Week 11 Story: The Journey through Hibernation

There once were two Sibling bears Sasha and Jacob that lived deep in the San Angelo National forest in the mountainous Colorado. They were preparing for the upcoming hibernation period by collecting food to suffice through the length of winter. Jacob the older of the siblings suggested getting a surplus of berries and pinecones because this would last all winter. Sasha agreed, and they split up to find as many resources as possible.

When they regrouped a week later Jacob brought enough to last 2/3 of the hibernation period. Through this length of time Sasha was unable to find any source of food, and when Jacob asked what she found she said enough to last 1/3 of the hibernation period.  Jacob accepted this answer and went on with his day preparing his den where they would stay.  The elk spirit was watching over Jacob and saw Sasha did not collect any food, and remembered what Jacob had done for the elk community years before.

Three years earlier the elk population was under threat by the surplus of wolves that were living in the area. The elk leader came to him and begged for his help or their kind would go extinct. Jacob helped and attacked the leader of the wolves and ran then away from that part of the forest.

Fast forward 2 months into hibernation, Jacob and Sasha were found running extremely low on food. The elk spirit saw Jacobs struggle and spoke to him in a dream. He said believe me brother, because you helped my kind so many years back it is my turn to return the favor. I have set a plethora of berries and protein outside of your den. But I warn you, your younger sibling Sasha never gathered any food when you were preparing for hibernation. He woke up from the dream feeling blessed and looked over at his sister, and thought I can not do wrong on her, because I am supposed to lead by example. The next morning Jacob shared the good news with Sasha and they survived another hibernation.

Bibliography: The River Fish and the Money

(Picture is of two Bear. Picture Source: Bears)

Authors Notes:

The story I chose to complete the reading notes over was The River Fish and the Money. This story comes from the Eastern Stories and legends part C. In the story there were two bothers that set out to complete a business task their deceased father was supposed to complete. On this trip the brothers collected the money and then stopped by the river while waiting for their boat. While they were waiting, they decided to eat, the older brother have food left over and threw it to the river to feed the fish. The younger brother was planning on tricking the older, to then take all the money, but messed up his own plan and threw the actual money into the river. The Spirit of the Ganges was looking out for the older brother because he was grateful, and had a fish eat the money. The fish was later caught and then sold back to the older brother where he found the money he had lost. The spirit explained to him the meaning and sent him on his way. What I got from this story was that if you look out for others, and keep them in your thoughts, when the turn is yours, they will look out for you.