“There are many individual bears. There are different types of bears. But a single Bear Spirit connects all bears. Long ago, there was a type of bear that made the whole Bear Spirit more angry, more arrogant, more aggressive, and more feared by all the other animals. Humans called this bear the Monster Bear.

“Monster Bear was so large, so fierce, that even the other giants of that time, the Long-Toothed Cougar, the Dire Wolves, and even the great tusked Mammoth, feared Monster Bear. Monster Bear did not feel Fear-of-Animals. Monster Bear did not Respect any other animal. Monster Bear ate other animals but did not experience Love for the gift of food. Monster Bear killed not only the old and the weak, but even the mothers and the leaders among the other animals. Monster Bear did not feel the Spirit-That-Moves-In-All-Things.

“Monster Bear took from the earth without concern for the other animals and without concern for the future. It took a lot of food to support Monster Bear’s huge size. Monster Bear would compete with humans for the same sorts of food. Large groups of humans were too noisy, so humans would hunt in small groups. To Monster Bear these humans, with their sharp sticks, were easy to kill. The hunters became Monster Bear’s food.

“Sometimes, Monster Bear would find large groups of humans all living together. Then Monster Bear would kill many people, more people than Monster Bear could even eat. Monster Bear did not want to share the forest with the humans. But always there seemed to be more humans.

“The humans learned to fear Monster Bear. They did not know if Monster Bear was a mortal creature or some kind of supernatural demon. Humans did everything they could to avoid contact. Still, Monster Bear killed many humans.

“One moon it rained and rained and rained. Great floods swept the land. A group of humans found the body of a Monster Bear, drowned by the flood waters. No animal, no mater how strong, can match the power of water.

“These humans studied Monster Bear’s body and learned that on the inside, Monster Bear was the same as other animals. With this knowledge, the humans found their courage. They had seen the power of water. They had seen how a wolf pack could bring down a much larger animal, and they developed their plan.

“The human hunters set out in a much larger group than normal. All the other animals heard them coming and ran away. But Monster Bear never ran from anything.

“Each human had a long stick with a sharp rock attached to the end. They tracked Monster Bear to Monster Bear’s home. They stood in two circles around Monster Bear. The humans in the inner circle would jump forward and stab Monster Bear with their sticks. Then they would quickly jump back and the outer circle of humans would rush forward, stab Monster Bear and quickly jump back.

“Monster Bear could have broken through the circles of human hunters and escaped. But without Fear-of-Animals there is no Gift of Bravery, only aggression. Monster Bear would never flee. Monster Bear would never freeze. Monster Bear would only fight.

“Without Fear-of-Water, there is no Humility, only arrogance. Monster Bear could not imagine being defeated. Monster Bear had no recognition that always there are more powerful forces than any one creature.

“So Monster Bear fought! Monster Bear hurt some of the humans, but always two more humans would jump in with their sharp sticks. It was a flood of humans! Monster Bear could easily kill one human, or even several humans. But this flood of humans, attacking from all sides, overwhelmed the mighty Monster Bear. Monster Bear was defeated. Monster Bear was killed.

“In this way, the humans killed all the Monster Bears. Monster Bear left the Bear Spirit and I, the Spirit of All Bears, learned how to experience and express Respect and Love for other creatures. I learned how to seek Truth and Honesty in my thoughts. I learned how to act with Bravery and Humility. It took a great deal of work, but I learned how to walk The-Path-of-the-Chief and became the Spirit-Keeper of the West.”