16

The boys began running again and wondered what they could
do. They had now run out of the wishes that the man had given them.
None of the boys had any power or medicine themselves and they
were desperate to find a way to get away from the rampaging bear.
Then one said, “Our little brother always carries a little ball that he
plays with. Let’s try it and see if there is anything to it. There must
be a reason why he kept it.” They took the ball from the littlest
brother and the oldest one kicked it into the air. The ball went high
up into the sky and the boy followed the ball into the sky. The ball
came back and the next brother kicked it and he also went into the
sky. The succeeding five brothers all did the same and they also rose
upwards into the sky.

Just as the last brother kicked the ball the bear came running
up to the spot where the boys had been. She was still in a blind rage
and could not do anything because the boys went high into the sky
and became stars of the night. They stay together and shine every
night hoping that their sister will come back from being a bear and
she will know where they are and come and get them.

To this day, the Gros Ventres (Grow Vonts) refer to the Big
Dipper and North Star as “Cha-Be-Ka’-Tha” or “Broken Shoulder”
meaning the time when the seven brothers were forced to flee from
their own sister who had turned into a bear and went mad over a
broken shoulder.


10

One of the boys said, “Well, our sister is lying in our lodge up
there suffering because she was wounded in the shoulder and we
don’t know what to do for her.” Then the man said, “Well, she must
be hungry by now. I'll go down by the creek and get a little bush
rabbit for you. Here, take this to your sister, but before you
do, take the hide off and make a big fire someplace and roast it for
her.” The boys did this and returned to their lodge with the man.

Then the man said, “You know, I’m kind of worried about you
children. I don’t think you should stay with your sister. I think you
should run away. Your sister is suffering and she’s liable to go mad
and kill all of you. They say that bears go mad when they’re sick or
wounded so you must do exactly as I tell you. Go into the lodge and
instead of feeding the rabbit to your sister, throw it into the wound
on her shoulder. Then I will grant you three of four wishes so that
you will be able to get away from her and be rid of her. She is a bear
now and it will be better if you no longer see her or have anything to
do with her.”

The boys did as they were told. They went into the lodge and
threw the cooked rabbit on the bear’s wound and this immediately
sent her into a rage. The boys left the lodge while the bear was busy
trying to remove the hot meat from its open wound.


This is a story about the seven stars up in the
sky, called the Big Dipper and the North Star.
Among the Gros Ventre (Grow Vont), these stars
are known as “Cha-Be-Ka’-Tha.” This means
“broken shoulder” because it tells how the seven
stars came to be.


by |
Ve


i) THE INDIAN READING SERIES:
% Stories and Legends of the Northwest



14

When the bear got through the patch she had to stop and pick
the thorns out of her paws. The boys knew this and ran much faster
because it gave them more time to get away. The bear was in a lot of
pain from the wound on her shoulder and the thorns that were now
in her paws. She was now in a complete rage and could barely see
to pick the thorns out. When she was done she began chasing the
boys again.

The boys saw her coming and knew that they would never be
able to outrun her. One of the boys said, “Let’s use the last wish that
the man gave us. We’ll wish for a large patch of brush, one that is so
thick that even a rabbit or any other small creature cannot get
through.” The boys made their wish and the large thick brush ap-
peared. The boys stopped to see whether the brush would stop the
bear. They heard a loud crash, a rustling and much noise coming
from the brush. She had somehow made it through the thick brush
and now seemed to be on the verge of catching them.


He yelled at the other children, “Look! There’s a real bear
standing in the brush. It isn’t our sister anymore.” So the children all
looked and sure enough, there was a real bear standing in the brush.
“Let’s get out of here!” the boy yelled, and all of the children began
running. The boys whose sister was the bear stayed behind because
they knew something had happened to their sister and she was not
the bear. She did not come near them or try to do them any harm so
they waited close by. There were seven brothers in all, and they were
all there.

One of the children who had run off to the camp reported the
incident to a group of men. He said, “We were playing bear out there
and those seven brothers’ sister turned into a real bear. She’s stand-
ing out there. Come and look for yourselves.”




Long, long ago a large band of Gros Ventre (Grow Vonts) were
camped in a big circle. Generally, whenever the Indians camped and
stopped to rest, the children ran off to play among themselves. Once
when they were all together one of the children asked, “What game
shall we play today?” Another said, “I know. Let’s play bear.” To play
bear was to play tag. The children were going to play tag and the one
who was the bear was it. So they began the task of choosing the bear.
All the children, both boys and girls, stood around to see who would
be chosen as the bear. All of them were quite young except one girl.
She was older than the rest. One of her brothers said, “Hey, let’s get
her. She can be the bear. She can chase us like a bear chases all the
other animals through the forest.” The girl said, “All right, I'll be the
bear. I will chase all of you.”


. : . . A

=

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15

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BRORES
SFOULDER

ing Series

The Indian Read:

Level V Book 13


The men grabbed their bows and arrows and ran to where the
children had seen the bear. The bear was still standing there with all
of the seven brothers near. One of the men said, “We better kill it
because it just keeps standing there. It must be their sister because
it does not harm them, but she might turn mean and harm some of
us. She’ll probably come to the camp when the boys return.” The
men charged. They shot with their bows and arrows. The bear fell
over and the men knew they had wounded it. They had shot it in
the shoulder with many arrows.

