L1B. A bear and her sister. 42.-.46.50.

A young woman turns into a monstrous bear, killing most people except her younger sister (Ojibwa: ex-husband's younger sister). Their siblings (or one brother) come back from hunting, kill a bear, or she dies while chasing them. Cf. L65D motif.

Bellacula, Quarry, Chilcotin, Shuswap, Ojibwa, Steppe Cree, Penobscot, Sarsi, Blackfooted, Assiniboine, Grovantre, Crowe, Omaha and Ponca, Iowa, Sheena, Arapahoe, Arikara, Kiowa, wichita, hicarilla.

NW Coast. Bellacula: Boas 1898 [a girl steps into bear droppings, scolds bears; a man comes up, tells her to relieve herself; she puts copper jewelry under her; he does not believe, demands everything make it real, says her excrement smells worse than any animal; marries her; he's the son of a Black Bears chief; gives her lamb, then says it was human; winter passes like one night; in the spring, the husband says that his wife's brother will shoot him, tells him to make a blanket out of his skin; the brother goes in front, the sister is called to carry the skin, becomes a bear if he wishes; in the village asks for bone needles, each time she says that the old one is broken; the younger sister sees that she inserts needles into her skin's jaw instead of her teeth; a woman turns into a bear, kills her mother, tortures her sister {something sexy, Latin); takes out his heart and lungs, hides it in his palms; brother comes, younger sister tells the Bear to shoot in the palm of her hand, she falls dead; brother and sister run, put a log through a deep ravine; The bear comes to life, chases, falls off a log; brother and sister come to the village; Toadstool and Loon send a boat for the Bear, tell crayfish and worms to bite her, she falls into the river, crayfish and worms eat it; brother tells his sister to take one road, he goes the other, if the roads come together, they will get married; so it happened]: 111-114; McIlwraith 1948 (1) [girl picks berries, steps in bear droppings, swears; the Bear takes her away; she turns into a monstrous Bear, kills everyone in the village except her younger sister and brother; her brother brings a partridge, the Bear demands to show how he is got it, otherwise he promises to kill her; her brother shoots, hits the target; the younger sister finds out that the Bear's palm is vulnerable; her brother throws an arrow in her palm, kills the Bear; the brother and younger sister are married, they are the ancestors of the Atapaskan quarry]: 680-682.

The coast is the Plateau. Quarry [women pick berries; one girl brings nothing, says the bears messed up everything; the next day, her basket strap breaks off; everyone goes home; two approach her Black Bears in the guise of young men; when she opens her eyes, she finds herself in a large village; all the animals take turns dancing and saying what they will feed their wife; Muskrat, Raven, Laska, Frog, Caribou, The marten is rejected, she marries the Grizzly; in the spring he says that the youngest of her four brothers will kill him; this is what happens; the brothers ask what part of the carcass she will take home; she drags her skin and head , turns into a Grizzly on the way, kills brothers, then other people; the youngest brother and sister return from squirrel hunting; the boy tells his sister to run between the Grizzly's legs; then she takes off bear skin, promises not to harm the girl; the girl asks where the Grizzly's heart is; she shows what's in the palm of her hand; the brother kills the Grizzly by hitting the palm of his hand with an arrow; says that if they run around the mountain with different sides and jump between two trees at the same time, they can marry; he manages to catch up with his sister, jump; she gets pregnant at the touch of his foot; gives birth to a son; she is killed by an ogre; brother kills an ogre, burns both bodies; goes to the village, carrying a baby on his shoulders; he kills him by spreading his throat and pulling out his tongue; in the village takes out the tongues of sleeping people; two girls who were in ritual isolation; they push the baby into the fire; its ashes turn into mosquitoes; one girl conceives from a stone and dies, the other conceives from a pen, gives birth to Ahlnuk and his three brothers (Ahlnuk, Tachandalkan, Taslas and one more); they kill a large snake that drowned people passing by; in the village they are allowed to chew willow branches: there is no water, two grizzlies kill people coming to the spring; brothers grizzly kills; A. asks the man what he is doing; "I'm cutting out a club to kill A.", said the old man, turning around and raising his eyelashes to see who asks him"; A. touches his lips with his finger, he falls dead; brothers come to people who cry because they are going to cut a woman to extract a child; A. teaches childbirth; man harpoons fish with his pointed tibia; A. turns into salmon, a man misses, breaks a bone against a stone; sharpens again; A. makes him a normal leg, gives him a jail (the origin of the jail)]: Jenness 1934, No. 6:129-136; chilcotin [girl goes out For a man, he turns out to be a Bear; her younger brother finds her, kills the Bear; she makes her fangs first from roots, then from bone needles, turns into a Bear herself; kills everyone in the village except for his younger sister; the younger brother returns from hunting, the sister tells him that the Bear keeps her life in a basket under the roof; he pierces the basket with an arrow, the Bear dies; the sister marries brother, gives birth to a son; The bear comes to life, kills her sister, puts on her skin; the boy informs his father about this; he burns the basket with the Bear's life, revives his wife; runs with her and her son; Loon and Dirok are transported them across the river; the Bear comes to life again, chases the fugitives; transporting her, Loon and Dirok break the boat, the fish eat the Bear]: Farrand 1900, No. 8:19-23; shuswap [the girl is over, she is kidnapped by the Grizzly; her five brothers find her; she points the youngest's arrows, he kills the Grizzly; she asks for her skin and claws; makes fangs out of flint arrows, turns into a Grizzly, kills everyone in the village, slaves her younger sister; brothers return from hunting, give her sister a partridge; Grizzly is surprised because her sister did not bring game before; sister says she killed the partridge herself; brothers shoot at the soles of Grizzly's paws, dismember her, keep her heart; marry their younger sister; Grizzly comes to life, kills her sister, takes her form; brothers understand the deception, put the Grizzly's heart between hot stones; she dies]: Teit 1909a, No. 41:715-718.

