Week 10 Storytelling: Little Bear Kidnapper

There once was an old woman who lived on her own a moderate distance from her villiage.  Her hut was located on the seashore, near a seal cove, and because of this the men of the village always brought her part of the days catch.  One day the men were able to take down a mother polar bear.  As the women were preparing the meat, they noticed a cub clutching to the bear.  They removed the cub, and brought him to the old woman to see if she wanted him.  Not having company in such a long time, she welcomed him with open arms.  He immediately warmed up to the old woman, and was named Little Bear. The old woman tended to all of the cub's needs, and in return he quickly grew big and strong.

Polar bear

Now one of the main hunters of the village had a son named Ángángûjik, but everyone called him Áng for simplicity.  Áng was very adventurous and would try to sneak away often, much to the distress of his stepmother.  One day Áng became curious of this new polar bear cub that everyone had been talking about.  He decided he wanted to play with him.  Although Little Bear was technically a wild animal, the old woman taught him to play gentle with children when they visited.  When Áng met Little Bear an inseparable bond formed between the two.  They played on most days whenever Áng could get out of his stepmother's site.  Eventually, though, Little Bear had grown big enough to learn how to hunt on his own.  The men of the village saw worth in this, and ask the old woman's permission to take Little Bear hunting with them.  She agreed to the proposition, and the men made plans to arrive early the next morning to fetch him.  The old woman was unaware that Little Bear and Áng were playing in secrecy, so she assumed that Áng's father would tell him that Little Bear would not be home the next day.

The next day's plans worked according, and Little Bear left early in the morning to join in on the hunt.  Unfortunately for Áng he was unaware and made way for the old woman's hut a few hours later.  On the way he came across an inlander couple who was hiding in the forest along the path.  They were curious of her Little Bear, and was trying to sneak a peak of this iceberg of a bear they had heard of.  The inlanders were unfamiliar with polar bears since they did not live near the ice and obtained their food from the earth.  The couple did not have children of their own so they snuck up on Áng, snatched him off the path, and ventured back to their village with plans of raising him as their own.  When Little Bear and the men returned from their hunt, they found Áng's stepmother at the old woman's hut in much distress.  When Áng's father asked her why she was there, she disclosed that she had noticed he was missing from their home, and found little footprints heading in this direction.  As she followed them she realized they were headed towards the old woman's hut, but about half way there she saw another pair suddenly appear, then all of a sudden there were none.  She was to afraid to venture into the forest, so she continued to the old woman's hut to wait for the men to return from hunting. 

Áng's father was angered by the woman's cowardice, but then demanded they immediately set out to find his son.  The other men agreed it was important to find Áng, but it was already late in the day and the village needed meat from their hunt for food.  The old woman then disclosed that Áng and Little Bear had been playing together for some time.  She stated that he and Áng's parents should be sufficient enough to find the young boy.  Áng's parents agreed and set off towards the path.  When they came upon where footprints had disappeared, they asked Little Bear to try and catch Áng's scent.  Little Bear sniffed the surrounding area for a while then suddenly ran off into the forrest.  Áng's parents followed until they came across an inlader village.  They could hear a child crying in one of the homes, crept to one of the windows, and peered in.  What Áng's parents witnessed angered their hearts.  They could see Áng sitting in the middle of the hut crying very loudly.  There was a couple with him asking many questions. "Are you hungry?  Thirsty?  What can we do for you child," the strangers asked him.  "Nothing," cried Áng, "I would like nothing else except to be brought back home!"  The couple explained they could not do this, and told him that he was now their son.  Áng's father decided he had heard enough and asked Little Bear if he would intervene.

Little Bear walked to the front door and let out a big growl.  There was silence coming from the home now, and Little Bear tore the door off the hinges.  Áng, delighted to see his friend, ran to the bear and jumped on his back.  Little Bear came back to the boys parents and allowed them to get on his back as well (for he was indeed very large).  They were soon back at the old woman's hut and everyone rejoiced to have the boy back safely.  From this day on Áng was allowed to visit Little Bear at the woman's hut, but only if he told his parents where he was.  In return, Little Bear made a point to frequently walk the perimeter of the village guarding the children of the inladers. 

The End

Author's note:
This week I decided to combined two stories from Eskimo Folk Tales: The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son & Ángángŭjuk.  I like both so much, and couldn't pick from the two, so I decided to combine the tales.  Some components of each story I stayed true to, but there are a lot of parts I also had to come up with in order to merge the stories.  In The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son, Little Bear becomes so big that while hunting with the men he begins to get attacked himself.  The attacks and threats became so frequent that the old woman eventually told him to leave her home and return to the wild.  In Ángángŭjuk the story does not disclose how the boy was taken by the inladers, but it takes the use of magic men to find him.  When they find Ángángŭjuk crying in the hut, his father asks the wizards to put the couple to sleep in order to retrieve the boy.  After saving Ángángŭjuk they quickly return home, gather their belongings, and immediately relocate. What was interesting is that the inlanders then returned to their hut and smash it to pieces, all in anger of course.

Bibliography:

Book title: Eskimo Folk Tales

Author: Knud Rasmussen

Year Published: 1921

Web Source: Sacred Texts