Chief Listens To Whippoorwill And I were at a meeting of The New Jersey Pine Barrens Commission. We had grown tired of the talk, and gone outside for some fresh air. It was early fall, and a chill was in the air as rested and smoked by the edge of the clearing where the meeting was taking place. He asked me if I knew the story of the great bear? I replied that I did not. He pointed up at a section of the night sky and said, that group of stars is called the Great Bear, and close behind it is the warrior. He then began to tell me this story.
The Great Bear
Long ago there lived a great Bear. It was a huge and terrible Bear, much larger than any Bear anyone had ever seen. It had begun to hunt and kill the hunters, and no one was safe from it.
A council was held and and it was decided that the Bear must be killed. 5 warriors said they would would hunt and kill the Bear and the next day they started out.
It did not take long to find the Bear as it was hungry and heard the hunters coming. There was a great and terrible battle. Before long all the hunters were dead, the Bear was to much for them.
When the hunters did not return and the people found out what had happened another council was held, and again it was decided that the Bear must be killed. This time 7 warriors said they would kill the bear.
This time it was the same, there was a great battle that lasted a long time. In the end it was the same, all the hunters were killed.
Now at that time there was a great hunter and warrior who lived with the people. He was bigger and stronger that anyone and he had been off traveling. When he returned and heard of the Bear, he said I will kill him.
The next morning he started out. It was the same thing, the Bear was waiting and soon they began to fight. They fought all day long and all night. Neither could overcome the other and at last the Bear began to run and was afraid. The great warrior began to chase him. They ran and they ran, through the woodlands and then across the great grass lands. On they went across a desert where nothing lived, untill at last they came to some mountains and the Bear ran up the mountain with the warrior close behind him. When The Bear reached the top of the mountain, he jumped off and ran into the stars, with the hunter close behind him.
Now every year about this time the hunter catches up with the Bear and throws his spear. That is why the leaves of the trees turn red, it is the blood of the Great Bear wounded by the warrior falling on the trees the gives them their color!