Keeping Warmth in a Bag

In the beginning before there were people, there was a long winter. The sun remained hidden by low, black clouds. It never stopped snowing. The sky was black and the earth was white with snow and ice. After this had been going on for three years, all the animals got together for a big council about what they should do. They were freezing and starving to death. All the four-legged animals, the winged ones, and the scaly creatures of the sea attended.

The animals agreed that it was the lack of heat, the absence of warmth, which made the winter go and on. They saw that no bears had come to the council and realized that, in fact, no bears had been seen for three years. One wise animal said: "Maybe the bears have something to do with our suffering. Maybe they're keeping the warmth to themselves. Let's go and find out." So they formed a search party consisting of the wolf, the fox, the wolverine, the bobcat, the mouse, the pike, and the dogfish.

At this time the bears were living in an upper world high above the earth. The search party was lucky enough to find a hole in the sky through which the animals could enter. Wandering about in the upper world, they came to a lake. On its shore stood a hut with a fire burning in front of it, and inside they found two bear cubs huddling together.

"Where is your mother?" the animals asked.

"She went out hunting," answered the little bears.

The visitors looked around and saw number of bags hanging from poles. The bobcat pointed to the first one and asked: "What's in this bag?"

"Our mother keeps rain in that one," answered the cubs.

"And in this one?" inquired the mouse.

"It's full winds."

"Ah, and that one over there?"

"Oh, she keeps fog in that one."

"And this one here," said the wolverine. "What does she keep in this bag?"

"Oh, we can't tell," said the cubs. "It's a secret. Mother told us not to let anybody know what's in that bag."

"No, no! Mother would beat us if we tell."

"But she doesn't have to find out," said the bobcat. "We won't tell on you."

"Well, in that case," said the cubs, "this is the bag where she keeps the heat."

"Thank you, kind little bears," said the mouse. "You've told us all we wanted to know."

The party of animals went outside and held a council. They resolved to hide so that the old bear would not see them when she came home. But first the mouse jumped into the bear's canoe and gnawed almost entirely through the handle of the paddle. At last they saw the mother on the far side of the lake. The bobcat quickly ran around the lake and, changing himself into a plump caribou calf, appeared in front of the mother.

"Quick, quick, children!" the bear mother shouted. "Help me catch this caribou for our dinner!" The cubs came scrambling out and scurried to their mother as fast as they could run. The bobcat lured them deep into the forest. Meanwhile the other animals went into the hut, jerked the bag down from its pole, and made off with it, pulling and tugging.

The caribou-bobcat ran back to the lake and jumped into the water, where it swam toward the hut on the opposite shore. The bear mother leapt into her canoe and paddled furiously after it, but halfway across the lake her paddled snapped in two at the spot where the mouse had gnawed it. The bear pitched into the water and upset the canoe. In the meantime the bobcat reached the shore and assumed his usual shape. "Hurry!" he told the others. "That bear will be after us."

The animals took turns pulling the heavy bag full of heat toward the opening that led to their world below. When one of them got tired, he passed the burden to another. By then the old bear was hot after them, and all the bigger animals were exhausted. But the pike and the dogfish were still fresh, and at the very last moment, with the bear's teeth snapping at their heels, they managed to pull the bag through the hole in the sky. The whole party slipped safely through the opening.

As soon as they were down in their own world, they tore the bag open. At once the heat rushed out, spreading in every direction, melting the snow and ice, dispersing the black clouds, and making the sun shine again. However, the melting water caused a great flood which covered the world and threatened to drown all living creatures. At this time the earth had a giant tree which reached high into the sky, almost to the world above. To save themselves the animals climbed up to its highest branches and cried, "Somebody help us!"

Out of nowhere appeared a giant fish who drank up all the flood water, in the process himself becoming a great mountain. After that the sun dried up the land, the trees covered themselves with leaves, the flowers bloomed, and it was summer again, to the joy of all creatures.

* Based on a tale reported by Robert Bell at the turn of the century