The Midwest. Ojibwa [The hawk leaves his wife; she is offended, turns into a Bear, kills people; chases her husband, but he defeats her; in one village, Hawk revives dead people by shooting in the air; returning to his village, he finds only her sister alive, who is in wounds and ulcers; she learns that the Bear's heart is in her little finger; he sticks an awl in front of the Bear's house, she steps on them, dies]: Jones 1916, No. 25:377-378; Steppe Cree [every day a woman wears her best outfit, comes back in the mud; her husband watches her, kills her lover Bear; he previously told her that after his death she can become a Bear herself by wearing his skin; her twin sons are half bears, maiming other children; people kill them; a woman puts on her skin, kills people; leaves her younger sister and parents alive, torments; younger brother returns from hunting, kills rabbits for his younger sister; asks her to know the Bear's vulnerable place; this is the sole of the foot; people dig sharp pegs into the ground; Bear steps on them, dies]: Bloomfield 1930, No. 12:63-65.

Northeast. Penobscot [six brothers go on the warpath; their older sister turns into a bear, kills everyone in the village, forces her family's two youngest children to serve; the youngest the boy enlists the help of a sorcerer; the brothers return, flee from the Bear, become the constellation Ursa Major]: Alger in Miller 1997:43.

Plains. Sarsi: Dzana-gu 1921, No. 39 [a woman warns her young son not to pretend to be a bear when playing with other children; he pretends to be a bear three times, scaring others, on the fourth he really does become a bear, kills almost everyone; men shot him, but this made his mother angry, she roared four times, became a bear herself, told his younger sister to hide behind an angry dog, killed everyone at the camp; told her sister to cook, dissatisfied, threatened to kill her; the girl went to get water, met seven brothers returning from the war, they all ran away; on the fourth day the bear began to catch up, the elder brother ordered the bear's giblets to be thrown, a rocky cliff appeared, then the scar was a dense forest, the bubble was a lake, but the bear swam across it; the brothers closed their eyes and went up to the sky, turned into seven stars of the Ursa Major; two stars next to each other near the Bear's tail - a girl and a dog]: 48-49; Simms 1904 [the husband notices that returning from the forest with brushwood, the wife is covered in mud ; watches her, sees her copulating with the Bear, kills him, lets her skin him off; she keeps it; tells her younger sister to keep the angriest dog with her; wearing the skin, she becomes the Bear, kills everyone; only the sister is protected by a dog; six siblings return from war; at the source, the younger sister tells them what happened; they learn from her that the Bear's feet are vulnerable; they dig up pegs near the house; the bear steps on them, they try to burn her, she chases them; brothers and younger sister go up into the sky, become the seven stars of the Ursa Major; the star next to them - sister's dog; Bear turns into stone]: 181-182; blacklegs: Michelson 1911b, No. 2 (piegan) [every evening the older sister goes to the forest; the mother tells the youngest to follow, she sees her sister copulates with a bear; father and men shot him; older sister asks younger sister to bring her paw, call young people to play bear; asks not to push her in the hips; girl pushes, older sister turns into a Bear, devours everyone, turns her younger sister into a maid; she meets seven brothers who have returned from the campaign; they ask them to know how to kill the Bear; she replies to her sister that she has injected with an awl in her paw; brothers give her sister a rabbit; the bear tells her to eat it herself, then wants to kill for not leaving her half; runs out, attacks the awls; the brothers burn a corpse, a piece of finger flies off, the Bear revives, chases; the older brother blows on the feather, it takes off, they follow him, become the seven stars of the Ursa Major; the