Authors: Mercedes Keyes
When he saw his wife approaching with sweetened bread and a
disapproving scowl, it took the wind right out of his sails. He
accepted her way, knowing little could be said to change her views.
Not long after the two women’s arrival, the excitement died down and
with the novelty of the animal wearing off, the audience began to
disperse.
Gray Wolf and his companions also left with other duties awaiting
them, but with a parting warning for the two remaining women to
stay clear of the bear, leaving with the words, "He is dangerous, keep
your distance." Rain-dance and Hope both nodded with the warning
taken to heart.
"Poor thing, I feel so sorry for him." Rain-dance stated, throwing
more sweet bread.
"So do I, it is a shame such a beautiful animal will soon be
nothing more than a fur blanket and stew meat for the evening
meals." Hope added with a sigh.
"Well not if I can help it! There are other things for him to eat!"
Rain-dance announced with the thrust of her chin.
Alarms went off in Hope's head. "What do you mean?" She asked
hesitantly.
"I mean, I'm going to set him free."
"Ohhh." Hope moaned, having a feeling she should leave at once,
but curiosity and adventure was in her blood. "How are you to do that, he's dangerous."
"Yes, now that is the problem; but we have plenty of sweet bread left, we can make a trail of it going into the woods. Once he is free, I
am certain he will take off as fast as his feet can carry him."
"Yes, that's all good... but who is going to cut him loose?"
"I will! All
you
have to do is distract him with more sweet bread,
he will be so eager for it; he will pay me no attention as I cut him
loose."
Hope shook her head, "Oooh, I don't know about that."
"Fine, if you're afraid, I'll tempt and distract him; you can cut him
loose."
"I don't think I like that idea either, I mean... he belongs to
your
husband
. He caught him, I can't cut him loose."
"Well one of us must cut him loose; you or I." Rain-dance pressed.
"Oooh ... oh — okay... I'll make the trail, you cut him loose."
Sun-rays shone down on the little stream, sending up
glistening dancing lights, all of which Red Crow
enjoyed as he fished; all around him, tranquil and calm — he felt one with
nature. "Aaah, this is a day surely to be enjoyed. Fish are plenty, birds
are singing and all is at peace." He reflected in a chipper mood.
The
forest that surrounded him was quiet, except for the occasional
chirping and calls from birds hidden in the trees. He smiled, thinking
about his beautiful wife, Gold Raven. Thoughts of her brought a
grin to his face, as he peered into the shallow stream awaiting the
perfect moment to spear another fish to add to what he had already
caught. Just as he was about to strike, from his peripheral view, something caught his eye,
making him look up from the stream to see what he was certain, was
his wife, running as fast as he had ever seen her move.
He could have sworn she was yelping for help, but he could barely
make out her words while standing shocked, as she sped by in a blur. While that was registering, another sound came through with startling
clarity; it was the angry growling of a bear. His eyes widened as he watched the lumbering beast, in pursuit of his wife. "No! No no no
no no!" He groaned tossing the spear aside to take off after them with his heart pounding from the sudden rush of adrenaline.
Fear was a powerful fuel, Hope realized, as her feet carried her at top
speed while it occurred to her that she should find somewhere to
ditch this bear and quickly before it was right on top of her. She was
too frightened to look behind to see if she was in fact getting away,
but by the sound of its bellowing call — there was still space between
them. In her flight, she caught sight of the low limb of a tree and went for it.
With her blood racing through her system, she imagined that she could already feel
the claws and teeth in her back, knowing the bear was right on her
heels. Like a frightened monkey, she scaled the limb as if she was
born to climb, going as far up as she could.
Finally she looked down to see the bear below her at the base, he
was clawing to make his way up after her, in no time flat, the bear was
two feet up the tree beneath her. She threw her head back and
screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Red Cro-o-ow!!!"
Unprepared for this occurrence, all he could think to do was to
throw stones at the mighty beast and yell at it to get its attention.
"Aw–ya-a-ah – look over here!!!" He bellowed at it, the bear looked towards the ground, then back up at Hope, and decided it was less trouble to attack below and started
back down. Landing, he took off after Red Crow, who yelled back
over his shoulder at his wife.
"Run for help!!"
Due to the roaring of the animal and her pounding heart, she
didn't understand what her husband was yelling, all she could think of was that bear was now, after him.
She scrambled down the tree to pick
up the very stones he had cast at the bear and headed off to distract
the animal from getting her husband.
"Hey you stupid bear! Get the hell away from my husband
!! Ungrateful beast, I’ll demand a bowl of your carcass myself
!!" She screamed, throwing
the rocks at it to get its attention.
Red Crow, who was now up a tree, shook his head in disbelief.
"Hope! To the village – get help!!"
"Nooo, I’m not leaving you alone with this bear
!"
He wanted to cry, he could not believe this was happening as he
watched his wife throw stones. "Don’t worry honey, I’ll save you!!!
" She screamed as the bear looked once again from Red
Crow up in the tree down to Hope. Just as she cast her last stone,
many of his braves ran up with spears, attacking the bear all at once.
The bear dove to the ground trying to attack the closest to him when
he fell dead filled with arrows and spears.
"Oh thank God you came when you did; I would have never been able to save Red Crow all by myself." She breathed gratefully, slow to realize how things looked to the braves who had gathered, as
well as some other villagers. There she was on the ground battling
with the bear as her husband hid in the safety of the tree. The men
glanced at each other in obvious humor as their chief landed on the ground now that the bear was dead, with his wife running up to him
concerned about his welfare.
