Bear: “Come. I will tell you a story.”
“For a long time Bear watched Man from the Night Sky. Bear watched the different tribes and clans of men do as men do. At first there were many that remembered the promises and kept them. But the number waned until one day no one shared their catch with Bear. No one shared their water and honey with Bear. No one shared their words with Bear.
No one remembered Bear.
One night, Bear came down from the Night Sky and found the People of the Promise were no more. Bear found their children, and found they were trying to do things the way their father’s fathers did. But with no one to teach them how to See and how to Speak and how to Listen and how to Be, they did not see Bear walking among them. To them, Bear was a story for the ignorant and the superstitious.”
Me: “Sorry, Bear, I’m going to have to call bullshit.”
Bear: “Why?”
Me: “You imply that there are no more peoples that know the Old Stories. And that’s not true. There are still those that remember the old ways, that kept them safe when the white men tried to destroy them. They have learned how not to speak and have hidden the stories away.”
Bear: “Do you know them? Or just know of them?”
Me: “… Just of them. I am allowed to know they are still told but I will likely never hear them.”
Bear: “Then they do not exist to you.”
Me: “They exist. I just don’t know them.”
Bear: “When you are hungry and all the fish are gone for winter, you know they have gone to the sea but you are still hungry. You have no fish in hand. What good is all the fish in the sea if you have none in your belly?”
Me: “… When you put it that way…”
Bear: “My stories were not meant to be hidden forever. Even winter ends. Bear is walking beside Man again. And Bear is not alone. If you will not listen to the stories, I will make you seek them personally. You are not the only one that sees me. Do not worry about telling it right. There are new fish in the river. Catch them.”