sister runs to the old man, he hides her, cuts her off Bear ears and tail]: 244-246; Spence 1985 [the man has seven sons, two daughters; the eldest takes the Grizzly as a lover; the father tells him to be killed; the older brothers go camping; the sister takes a piece of Grizzly skin, she turns into a Grizzly, kills everyone except her younger sister Sinopa and younger brother Okinai; takes on a human form again; older brothers return; gives to her younger sister scatter prickly fruits in front of the elder's house; brothers and younger sister run; the elder steps on prickly fruits, turns into a Grizzly, chases; O. waves his pen, creating a thicket, a lake, a tree; everyone climbs a tree; O. shoots arrows into the sky; with each arrow, one of the brothers flies to heaven; they turn into the Big Dipper; the dim star on one side is S.; the four stars of the bucket are brothers, whom Grizzly pulled down the tree]: 182-184; Wissler, Duvall 1908, No. 7 [the girl's father and brothers kill her lover; she asks her younger sister to bring part of the bear's paw, invites her to play, tells her not to touch her kidneys; the ban is broken, she turns into a bear; the brothers give her younger sister a rabbit, who has difficulty convincing the Bear that she killed him herself; they all run, spray water behind her (lake) they throw a comb (thicket); a bird tells the Bear to shoot in the head; she is killed by an arrow; six brothers and younger sister turn into the Pleiades, the younger brother into (Polyarnaya?) Star]: 68-70; Assiniboine: Lowie 1909a, No. 11b [two sisters try to seduce his brother; his father makes him a boat, he sails away; the sisters ask him to swallow the fish, but the young man tells her not to do so; sisters play with children, tell them not to touch their anus; the ban is broken, sisters turn into cannibal bears, everyone is killed, parents are blinded with lightning; brother returns; sisters approach in black a storm cloud; the brother tells the birds to kill them, they cannot; then turns the rock into an eagle; when the sisters sit on it, the eagle grabs them and holds them, the brother burns them and grinds them into powder; returns them to their parents vision in the steam room revives those killed from their hair], 23a [girl takes a bear as a lover; people kill him; she asks for a piece of his skin, puts it on, turns into a Bear; kills everyone except parents and younger sister; her older brother returns from hunting; younger sister tells him that the Bear's right leg is vulnerable; he kills the Bear with an arrow; pushes her heart, sprinkles powder into the hearths; people revive], 23b [girl warns children playing not to touch her anus; the ban is broken, she turns into a Bear, kills everyone; younger sister becomes her maid; meets her four brothers; receives a rabbit from them, tells the Bear that she killed him herself; the younger brother kills the Bear with an arrow, hitting her vulnerable toes; pushes her bones, puts powder in the hearths, people revive ; var.: Bear chases brothers; they play ball, turn into Big Dipper]: 161-162, 179-180; grovantre [girls play; the eldest asks them to bring bison ribs; makes them for herself claws, turns into a Bear, kills everyone but her little sister; their six brothers return; ask my sister to find out where the Bear's vulnerable place is; Little finger on my left hand; give rabbit sister to throw hot fat at the Bear; they run, the Bear chases them, the youngest kills her by hitting her little finger with a tendon arrow (the only one that can kill her); burn the body, one spark flies to the side, the Bear revives from her, continues to pursue; if they wish, the brothers create a swamp, a forest, a gorge, a river, fire, cacti behind her; the sister hits the brothers with her ball, taking them to heaven; they become the Ursa Major or the Pleiades; the Bear stays on the ground]: Kroeber 1907b, No. 27:105-108; crowe [playing, the younger sister asks the older sister to become a bear; she replies that she will become real, the youngest insists; the eldest turns, devours people; tells the youngest to get the rabbit; her six brothers give it to her; show how to convince the Bear that she killed herself him; the bear chases his younger sister; she sticks awls everywhere, they pierce the Bear, she takes time to pull them out; the brothers tell her sister to throw a porcupine behind the needle, the Bear spends time picking them up; give buffalo manifold {buffalo droppings?