nito was exhilarated, and as he got out of the water he took a hard step towards home and heard a bone crunching crack. His back-right paw had stomped the newt into the ground, crushing all but his head.
"Good job, buddy." the newt wheezed sarcastically, and died.
"No time," and Nito ran up Awanata to his cave.
When Nito got back to his cave, he gave Sawancha and Nita a salmon to eat for the first time. They were both amazed by how good the fish tasted, and would stop at nothing in order to eat it every day. All the bears adapted to Nito's new sleeping style: Sleep seven moons and have five moons to eat salmon and strengthen their bodies. They taught all their cubs from that point on how to live, giving the sleep a formal name and giving all bears an identity.