The Tale of GreatBear - By Wade

Once there was a man named GreatBear. He was incredibly strong not only physically but in his mind as well. He was known all over the land: in the woodlands, on the coast, though the plains, everywhere as a fierce warrior and elite hunter of the woodlands.
On warm summer nights, GreatBear would sit before a fire in the middle of the village. He thought about himself and smiled, for he was GreatBear, the most feared man in the land. He had never met a challenge he could not conquer. His self-pride enveloped him like a bubble. Nothing could touch him, he thought, nothing at all.

Time passed quickly and the seasons all seemed to drift away like the tide on a beach. It was now winter, and it was there to stay. GreatBear continued to face more challenges to maintain his place as the greatest warrior in the land, all of which were great success. Great Bear’s pride continued swelling with every defeat, ballooning so big you could almost see it.

“I can defeat anyone!” he boasted as he walked through his wigwam, which was cluttered with prizes.

Winter trudged on going so slowly it appeared to be going backwards. Food was scarce and you couldn’t grow anything. It was a continuous grind just to survive for most, but not GreatBear; he had all the food he needed from the chief and other members of the tribe. Great Bear didn’t even thank them; he just expected to be supplied, for he was a great hunter.

Anyone who returned from a hunt with meat was held in highest honours. Not many men even dared to leave camp to hunt, not even warriors, and not even GreatBear. The winds were said to be strong enough to strip a man of his skin, even more powerful than the sasquatch himself.

The village was starving. Only the women, warriors and the children ate. But even they were slowly but surely wasting away to nothing. Pressure began to build on GreatBear to form a hunt, for he was the greatest shot in the land. As always though, he refused. The town became suspicious that he was afraid to go and gather food. Rumours spread around like a plague, getting crazier each time. “Perhaps he has met a challenge he cannot complete,” said one.

“Maybe he has been stripped of his strength,” commented another.

Finally under pressure perhaps, Great Bear gave in. He gathered his hunting supplies and the lot of food he had been given. Then he headed to the chief to tell him where he was going. The chief thanked him and sent with him five weak trackers to help him on his quest, each with a handful of stale meat. Although the trackers were great at finding game, they were not able to find any animals in the woodland forest.

At last in a clearing, stood a lone deer. Great Bear drew an arrow from his quiver, notched it to his bowstring and let it fly. As he released the arrow, the wind picked up and blew mockingly at the soaring arrow, driving it down before the feet of the buck.
Great Bear fell to his knees in disbelief. How could he have missed that shot? The trackers recommended that they go elsewhere for food, as deer could run for days.

Time sped past, one day after another, not waiting for anything, and still the six men trudged onward. On the seventh day the trackers were running short on supplies, but Great Bear had many rations.
Suddenly a man appeared from the bush. He was thin and frail and approached the men, slowly limping through the deep snow.

“ Good day,” he said, attempting to sound cheerful. GreatBear looked at him is disbelief.

“ Surely you are mad,” said GreatBear. “ What are you doing out here? You have no warm clothing to be hunting and you do not even have a haversack to put food in!”

GreatBear revealed his bag, bursting at the seams with food that was given to him to honour his hunting skills.
The old man looked at GreatBear’s bag in awe. “ May I have some of the food from your bag to feed my weary body?”
“Certainly not!” shouted GreatBear angrily.

The man hid his face from GreatBear as he trudged away towards the trackers. They pooled their meagre rations together and handed them to the old man. They apologized to him for GreatBear’s behaviour and the old man thanked them graciously.

“Thank-you very much men. You know that it’s funny that the ones who have the most, give the least, and the ones who have the least, give the most.”

With that the old man transformed into a big strong man and for the trackers kindness, gave them all a large deer to supply their village with.

“ You see, I am not who you think I am.” He paused, “ I am the Creator and I have come down to Earth to see the state of the living. I must reward the kind and generous.”

He told the trackers to take hold of his arm, and as they did, there was a bright flash of light. In that instant, the trackers were back in their village and were held as heroes for bringing food back to their starving village. Days later, Great Bear returned with nothing and was looked down upon by elders and villagers alike, as he was greedy and refused to share with even the Creator himself.