Long ago, when the world was new, there lived a Cherokee clan called Ani-Tsa’guhi. In one family of this clan there was a boy with whom this story begins.

This boy used to love the mountains. He would leave his home and go up into the mountains whenever he could, and stay as long as he could. Soon he began going up into the mountains every day, and staying longer and longer. He would leave his house at dawn, and go up into the mountains, and not come back till it was dark. Very soon he even stopped eating at home.

Now his parents began to worry. They told him not to go up into the mountains that often and for so long, but he would not listen. They scolded him, but still he did not listen. He continued going up into the mountains every day.

After a while his parents noticed that he was beginning to look different – long, brown hair had begun to grow all over his body. His parents were really concerned. They wondered what was wrong with their boy. So they took him aside and asked him why he stayed up in the mountains that long, and why he had stopped eating at home.

‘It is much better up in the mountains than here,’ answered the boy. ‘I get plenty to eat there, and the food is far better than the corn and beans we eat at home. Very soon I am going to go up into the mountains forever and never come back down.’

‘Don’t do that, son!’ cried his parents. ‘Don’t leave us forever. Don’t go up into the mountains.’

But the boy insisted that it was much better in the mountains. ‘You can see that I am different now, I have become used to the life in the mountain forests,’ said the boy. ‘Very soon I will not be able to live here. But if you are wise, you will not stop me. Instead, you will come with me into the mountains, for life is easier there.’ And the boy explained how there was always plenty to eat in the mountain forests, and how no one had to work for food. ‘But,’ added the boy, ‘if you want to come with me into the mountains, you must fast for seven days.’

The boy’s parents talked the matter over amongst themselves, then went to the headman of their clan. They explained to the headman all that their son had said. The headman called a council of their clan, and everyone talked the matter over. At the end it was decided that the clan would go with the boy into the mountains. ‘Here we have to work very hard,’ said everyone. ‘There is never enough to eat. But in the mountain forests the boy says there is plenty of food available for everyone. So we will go with him.’ And so the Ani-Tsa’guhi fasted for seven days, and on the morning of the seventh day the boy led the way into the mountains and all the Ani-Tsa’guhi followed him.

The other clans saw the Ani-Tsa’guhi leave and were sad. They sent messengers to stop them and to ask them to come back to their village. But the Ani-Tsa’guhi would not turn back. ‘We are going where there is always plenty to eat,’ they said. ‘From now on we shall be called yanu, or bears.’ And the messengers saw that long brown hair was growing all over the bodies of the Ani-Tsa’guhi. Since they had not eaten human food for seven days they were no longer human – they were changing.

And the Ani-Tsa’guhi continued, ‘When you yourselves are hungry, come into the forests and call us, and we shall come. We shall give you our own flesh to eat. Do not be afraid to kill us for we can never die.’ And the Ani-Tsa’guhi taught the messengers the songs they should sing to call them in the forest.

When the songs were over the Ani-Tsa’guhi started off once again for the mountains while the messengers turned back to their villages.

And the messengers told their people later, how after they had gone a little way they looked back, and saw a herd of bears going into the mountain forests.