Alaskan and Mackenzie Delta Traditions 55 a 



home, and his foster-mother said to him: "Where have you been? What makes 

 you so late?" But he merely answered, "I walked round all day and saw nothing 

 at all. I think we have too many skins in the house. The animals smell them 

 and won't come near. I think we had better take them outside and burn them." 

 "Very well," said Bruin; so they took the skins out and made a great fire. 

 Then the boy said to Bruin, "Mother, come and lie down here while I search 

 your head." So Bruin lay down and the boy picked the lice out of her head. 

 Soon she fell asleep and began to snore. The boy cautiously slipped her head 

 off his lap and let it drop on to the ground. Bruin woke with a start, but the 

 boy ran away laughing. After the skins were burnt the caribou came round 

 again and he was able to secure plenty of game. He would catch every animal 

 that was to be found in the neighbourhood; only the ducks and the ptarmigan 

 he did not know how to catch. But one day he noticed some ptarmigan resting 

 among the willows on the bank of a river. He crept up very quietly and when 

 he was underneath sprang up and caught one by the tail. After that he caught 

 many of them. 



Winter came, and they remained in the cave without venturing to stir 

 abroad. In due season winter changed to spring, and spring gave place to 

 summer; the boy, now grown into a hardy young man, resumed his hunting. 

 He made up his mind to visit the beach again, but told his foster-mother that 

 he was going after caribou. As he approached the whale, he saw a great number 

 of people gathered round it exactly like those he had seen before, and he thought 

 to himself: "Perhaps these are my people after all and Bruin is not my mother. 

 She doesn't want me to know my own people, and that is why she forbids me 

 to come down here to the beach. I believe that was my real mother whose 

 bones are lying in the back of the cave. Well, I'll go down and talk to these 

 people." So he descended to the beach and approached the group round the 

 whale. They drew their knives when they saw the stranger, and were about to 

 fall upon him and kill him when an old man suddenly cried "Stop," and checked 

 their onslaught. "Long ago," he told them, "My eldest daughter went out one 

 summer to gather berries and a black bear killed her. She was due to have a 

 baby at the time and this youth greatly resembles her. Perhaps he is her son." 

 So they asked the youth where he came from. He said, "My home is inland in 

 a cave in the mountains. My mother Bruin lives there, but she is not at all 

 like me; she has a long nose and big teeth and hair all over her. body; on her 

 hands and feet are great long nails. Perhaps she is not my mother, for in the 

 back of the cave are some bones just like my bones." Then they were sure 

 that he was their kinsman, and the old man told him who he was and how the 

 bear had killed his mother. "Take this bow," he said, "And kill her when you 

 get back." The youth had never seen a bow before, and held it very gingerly 

 in his hands. They showed him how to string it. He laid the arrow on the 

 string, but was afraid and dropped it immediately. He tried again, bent the 

 bow a little, and dropped it again. "I'll kill her with my hands," he said, "In 

 the same way as I kill caribou." "Better take the bow and arrow," his grand- 

 father said; "She is big and strong and may be too much for you." So the 

 youth tried once more and succeeded a little better. Before long he knew how 

 to use it quite well. Then he went back to the cave, taking the bow and arrow 

 with him and a small piece of black-skin as well. Bruin said, "Where have you 

 been? Why are you so late in coming home?" "Oh, I wandered round and 

 round and saw nothing, so I went down to the beach and have brought a piece 

 of black-skin." "Never do that again, my son. I warned you about it before. 

 You might fall into the water." However, they ate the black-skin. The next 

 day the boy said, "I think we had better burn the skins again; there seems to 

 be no game around, and it must be because they smell the skins." "I'll go out 

 and have a look myself," said Bruin; "Perhaps I shall find something." "No, 

 you stay at home, you are too old now to go hunting. Long ago, when I was 

 very small you went out and got food for me; now I want to do the same for 



