The Hunting of the great bear is an old myth about why the leaves turn every autumn. The story is about four brothers who were very good hunters. One night there was news around the village that there was a huge bear , enormous and frightening. The kids no longer played outside and everyone kept indoors in terror. When the brothers heard of the news they set off for the village, with their dog, to kill this bear.
On the way to the village, they found scratches on the trees in the forest from the bear marking its territory. One brother said, “ it is as the people feared, this is a hunt for Nyah-gwaheh, a monster bear.” When they arrived at the village, the people were fearful and famished. The brother’s reassured the people they were there to kill the bear. So they set off on their journey to kill the monster.
“Meanwhile, like a pale giant shadow, the Nyah-gwaheh was moving through the trees close beside them.” The brothers saw and took off after the bear. They were on the bear’s trail with the dog nipping at its feet. Soon the bear was tiring and so were the hunters. The dog, however, was still at the bear’s feet. “Just as the bear turned to nip at the dog, one of the brothers leveled his spear and thrust it into the heart of the Nyah-gwaheh, and the bear fell dead.”
So the brothers built a fire and started to eat the meat of the bear. Where they piled the bones of the bear, it was rising back to life. It began to run again with the dog at its feet across the skies. “Each autumn the hunters chase the great bear across the skies and kill it. Then, as they cut it up for their meal, the blood falls down from the heavens and turns the colors the leaves of the maple trees scarlet. They cook the bear and fat dripping from their fire turns the grass white.”