"Oh Red Crow, are you okay? He didn't hurt you did he? That
awful animal, I just knew I shouldn't give aid, but Rain-dance felt so
sorry for it, and so did
I,
but, not anymore, ungrateful beast!" She
explained, her partner in crime nowhere to be seen.
Red Crow was not looking at her, nor listening; his eyes were on
his braves and couldn’t hide wincing when he heard the first snicker. That is
when he turned to her, his eyes hard as flint. Hope was taken aback
by his obvious anger.
"I'm sorry." She whispered, realizing why he was so upset, then heard the suppressed laughter behind her and turned wondering why they thought this so funny, when her husband could have been
killed; feeling no need to bite her tongue, she said as much.
"I don't see anything funny, he could have been killed."
"True." Gray Wolf bit back a snicker and added, "And it is a good
thing, he had his brave wife here to save him."
He finished biting
hard into his bottom lip not to erupt into laughter; after all... this was
their mighty chief, Red Crow.
Hope turned from him to the others, it struck home how this
made him look in their eyes; Hope groaned.
"Oh no, you've got it all
wrong. It is he who saved me, see-..."
"Hope!" Red Crow barked.
Hope closed her eyes with a moan, defending him only made
things worse. Contrite, she looked back at him. A burst of laughter,
followed by another eruption as the braves slowly departed the area now that
the excitement was over.
With his jaw clenched tight, an angry tick showing the strain
on his self-control, Red Crow grabbed his wife by
the wrist and tugged her
behind him back to their dwelling. Hope, red faced, chastised by his
look, humbled in the face of bringing him shame, trotted docile
behind him. At that particular moment, she would not dare do
anything to cause him further shame. "Well my dear wife, since you've
managed to reduce me to a laughing stock, do you think it would be too much to ask that you return to our tepee with me, that I may, -
bear-
...-(those going their way heard and howled with laughter)-...
my shame in private."
She turned vengeful eyes back to his braves, despite being pulled along by her
husband, the expression on her face promised revenge for making matters worse
for him. This made them laugh that much harder and louder.
Inside their hut, Hope tried to patch things up.
"Red Crow-..."
"Don't — say — another — word. I'm so hungry I could eat a-..."
When he realized the completion of that sentence, he scowled. Hope
could not help it; she snickered, thinking he meant to say it
. however, his glare at her proved otherwise. She cleared her
throat and went about doing as he had requested.
The following day, just as he thought it would, the story had gone
through the village. Almost everywhere that he went, mocking
laughter erupted, especially when passing the dwelling of old
Cobenche, who laughed so hard, tears ran from his eyes down his old
tanned leathery cheecks.
Days passed with Hope careful to stay clear of trouble. Until she made a decision to fix a special lunch for her husband, an ingredient
for this lunch was honey. Butterfly and Rain-dance, whom she’d made
up with, came to visit her. Rain-dance had to endure disdain and
ridicule from Hope after she learned that Rain-dance had sobbed like a child to her husband to escape his wrath.
His immediate response had
been to console her saying, "Cry no more... the beast was to be
slaughtered for food and its hide to warm us come winter. It was
worth it all for the enjoyment and mirth it supplied."
Sheepishly she begged Hope's forgiveness, which grudgingly she
gave.
So, the three of them were once again in association with
each other when Hope pointed out her need of honey.
"I know where we can get some?" Rain
-dance suggested brightly.
"Where?" Hope asked interested.
"There is an old fallen log not far from the village. Cobenche has
taken honey from it many times; I've seen how he does it. The bees
within, they are harmless."
"Hmmm, I will ask him to get some for me." Hope stated,
relishing the idea of pleasing her husband with the treat she had
planned.
"We don't need him; I've seen him get the honey many times.
Trust me; I know what I'm doing." Rain-dance assured her as they
headed off to collect honey.
30 minutes later…
"Oh nooo!" Hope cried, running for her tepee as
Butterfly and Rain-dance ran for the distant stream. "Hope nooo
! Not towards the village, nooo!!"
They both yelled at her, but all Hope knew was the bees were out in
mass, not as easily handled as Rain-dance had thought they would be,
and she was going
home,
where she wished she had stayed. The
problem was, the bees chose to follow her since they did not like
water.
Right within the edge of the village, Red Crow and a group of
braves were in the middle of building the mainframe for another
home when he stood with a mouth full of nails to see a silent
blur pass them by.
"Eeemmh!" Hope ran by trying her hardest
not to scream out, and so muffled it in her throat, not wanting to
bring attention to herself but the villagers,
especially her
husband,
had come to realize, that
when she was running, there was good reason.
A speedy inconspicuous escape was out of the question,
especially when the bees soon arrived as a perfectly good explanation
for her flight
Her husband's mouth fell open for the nails to spill out as he and
the men working with him turned to see a huge swarm of bees
coming their way. "Hope – the water, run for the pond
!!" He shouted at his wife, but it was too late, because the men
around him began swatting and running. He had no choice but to
follow suit because there were more of them, the bees detoured and
followed the larger target. Red Crow whimpered and swatted as he
ran, crying.
"Are the gods angry?! Why me, why me?" Yelled Red Crow. Then slapped his neck as he was
stung, and took off with his braves, all shouting, yelping and swatting as they made their way to the stream. Half of the villagers were up to
their necks in the water, waiting for the angry bees to calm
themselves and return to their log dwelling.