Long, long ago when the animals were people,
Bear did not like to share the black berries that grew down by the creek. He
would chase off anyone that tried to eat even just one of those sweet, sweet
berries.
Now one summer morning coyote went down to
the creek to get a drink of water. He
drank some of the cold, cold water and noticed that the berry bushes were
loaded with thousands of sweet, sweet berries.
He looked to his left, then his right and he did not see Bear. Coyote
knew that Bear would chase off anyone that tried to eat even just one of those
sweet, sweet berries.
Not seeing bear any where, Coyote thought it
would be really, really cool to get a few of those sweet, sweet berries. Coyote
slowly crawled over to the berry bushes. Just as he was about to take a berry,
Bear who was on the other side of the berry bushes stood-up on his big
old hind legs. He was 7 feet tall and weighed 500 pounds, super duper
heavyweight size. He roared so loud that it scared Coyote so much that he
jumped 5 feet straight up. He hit the ground running faster that he had ever
run before. Bear thought that was
really, really funny and he laughed as Coyote ran away. Then he went back to
eating those sweet, sweet berries.
Coyote ran all the way to the top of a near
by hill. He was out of breath, so he laid down under a big old oak tree to rest
for awhile. As he was resting and
catching his breath, he heard caw, caw, it was Coyote’s friend Raven.
Raven asked Coyote why he was breathing so
hard. Coyote told him how Bear had chased him away from the berries down by the
creek. And that all he wanted was just a few of those sweet, sweet berries.
Raven said, “Ya dude, Bear hoards all the
sweet, sweet berries for himself. I tried to get just a few of those sweet,
sweet berries and he swatted at me with his big old paw. That’s not nice at all
dude. He should share them with everyone,
dude. You know Coyote, we should teach that dude a lesson.
(It was Raven who started the dude thing)
Coyote agreed and the two friends began to
plan their revenge. As they planned how
to trick Bear and hopefully teach him a lesson, they could see him down by the
creek. They could see him eating and eating those sweet, sweet berries all
day. Coyote napped several times resting
up for his big adventure later that day.
Coyotes nap a lot.
Bear would only stop eating those sweet,
sweet berries to get a drink of that cold, cold water from the creek. Raven and Coyote had watched Bear eat not a hundred berries,
but thousands of those sweet, sweet berries.
His big old belly was so big that it almost touched the ground as he
walked to the creek.
Just before the sun was about to set Coyote
trotted down to the creek. Raven flew
down, circling high above Bear and Coyote.
When Coyote got down to the creek he boldly walked up to the berry
bushes. He quickly grabbed a few of
those sweet, sweet berries, popped them in his mouth, swallowed them, then
howled as loud as he could. It scared
Bear for a second, but just a second.
Then Bear charged through the berry bushes
and started chasing Coyote around the bushes. Coyote ran as fast as he could. They must of went around the berry
bushes ten times. Bear was breathing
very heavily because he had ate so many of
those sweet, sweet berries. But,
he was really, really close to Coyote, so close Coyote could smell Bear’s
berry, berry breath. Bear thought he was going teach Coyote a lesson. But, just
as Bear swatted at Coyote with his big old paw Coyote jumped straight up. Raven
flew down and grabbed Coyote, lifting him up even higher. As Bear fell flat on
his big old belly, Raven dropped Coyote.
He landed right on Bear’s back. He wrapped his front paws around Bear’s
big old neck and his back paws around Bear’s big old belly. Well, half way around that big old belly.
Bear took off running and bucking trying to
get Coyote off his back. Coyote held on with all his might. Bear was pawing and clawing at Coyote. He was bucking and pawing, bucking and
clawing at Coyote. Raven flew down and
pecked Bear on his big old head. Bear could not get Coyote off his back. After a few seconds, eight to be exact, Bear
fell down flat on his big old face and big old belly. He was exhausted and was gasping for air.
Coyote jumped off of Bear, dusted himself off and trotted over to the
berry bushes. Raven flew down to the
berry bushes. They each ate a few of
those sweet, sweet, sweet berries. Coyote put a few berries in front of Bear,
he did not want Bear to be too mad at him.
