THE SECOND WELL TRUST presents

The Great She Bear Stories of Nature

Journey to find Food

SOUL'S JOURNEY TWO

Songee says, So you are going to have to do the spiral once more and we will take you through the spiral back, backwards through the journey to where the little bear cubs are with the Great She-Bear inside the cave that is the Womb of the Mother. All the way back to this place.

So we travel the spiral, breathing deeply, moving backwards now, deeper and deeper through time and space and through no-time and no-space to the place of the cave of the Great She-Bear.

We left the little bear cubs on the first part of this story and they were having a drink from their Mother and she is telling them that she is going to take them to the 'Great Outside'.

Now the Great She-Bear says to her little ones, "Come now we are going to go to the 'Great Outside'."

And she shakes her big head from side to side and opens her mouth wide, in a big yawn and then she wriggles her whole body all the way down from the head to the tip of her little tail. And the little bear cubs roll, tumbling over and over, off her side. And she lifts up her bottom end and stretches her body and opens wide her feet and her hands, flexes the claws and the muscles of the legs and the feets, and the little hands, stretches them and yawns and shivers her body all the way down once more taking inside of her the Great Breath of Life.

And the little bear cubs pick themselves up and the Little Bear cub says to his mother, "Where is Outside? What is Outside?"

The Great She-Bear turns her head and looks down at her young ones and says, "Outside is the world beyond this place. It is where we roam and gather our food and bathe ourselves in the streams and the sunlight, until it is time for us to sleep once more, the Great Sleep."

And the little one says, "When are we going to go Outside?"

"You are going to go right now." says the Great She-Bear.

"You are going to go right now," says the Great She-Bear, "Come along little ones." And she gathers up her young ones and moves outwards towards the edge of the cave. She comes to the entrance of the cave and it is all closed in.

And the Little-Bear says, "How are we going to get out Muma?" And there's a Little She-Bear and she wants to know also, how are they going to get out.

"Oh that's very simple," says the Great She-Bear, "Watch." And with her great forehands she pulls all the rocks and everything out from the entrance of the cave and outside there is beautiful soft, shining whiteness. And some of this she pulls inside also out of the mouth of the cave. The little bears look, in great astonishment.

"What is that?" they say to their mother.

"What is what?" she says back.

"That white stuff that shines. It's so bright, it hurts my eyes." says the Little-Bear.

"That is snow," says the Great She-Bear. "Come." And she leads the way out into the great snow outside and the warm sunshine that is beginning to come back to the earth. And the little bear cubs follow, pouncing along behind. And stuff their noses into this white stuff called snow and they sneeze through their noses.

"Ah choo." says the Little-Bear cub.

"Ah choo," says the Little She-Bear, "It is very cold Muma."

"That is because it is the waters from the skies that have become stiff and have fallen to the earth like feathers from the bird.

"Feathers? Bird? What are these?" said the Little-Bear cub.

"Oh there is much for you to learn," says the Great She-Bear, "I will teach you all you need to know. Come I am hungry. I want to get something to eat." And as they bounce along behind their mother the little bears play and frolic in this beautiful white stuff that they have only just now found. And the little boy bear cub rolls down a hill and lands, BRIFF up into a great mound of snow and disappears inside it. The Great She-Bear stands on the slope and shakes her head and the top front of her body from side to side and she calls out to her child,

"You silly child, come out of there. You must stop playing games, I have to eat. I have to find food."

And the Little-Bear cub pops his head out of the snow and he is laughing all over his little face.

"That was fun Muma. Can I do it some more?"

"No," says the Great She-Bear, "Come with me. I am hungry," she says. And off she goes to find something to eat. The Little-Bear cub gets himself out of the snow very quickly and runs after his mother and his sister, and they come to a large thing that has prickles on it and lots of green things and lots of funny looking shapes with bright colours.

"What is this?" says the Little-Bear.

"That is part of the eating that I am going to have," says the Great She-Bear, "Come I will show you." And she very carefully takes some of the red things off this peculiar looking thing and pops them into her mouth. And the little bears watch her with great fascination.

"Can I have one?" Says the Little She-Bear.

"Certainly," says the Great She-Bear and gives one of these little things to each of the babies. And they bite into them.

"Blar," they say, "Oh that tastes terrible. Don't like it, can we have some milk?"

