The Cub: Story Week 11

(polar bear)

The village was cold, but only in terms of weather. The people there took care of each other. They made sure that everyone had what they needed, especially the old woman close to the shore. When someone went hunting, they made sure she had enough food to get through to the next one. When they killed a bear and found its cub nearby, they gave it to her so she wouldn't be lonely anymore.
"Little cub, you are so cold," she said. "That won't do. Here come by the fire, get warm." And she began caring for the cub. "Now, you are too small. Come eat this meat, get bigger and stronger." And the bear grew.
One day he began talking back to her. "Thank you for the meat," it said. "I'm big enough and strong enough to go out and see the village. I want to play like the others I see." And so he did. He played and played and the children loved it. Until one day they didn't.
"Ow," said a small child, "that hurt. We're friends, why did you hurt me?"
"I didn't mean to," said the cub. "I was just playing like usual."
"Cub, can I talk to you?" asked a man nearby.
"Of course." And so they went a small ways away as the child was tended to by others.
"Now, Cub, I think that you're to big to play with the little ones anymore. You're to strong, you don't mean to hurt them but you do."
"That's not what I want. I won't play anymore. It's fine. They should be safe."
"Cub, I'll figure something out. You're a good bear, and we care about you." And so the community did. They all took care of the bear that the old woman loved so dearly. The adults started playing with the bear in the same way the kids did. They were bigger and stronger, so Cub didn't hurt them on accident. Until he did.
"Cub, I think that you have grown to much to play with us any longer. I'm sorry."
"It's okay, I'll find something to do with my time."
"I think that you should go hunting with us. We could teach you." And so they did.
Bear, no longer Cub to most of the community, learned everything about hunting he could. And he used it to take care of the old woman as she had taken care of him. Until one day while he was out hunting, another group of hunters almost killed him. The old woman made him a collar, thick and visible from a distance to make him as a friend. Bear stayed out to hunt and provide for the community that had done so much for him. But other hunters began to hear about this bear, and they wanted to kill him. The old woman worried for her cub, he would never stop being her cub.
"Cub, I need you to understand this. Never attack other humans you see. Defend yourself id you must, but always with until they strike."
Bear took this to heart, and one day brought the body of a stranger into the community. The woman feared for Cub's safety more than ever.
"Cub, you must leave us. You must leave me.I love you, I will always love you, but it's not safe for you here anymore," she said.
"I know. I don't want to, but I will leave if it's what you want," said Bear.
"I want you to be safe. And you need to leave to do that."
The community grieved as the bear set out, leaving the village and the old woman for the last time.

Author's Note: This story comes from The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son in Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921). I added a lot more dialogue to the story and ended it before the original one did. I didn't include the lore about how the bear still was seen and respected by the community.