"We are growing up together you and I. I have watched
you roll and tumble across the ice and you have watched me trip and fall running after
you, but now my legs are longer and they are stronger, and you are more sure on your
feet." Naka Luok reached down to the round figure of white furry fluff stretched
beside him, "and now they want you to leave because you are too big, too strong, and
they are afraid of you. They do not know you as I do my friend." The kind, small
black eyes of the polar bear cub closed as he lowered his head, nuzzling his dark leathery
nose into the lap of Nala Luok. The boy's hand rested on the head of his friend. " I
cannot leave you behind when we journey to the hunt, what can I do?" Sitting together
in the white expanse of frozen land, the little bear cub seemed to feel a chill traveling
through his small round body for the first time, and there was one more thing he felt that
was new, there was something that made an uncomfortable tug at his heart.
COMMENTARY:
This story is about an orphaned polar bear cub who is
adopted by an adventurous and persuasive boy for care and keeping until the bear can be
released on his own, the very same bear that may grow up someday to be hunted by the
boy’s people. As the bear grows so does his appetite and his mischief. Nala Luok
tries to cover for all of the things that the bear does in order to keep him next to his
side, but one day he must face that the bear has outgrown his welcome in the village and
Nala Luok must make the decision what is to be done with his bear cub companion. The boy's
answer arrives with a mystical message from the Great Spirit that allows both boy and bear
to keep in touch with one another forever.
|
