King of the Grizzlies

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NARRA TOR.' In the year 1899,

Ernest Thompson Seton wrote...

"Over the years,

I heard many tales...

"of the mighty

Moh-Sum-See-Wahb.

"The grizzl y

that nature fashioned...

"into a master of cunning

and a monument of power.

"These stories were told to me

by an assortment of men...

"the cattlemen

who hated Wahb...

"and the Indians who called

the great bear 'Brother'...

"and honored him

as their totem.

"I once saw Wahb myself,

across a river's canyon...

"when he still ruled

his mountain kingdom.

"And now, at last...

"I have determined

to set down his story...

"as best my humble pen

knows how. "

We shall begin

in a time long gone...

on the pine-timbered shores

of a little mountain lake.

NARRA TOR.'

In the way of her kind...

the old grizzl y

feared no living thing...

Yet today, she made certain...

that the open country beyond

the woods was clear of danger.

The two cubs had been born

during winter hibernation.

NARRA TOR.'

She was a very old grizzly.

This brother and sister

would be her last pair of cubs.

The little male had been born

short of one toe on one foot...

and by this track,

he would, in time...

become known

as "Moh-Sum-See-Wahb"...

an Indian term that means

"four-toed grizzly. "

But that was far

in the future.

Right now, Wahb was just

one of two curious cubs.

The sight of this little marmot

was an exciting discovery.

The cubs didn't know

whether the badger...

was a fellow they ought

to be friendly with...

or fearful of...

but Mom had no time for mixin'

with the local critters.

She was moving her family clear

out of this neighborhood...

to another part of the country.

It was only about one hill

and two valleys later...

that that old she-bear began

to feel the need for rest.

About the same time,

the cubs found an ideal spot...

for a game

of king of the mountain.

Actually, it started out

to be queen of the mountain...

but Wahb figured that

was a matter for debate.

NARRATOR.'

Sister finally made her point.

Then, as soon as she

gained the upper hand...

Wahb lost his footing and slid

right into the cafeteria.

Well, Sister had won,

but it was a hollow victory.

She'd rather go down there...

and share

the sweet taste of defeat.

During their first summer,

mother's liquid food...

would be only

part of the cubs'diet.

That made weaning important

in their training.

So, today it would

be a short nip...

followed by a short nap...

and after that, it was time

for an introduction...

to the wonderful world

of solid food.

Now, just about

anything and everything...

fills the bill of fare

for a grizzly...

and no amount of effort

is too much...

for a small reward,

even if it means...

turning over

a 2oo-pound rock...

to turn up two ounces

of grubs and beetles.

NARRATOR.' While the cubs

were diggin the beetles...

Mom figured

to take somethin'...

she'd been dreaming

about all winter...

a good, long, luxurious bath.

Once she got her nose wet,

the old gal was quite a cut-up.

Wow!

NARRATOR.'

Whatever Mom was doin'...

the cubs wanted no part of it.

They'd take their water sports

on the beach.

The fact is, bear cubs

are natural-born swimmers.

Meantime, Mom

had stopped foolin'around...

and settled down

to do some serious fishin'.

Now, fish ranks high

on a grizzly's menu...

but the youngsters

have to learn to like it.

Trouble was, this trout

wasn't about to cooperate.

NARRATOR.' Well, no use worrying

about the one that got away.

The cubs woul d just go back

and move in on Mom's meal.

Maybe in time

they'd acquire the taste...

but for Sister, fish was ish.

She wanted a mouthwash.

Wahb never even got that far.

About now,

travelin'fever hit Mom again.

The old bear wasn't

just wandering aimlessly.

She had a destination in mind...

a distant,

dimly-remembered place...

where the land was friendly

and the living easy.

It woul d be a long trek,

and there would be time...

for some recreation

along the way...

including winter sports

on the high levels.

Even Mom decided

to have a go at the snow.

NARRATOR.' Wahb was born

with a kind of compulsion...

for pushing things over.

This time, he got carried away.

NARRATOR.' That trip

had left Wahb a little wobbly.

The bears'journey led

across the highest peaks...

and down past

melting snow patches...

on the opposite side

of the mountains.

As the days

and the miles passed by...

the cubs grew

in strength and size...

and nothing does

a better job of growing...

than a bear cub...

especially a little grizzly.

Wahb and his sister had weighed

about ten ounces each...

at the time

of their mid-winter birth...

but as spring gave way

to summer, they had reached...

a well-rounded

forty pounds apiece...

and by now,

the she-bear was heading...

toward the last leg

of her long journey.

She couldn't know, of course,

that the passing years...

had brought changes to the

land she had known as a cub.

Even here...

on the remote headwaters

of the Greybull River...

the high country was no longer

an uncharted wilderness.

NARRATOR.' His name was Moki.

He was a Cree Indian.

In his childhood,

this land had been his home.

Long ago, he had taken

the white man's ways...

and served

in the white man's army...

but now he had come back

to the scenes of his youth...

and a flood

of long-forgotten memories.

Among these same crags,

he had watched Wahmdi...

the eagle,

lifted into the sky...

by the strong medicine

of the sun.

Here, too, he had chipped

the hunting points...

for his first small arrows,

down there by the river's edge.

And far up

in the high country...

was that secret place

called Takakawa...

a waterfall

where his grandfather...

had washed away

his childhood...

and placed upon his hand

the sign of the Great Bear.

NARRATOR.' Was it an omen

or just a coincidence?

Moki was glad

that the bears seemed to be...

at home here

in the high country.

If they followed the river

down into the bench lands...

there could be trouble.

Moki was a cattleman now.

He was the foreman

of the ranch...

whose wide borders

he had just completed mapping.

Hyah! Hyah hyah hyah!

Whoo! Hyah!

NARRATOR.'

In these early stages...

the spread was only

a couple of buildings...

surrounded by great stretches

of raw land.

But the beginnings of

an empire were already here...

including the first herds

of whiteface...

that would soon

replace the longhorn...

as king of the western cattle.

COWBOYS.' Hey, hey, hey!

Ha ha! Whoo!

NARRATOR.' The old bear's

first concern was for her cubs.

For them, a safe hiding place

and a warning to stay put.

For herself, a scouting trip

to check up on all that noise.

The cubs were a couple

of weeks larger now...

and Wahb figured that

was about the right size...

to go exploring,

no matter what Sister said.

Now, fate was preparing

the stage for the first act...

in the strange drama

of the four-toed grizzly...

the Indian

who would be his friend...

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