White-Bear’s father (Tale 81)

Family: Arikara · Role: father and narrator · First appears: Tale 81 · How White-Bear Came to Belong to the Bear Society

While White-Bear’s mother (Tale 81) was pregnant, White-Bear’s father (Tale 81) was in the medicine-lodge, wearing a bear robe and trying to catch people so he could cut them open and take their livers. After White-Bear (Tale 81 son) was wounded, his father laid him across his lap and put his intestines back into place.

A few years later, White-Bear (Tale 81 son) and his father left a spoiled stuffed bear skin in a ravine. His father also had the little bear hide tanned and decorated with paint for him.

Relationship record

Life events

• White-Bear’s father wore a bear robe and tried to catch people while his wife was pregnant.(Tale 81 · How White-Bear Came to Belong to the Bear Society · 📍 medicine-lodge)
  • With: White-Bear’s mother (Tale 81)
  • “I was in the medicine-lodge when my wife was pregnant. I used to put on the bear robe that was wonderful and I used to try to catch people, that I might cut them open, so I could get a piece of liver from them.”
• White-Bear’s father put White-Bear’s intestines back into place and treated his wound.(Tale 81 · How White-Bear Came to Belong to the Bear Society · 📍 tipi)
  • With: White-Bear (Tale 81 son)
  • “I now laid the boy across my lap, and with ease put the intestines back into their place.”
• The narrator and his father left the spoiled stuffed bear skin in a ravine.(Tale 82 · The Tale of a Member of the Bear Society · Part 1)
  • With: White-Bear (Tale 81 son)
  • “My father thought it was best to dispose of it, so one day we took the little bear yonder among those hills, and we placed it in a ravine, where there was a bush of choke-cherries, and there we left it.”
• The narrator’s father had the little bear hide tanned and decorated with paint for the narrator.(Tale 82 · The Tale of a Member of the Bear Society · Part 2)
  • With: White-Bear (Tale 81 son)
  • “My father had it tanned for me, and the hide was also decorated with paint.”

Tale 81 · How White-Bear Came to Belong to the Bear Society

• child: White-Bear (Tale 81 son) “White-Bear is my son.”
• married with White-Bear’s mother (Tale 81) “I was in the medicine-lodge when my wife was pregnant.”

Tale 82 · The Tale of a Member of the Bear Society · Part 1

• child: White-Bear (Tale 81 son) “You heard what my father said about my belonging to the Bear Society.”

Tale 82 · The Tale of a Member of the Bear Society · Part 2

• child: White-Bear (Tale 81 son) “My father scolded me for giving the bear hide away.”

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Extracted from the original text of Traditions of the Arikara. Made with Rho MD.