163
Indigenous Peoples
The Boy who Lived with the Bears JOSEPH BRUCHAC
gs ek
se m
pl
ar
This is a Native American legend from the Haudanosaunee people. They are part of a group of six Native American tribes from northeastern America called the Iroquois Nation. The Haudanosaunee people are also called “the people of the long-house”, because members of a clan, as many as 60 people, lived together in one house. Each clan was led by a clan mother. The story is an oral legend. Before people could read and write they told stories to each other. Often the stories were legends that explained different things: how the earth was created, why the bear has no tail or in this case, why it is important to treat children well.
Glossary for the recorded text tribe stamme oral muntlig tail hale custom tradisjonen elders eldste did not have a straight mind var ikke snill treated him badly var slem mot ham ragged slitte scraps rester bothered plaget troublesome plagsomme lodge jakthytta vanished forsvant clearing åpning, lysning squirrels ekorn woodchucks skogmurmeldyr chipmunks jordekorn moles muldvarper shuffled slepte seg poked pirket borti burrow hi dug (dig) gravde the most delicious de deiligste covered with dekket med Flapping Jaws «Den som snakker med seg selv» hollow hul log trestamme nephew nevø twisted-mind thing noe veldig galt
Vu
UNDERSTANDING 1 a b c d e f g h
True or false? The animals all run away from the noise the boy makes. Outside the cave the boy sees lots of people. The boy decides to live with the family that likes fruit and fish. The bears are afraid of all the hunters. They hide in a house in the forest. The boy has forgotten that he used to be a human being. The hunter starts a fire to get the bears to come out. The hunter kills the bears and rescues the boy.
TASKS
rd
er
in
Long ago, in a small village of the Haudenosaunee people, there lived a little boy whose parents had died.