"In a moment," says the Great She-Bear, "Not yet, you have had lots to drink. I am going to eat now. It is my turn to eat."

"But I'm hungry," says the Little-Bear cub with a wail of great lament. "That tasted horrible, I want something to drink."

"Go and eat some snow," said the Great She-Bear. "You are not having milk now. It is too soon." And she eats a few more of these things off the bush and then she begins to move away.

"Come," she says, "This is only part of my food, I am going to take you so I can find some more."

"But there is still some left," said the Little She-Bear.

"That is quite right," said the Great She-Bear. "You don't eat all of them because those are the fruits of the bush. It is a bush and it has to grow for next time I want to have foodings to eat. So I must leave some seeds for it otherwise it will not give me some foodings the next time I awaken from the Great Sleep."

Well this is very, very interesting to the Little She-Bear and she is very keen to be like her mother, so she remembers this. The Little-Bear cub is a little put out by this because he would rather gobble them all up, however he understands that he must do as Muma says. So he also remember what Muma has said and just stands and looks at this bush and then gallops after his sister and his mother because by now his mother has walked a long way through the forest.

As they come out of the forest and down from the great mountain where the cave was of their birth, the snows begin to disappear and the green grass comes out from the ground. And the little bears investigate all these new green things coming out of the ground and learn from their mother about grass, about seeds going into the earth and growing and becoming grass. And how they can eat the grass also only they have to eat just a little tips of it because these are the sweetest parts. And if they eat the roots then they will not have grass for the next time they come out of the big sleep. So only the tips that are the sweetest are the parts that they are allowed to nibble with their front teeth. And so they move along a little further and they come out into a beautiful meadow in the sunshine, on the side of the mountain. And running down the side of the mountain is this wonderful ribbon of light. It is so bright and shining like many, many beautiful, shining things and there is lots of sparkles and is makes a singing sound as it goes along.

"What sort of creature is that?" said the Little-Bear cub.

"Oh it is so beautiful," said the Little She-Bear.

And the Great She-Bear stands and looks at them, "That my children is called a stream and it comes from the mountain tops. It is made of water and that is the water that comes from the skies and falls down, becomes very stiff and then the sun comes and warms it up and makes it back to water again and it flows downwards like this. And all manner of creatures live in it, inside that water. Including my lunch."

"Oh can't we have some milk Muma," said the Little She-Bear. "I'm very hungry."

"So am I," said the Little-Bear cub.

"No not yet," she says, "I am going to have my lunch. I am hungry." So she goes slowly towards the stream and on the bank of the stream she says to the little ones, "You stay here, I show you how to catch your foodings." And she steps off the bank and into the stream and the little bear cubs watch with great fascination and this also because there are great shining things leaping out and going upwards against the waters as they flow down the mountainside, down with the stream. And they're leaping in the air,

"Oh aren't they beautiful," says the Little-Bear cub. "They are all shining bright." The Great She-Bear stands in the middle of the stream very still. Standing on her back legs, looking down into the waters. Very, very still, she sits. And then all of a sudden, she dives her hands down into the water and swoosh, up comes this water up into the air and splosh something lands onto the bank in front of the little bear cubs. And there is this strange leaping creature and its all big and shiny and its making a squealing noise and wiggling itself and opening and closing its mouth.

"Oh my," said the Little-Bear cub, very startled. "What is it?" And very carefully lifts out a paw and pats it and it wiggles some more and goes flip flop, flip flop.

"Oh," said the Little She-Bear. "What is it doing?" And then swoosh, and splosh another one comes flying out and lands at their feet. And the first one has begun to stop going flip flop but the second one that comes is going flip flop, flip flop so mightily it looks as though it is going to go flip flop itself all the way back into the stream. So the Little-Bear cub picks it up in his mouth and it goes flip flop, flip flop against his face and startles him and make him drop this thing.

"Oh my," he says, "that doesn't taste very nice and it hit me." The Little She-Bear looks at him in great doubtfulness and she looks at these strange things. And while she is studying them, low and behold another coming sailing through the air and lands splosh, flip-flop at their feet once more. And this happens another time until there are four of the fish, for this is what they are, flip flopping on the bank at the feet of the little ones. And the Great She-Bear then comes out of the waters and she picks up the fish and she sits down and she begins to eat them. She starts with the one that has stopped going flip flop first. She leaves the last one to finish flip flop by itself. And as she picks the first one up and begins to eat it, the little bear cubs wrinkle up their brow and wrinkle up their little noses and whiffle their noses up to get a smell of this.