The men rushed back to the camp saying, “Everybody move.
Take your lodges down so we may leave this place. We just wounded
a bear and it will probably go mad. We must leave this area at once.”
The Gros Ventres (Grow Vonts) immediately broke camp and left the
area. The only lodge still standing was the one that belonged to the
seven brothers and their sister. Even their parents had left, for they
too were afraid of the wounded bear.

While the camp was moving the brothers were still with their
sister trying to comfort her. They had no medicines and knew of no
way to help her. Finally, one brother said, “Let’s take her back to our
lodge and take care of her. She’s suffering and we have to try to help
her some way.” They took her back to their lodge and laid her down.
She kept moaning and groaning and seemed to be in a lot of pain
from the wound in her shoulder. The boys were confused and won-
dered what to do for her. One of the boys said, “Let’s go down to the
creek. At least we'll get her some water so she can drink.” They went
down to the creek and got some water for her and brought it back.
After they did this they went back down to the creek. They all
started to cry because they knew their sister had been changed into
a bear and had been wounded. She was in a lot of pain and it was all
their fault for wanting her to be the bear in the game.


—-<o- Sia


So they started to play bear. The girl chased them all over. She
chased them through the coulees, in the brush and out on the prairie
around the camp. She was the bear all throughout the day. When
others played, the one who was touched or tagged became the bear
but not among this group of children. The girl was the bear all the
time.

The children kept running and hiding and finally one of them
jumped up and looked around to see if they could see her coming.
When he got up to look there was a real bear standing there.


Booklets available in the Level IV sequence are listed below. Numbers refer to the Planned Sequence of use
in the Teacher’s Manual. Materials developed by these tribes and others in the Northwest are included in
the Levels I, II and III sequences.

i

3.

4.

5.

10.

11.

. Warm Springs Animal Stories

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

. Snail Women at Sq*a’le

The Suquamish Tribe of the Port Madison
Reservation

Blue Jay — Star Child/Basket Woman
Muckleshoot Tribe

Assiniboine Woman Making Grease
Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation

Coyote
The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

|. How the Summer Season Came

Assiniboine Tribe of the Fort Belknap
Reservation

. Little Weasel’s Dream

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

. Fort Hall Stories

Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall
Reservation

. The Bear Tepee

Northern Cheyenne Tribe

Sioux Stories and Legends
Sioux Tribe of the Fort Peck Reservation

Kootenai Stories
Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

Chief Mountain’s Medicine

Gros Ventre Tribe from the Fort Belknap
Reservation

Coyote the Trickster

Burns Paiute Reservation

Running Free

Shoalwater Bay

Salish Coyote Stories

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

Coyote and the Cowboys
Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall
Reservation

Napi’s Journey

Blackfeet Tribe

Warm Springs Stories

The Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon

Tepee Making

Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead
Reservation

Baskets and Canoes
Skokomish Tribe

Warrior People
Blackfeet Tribe


This work has not as yet been published and is afforded all
protections under the U.S. Copyright Law (PL. 94-553) effective
January 1, 1978.

Copyright in the published edition will be held by and in the name of the
Assiniboine and Gros Ventre Tribes of the Fort Belknap Reservation.

No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transcribed, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written
permission of the author agency identified below.

The project presented or reported herein was performed
pursuant to a grant from the National Institute of Education,
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. However, the
opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the
position or policy of the National Institute of Education,

and no official endorsement by the National Institute of
Education should be inferred.

Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
710 S.W. Second Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97204


Se Ds

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11


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The boys knew that the bear would soon catch them since she
could run faster than they could. They wished the second wish that
the man gave them. The wish was that the whole area would be

covered with cactus and the bear would be stopped by that. However,

the bear started across the cactus patch and was soon full of large

thorns from the cactus.

13


ll) THE INDIAN READING SERIES
= Stories and Legends of the Northwest

Broken Shoulder

(How the Big Dipper and North Star Came to Be)
Series V

By members of the Gros Ventre Elders Board
from the Fort Belknap Reservation

Preston Stiffarm, Coordinator
Theresa Lame Bull

Vernie Perry

Preston Bell

Rosie Connors

Ceceilia Lankford

Lyly T. Fox

Illustrated by George Shields, Jr.
Narrated by Vernie Perry

Joseph Coburn, Director
Pacific Northwest Indian Program
Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory



THE INDIAN READING SERIES: Stories and Legends of the
Northwest is a collection of authentic material cooperatively devel-
oped by Indian people from twelve reservations. Development ac-
tivities are guided by a Policy Board which represents the Indian
community of the Pacific Northwest. The Pacific Northwest Indian
Reading and Language Development Program Policy Board mem-
bers are:

@ Lloyd Smith-Warm Springs
Chairman

© Clement Azure — Devils Lake Sioux

© Walter Moffett — Nez Perce

e Emmett Oliver — Quinault

© Bob Parsley — Chippewa

@ Helen Redbird — Cherokee

@ Max Snow

e Jeanne Thomas — Warm Springs

@ Bill Yellowtail — Crow


waso. Serres

Suddenly, a man appeared to them and said, “Don’t cry chil-
dren. I'll help you. I know your troubles. I know all about it. Tell me
what you want to have done.


12

The first wish that the man gave the boys was that a huge
prairie fire would start. They were to cross a ravine and the fire
would be behind them which would stop the bear from chasing them.
After the fire began the boys crossed the ravine. They looked back to
see if the fire had stopped the bear. Much to their surprise, the bear
had crossed through the fire and was still chasing them.