As Raven and Coyote left they both said to
bear,” We just wanted a few berries, there are more than enough for all of us,
if we all just share,,,,DUDE!”
The next morning Coyote and Raven went down
to the creek. Bear saw them and stood up on his big old hind legs. Coyote and
Raven held their breath and were kind of scared.Then Bear said, “I thought about what you said
yesterday. And you are right, there are
enough berries for all of us, if we share.”
From that day on Bear shared those sweet,
sweet berries with all of the animals. He turned out to be a good dude.
Now Coyote did not realize that day what he
had done. He did not know that he
created the very first rodeo event, yes rodeo event— Bear back riding.
Copyright
© Alan Salazar. All rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Alan Salazar writes, "I have worked in several
different areas in my life. I am a Native American traditional storyteller, a traditional paddler of Chumash
tomols (plank canoes), a Native American consultant/monitor and a juvenile
institution officer. I have also, been a journeyman plaster since I was a young
man and have been around construction most of my life. My family has traced our
family ancestry to the Chumash village of Ta’apu, now known as Simi Valley and
the Tataviam village of Pi’ing near Castaic, Ca. We are Ventureno Chumash and Tataviam. My ancestors were brought into the San
Fernando Mission starting in 1803. And I continue to actively protect my
ancestors village sites and tribal territories.
I have been actively involved
with several Native American groups. I am a founding member of the Kern County
Native American Heritage Preservation Council and the Chumash Maritime Association. I am a member of the California Indian
Advisory Council for the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. I have been a community advisor with the Ventura County Indian
Education Consortium for over 15 years. And I am currently a member of the
Environmental Review Board for the city of Malibu.
As a member of the Chumash
Maritime Association I have helped build the first working traditional Chumash
plank canoe in modern times and have paddled in this plank canoe for over 15
years. I have also been involved with
teaching youths about Native American cultures. I have been involved with
protecting Native American cultural sites for 20 years. I have been a consultant/monitor on sites in
Ventura, LA, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Kern counties. I am one of the few consultant/monitors that
has taken college classes in archaeology and has worked as a field
archaeologist, to help me better understand the field. There are several other
groups I have also been involved with as an adult.
I have self published the first ever Chumash
coloring book featuring important Chumash animals and the Chumash
language. I am currently working on self
publishing a small book of traditional and modern Chumash stories. Chumash stories that I have told hundreds of
times to thousands of children at schools in southern California. I will
release that book in late 2014. I also, make Chumash seaweed rattles and
Chumash clapper sticks (musical instrument) to help teach students Chumash
songs.
A storyteller in the Chumash culture is a
teacher. My stories educate and
entertain. I share my joy, love
and respect of my culture when I tell my stories. As a young boy I enjoyed listening to my
Father tell us about being a Marine in WWII in the Pacific islands. And having milk and cookies with Mrs.
Taylor, an older widow lady who lived
three doors down from us in Hanford, California. Mrs. Taylor would tell me
stories about Hanford in the early 1900’s.
I was only 5 or 6 years old, but I loved learning from these
stories. So, sharing my stories is
something I learned from many elders in my life, and not all of them
Chumash. Being a traditional Chumash
paddler of Chumash plank canoes and helping to bring back our Chumash maritime
culture is also, very important to me.
But, storytelling is my way of connecting to people of all ages. It is extremely important to me.
I have also, worked as a Juvenile
Institution Officer for approximately 20 years at Juvenile Facilities in Santa
Barbara and Bakersfield, Ca. At the Juvenile centers, besides supervising young
people, I dealt with people in difficult situations on a daily basis. Counseling at risk youth was a large part of
my job. Motivating and inspiring troubled youth is something I have strived to
do most of my adult life.
It is not easy being a proud
California Native American. Misinformation about my tribes is still out there.
And we have many obstacles still to overcome.
But, I was raised to be proud of my Native American heritage. I take
pride in being a positive role model and a respected Elder. And I believe by sharing my knowledge about
my Chumash/Tataviam cultures, I am saving these rich Native cultures."