"What is this thing?" they say to their mother.

"This is a fish and it is a very, very interesting foodings and I enjoy it very much. And I will show you as you get bigger how to catch them as I have caught them."

"Can we try some?" says the Little She-Bear.

"Certainly," says the mother, and she hands some down. And the Little She-Bear takes some in her mouth.

"Blar," she says, "that tastes horrible." And the Little-Bear cub says, "I didn't like the taste of it when I picked it up and it went flip flop on my face and hit me. I would rather have some milk."

"No," said the Great She-Bear, "I am going to have my lunch first. You are not having milk yet."

"Oh, but Muma please just a little?" said the Little She-Bear.

"No my dear," said the Great She-Bear, "I'm going to finish my lunch and she does so and gobbles up all the fish with great delight. And she thoroughly enjoys her lunch.

"Now," she said, "come with me and we will go to the Rock of Rest." And she takes them along through the meadow to where there is a big rock and this rock is in the full sunshine and it is out of the winds and it is peaceful.

"Come, my children," she says, "now you may have some milk." And she goes over and lies down underneath the Great Rock. But the Little-Bear cub doesn't come straight away to get milk because he has decided that it would be wonderful to climb on top of this Great Rock and have a look to see what he can see and this is what he does. So the Little She-Bear follows him and up they go and climb up high and they are standing up on their little back legs and waving their hands around and the Little-Bear cub says,

"Look over there, what is that?" And Muma lifts her head up and she has a look.

"What is it you are looking at," she says.

"There is something flying in the sky over there, over above all that greenery down there. All those bushes."

"Oh those are not bushes, my child," said the Great She-Bear, "They are mighty trees like the ones around us here."

"But they are only little," said the Little-Bear cub, "like the bushes that had the funny fruit on it."

"Oh no," she said, "they are a long way away, that is how they look so small. That is the valley.

What is that, that flies up from inside of them," said the Little-Bear cub.

"That," said the Great She-Bear, "that is something called smoke and smoke means that there are Two-legs about."

"Oh," said the Little-Bear cub, because he has heard the tone in his mother's voice and it means that this is something very important and quite serious. "What are Two-legs?" he says.

"Oh," said the Great She-Bear, "I will tell you all about Two-legs. Just for now all you need to know is that when you see that smoke you will know that there are Two-legs about and it is wise for a bear, a Little-Bear cub to not be allow to be seen for a moment. Just for now you are quite safe up here in the meadow with your sister and so don't wander away. Now come down off there little ones and come and have your milk and I will sleep in the warm sunshine and then you can have a little sleep also. And when we awaken I will teach you some more."

So the Little-Bear cub and his sister come down off the rock, down to their mother. She stretches out on the warm ground, underneath the rock and rests her head on a little hump of grass.

"Ooohhh," she says, "I am full of food, the sun is warm and I at peace, and my little ones are going now have their lunch and have a little rest with I."

All is well with the world of the Great She-Bear. And the little bear cubs snuggle up to their mother and begin to drink from the teats. And as they drink, they close their eyes and they whiffle their noses and their ears and little feets begin to run and jump and they remember leaping out of the cave and through the snows. They remember stuffing their noses into the snows and into other places on their journey through the forest and tasting the things and they slowly, very slowly go along the spiral of dreams and remember all these wonderful, magical things.

And so we leave the Little-Bear cub and the Little She-Bear travelling the dream spiral with their mother the Great She-Bear as they rest in the warmth of the beautiful sunshine, in the meadow on the side of the hill that is part of the Great Mountain.

Now it is time for you to begin your journey back along the spiral, letting the Great She-Bear and her babies continue their journey until the next time you meet them. Slowly travelling the spiral back now, into you're here, into your present now of this life. Take inside of you a Great Breath of life down into your middle self and bring yourself back into your own being.

You will travel further with the Great She-Bear another time, I will go now and I will leave you with the memories of the story of the Great She-Bear and her babies.

SO BE IT