How the Bear Got Its Courage
by Matt C.
One day in Wisconsin, near where the Kickapoo
tribe lived, there was a pack of bear talking among themselves. The smallest
bear walked over to the leader of the bears.
"I am worried that we will not be able to
live here much longer", said the little bear.
"Why is that" asked the leader.
"I am afraid that since we live right outside
the Kickapoo's longhouses, and since they are such good hunters, and they
like to hunt bear, that we will soon be dead".
"Oh, my little bear, you do not need to be
afraid of them, but you must be careful", said the leader. "You
must have the courage to look the Kickapoo Indians in the eye when you see
them even though the French people higher them to be mercenaries, you must
show that you are not afraid".
"But leader," sighed the little bear,
"I am afraid and I have no courage."
The leader of the bears looked at the little bear
and said "you have more courage than you know."
"No" said the little bear, "all
I worry about is that I will be killed and my fur will be used by the Kickapoo's
for a rug in their longhouse."
"Little bear, go down to the creek and look
in the water and come back and tell me what you saw."
Little bear ran down to the creek and looked in.
He saw only one thing, his reflection in the water. He ran back to the leader
and sighed, "all I saw was me, I didn't see anything else."
The leader of the bears looked down at little
bear and smiled. "Oh" he explained, "then you saw your courage."
"What do you mean?" asked Little Bear.
"Well" replied the leader, "if
you saw your self then you must believe in yourself and if you believe in
yourself then you can believe that you have the courage to face anything".
The little bear looked up at the leader and smiled.
"I know now that all I have to do is to believe I have courage and
I will have courage".
"That is correct" replied the leader,
"now go play in the woods".
While little bear was playing in the woods he
heard the Indians out hunting. He turned around to see how close they were
getting to him. He saw they were only a few feet away and that they were
loading their bows with arrows. He forgot everything that the Bear leader
had told him and more afraid than he had eve been before he started to run
through the woods. He ran and ran and saw the Indians running behind him.
He did not even look where he was running and ran right into the creek that
the Bear leader had sent him to before. He fell in the creek and when he
lifted his head up out of the water, he saw his reflection. He remembered
what the Bear leader had said and as he looked at his reflection he remembered
that he had to believe in himself. He was still a little bit afraid but
as he kept staring at his reflection he got stronger and stronger. He got
up on the side of the creek and stopped running from the Indians. But he
was surprised when he saw the Indians running past him. They aimed their
arrows and he saw that they were aiming at a wild turkey, not at him.
Later that night when Little Bear was talking
the Leader he told him the story. Big Bear smiled at him and told him how
happy he was that he now knew that "he had all the courage he would
ever need."