Peesunt and the Bear People
Among the natives in
The chief's daughter Peesunt was very vain, always brushing her long black hair and bragging about her beauty and status. One day the girls of the tribe went out berry picking and on their way through the forest they grew nervous because they thought there were bears nearby. To let the bears know they were coming they clapped their hands and sang songs. "I don't have to, Peesunt said, they are smelly and dirty beasts." "Be careful her friends said, they will hear you," they said, but she paid no attention to their warning. After they began to pick berries they forgot about the bears and soon their baskets were full. As the sun was preparing for sleep they began their journey home. "I am the chief's daughter and I will get the most berries," Peesunt said, continuing to pick more. By the time her basket was overflowing, her friends were gone, the sun had gone to sleep and Peesunt grew afraid because the forest was dark.
Nervously she began to walk home but her basket broke and her berries fell to the ground. Just then a handsome man dressed in a bearskin cloak approached her and called her by name, helping to fix her basket and pick up the fruit. "You must come and stay with my people tonight, the forest is dark," he offered. Peesunt accepted, and arriving in the man's village, she noticed that all of the people there were dressed in bearskins and none of them would look her directly in the eye. Entering the long-house she was welcomed by the young man's father, who was the chief. He wore a crown of bear claws and wore an elaborate bearskin cloak. That night the people of the village feasted and danced with Peesunt and they told each other stories.
In the morning when Peesunt said she must leave the chief said no. "You must stay and marry my son," he said. At that moment Peesunt heard a tiny voice calling up to her. "These are the bear-people. They heard you in the forest yesterday and they will kill you if you don't stay and marry the chief's son," the voice said. It was Nokomis, the earth-mother who often took the form of a mouse-lady. Peesunt had no choice but to do as she was told. She soon grew to love her husband and had two sons who were half man, half bear. She learned much from Nokomis and changed her vain ways but still she missed her human family.
One day strangers were seen nearby. Her husband came to her with bad news. "I have dreamt of this day Peesunt. Your people found bear tracks near the place you were last seen and they are going to kill me. I must go to them to protect you and my people." Peesunt wept when she heard this news and saw her husband turn into a bear as he walked into the forest to meet his death. She also wept with joy to see her brothers again and told them how to treat the bear that they had hunted with respect and to use all of its parts and not to drag it on the ground when they carried it away. Returning to her village with her sons she asked her father, "I am not comfortable living with people anymore, may I live on the edge of the village in a small house?" That is where she lived for many years but still she missed her bear family. Her brothers came to her one day with a gift of bearskin cloaks for her and her sons. As they put them on they turned into bears and left the village of the humans to spend the rest of their days in the forest with the bear-people. Peesunt's tribe became very successful hunters and always took her advice from that day forward.
The natives used this story as a teaching tool. Just like in the myth, it is a good idea to make noise when you are hiking. In case of a bear encounter, remember, making eye contact is considered an aggressive sign.