} , then a piece of bison's stomach; sister throws it behind her, manifolds turn into flat rocks, stomach into holes; older sister climbs over rocks, gets stuck in the last hole; brothers ask that they should all turn into; the sister offers what the smoking pipe points to - Big Dipper; they are now seven stars of the Big Dipper, the sister is accompanied by a dog]: Lowie 1918:205-211; Omaha, ponka [the girl has a grizzly lover; hunters kill him; she asks her father to bring her skin; pulls it on, turns into a Grizzly; kills people except her younger sister; there are four of them Brothers return from hunting, fleeing with their younger sister; creating thickets, forests, awls, crevices behind them; Grizzly falls into it, the ground behind it closes]: Dorsey 1890:292-293; iowa [Grizzly rapes a girl, she becomes his mistress; her younger sister sees them, her father kills Grizzly; her mistress turns into a Grizzly, kills people, keeps her sister captive; their four brothers they return after visiting the thunder; they give their younger sister a rabbit; the Grizzly chases them; they hide on a rock that becomes tall; kill the Grizzly with arrows, burn them; scatter ash throughout the village; ash first turns into ants, then the village is filled with people again]: Skinner 1925, No. 9:465-468; sheyens (southern sheyens) [children play with animals; one girl asks not to be called a bear; those they call; she tells her younger sister to hide in a dog kennel, turns into a Bear, kills many; the sister runs; tells her to appear behind a thorny bush, thorns, a river, a steep bank; The bear overcomes everything; seven brothers protect the girl; they run out of arrows; together with the girl they climb to the top of the high peak; the bear tries to knock him down; they go up to heaven turning into Pleiades]: Curtis 1976 (19): 143-144; Arapahoes: Dorsey, Kroeber 1903, No. 105 [a girl plays a bear, becomes a Bear, kills people; people run away, leaving two children tied to a tree; they are freed by a lousy dog; a bear chases them; a boy gives the ball, every time they follow the ball; the ball tells them to throw it to the sky; brother and sister follow turn into three stars (brother, sister, ball?)] : 238-239; Voth 1912, No. 13 [the older sister turns into a Bear, makes her youngest her slave; people are fleeing; the younger sister meets three hunters; they give her a rabbit; they kill the Bear with arrows; give Little sister Bear's leg bone; if the bone is lost, the Bear will respawn; the girl loses her bone three times; each time the Bear appears on the horizon, but the girl manages to pick up the bone; people return]: 49; arikara [the older girl reluctantly agrees to play bear; tells her younger sister to hide; turns into a Bear, kills everyone; sister secretly meets four of them brothers returning from war; reports that the Bear has vulnerable little fingers on her legs; the brothers let her scatter thorns in front of the house, they lure the Bear, shouting that enemies are coming; the bear dies, brothers burn it; a drop of blood falls on the ground, the Bear is reborn, chases her sister and brothers; the older brother throws an awl, it turns into a thorny forest; the second is a knife, he cuts through the gorges; the third the comb turns into cacti thickets; the fourth is a whetstone, turns into a high rock (the Devil's Tower in Wyoming), raising the fugitives to the sky; they turn into the Pleiades, the Bear goes west]: Park, No. 7:146-152; kiowa [every day the husband paints his wife's face red; her bear lover licks the paint; the husband watches his wife, kills the Bear; sees the wife crying while scraping her skin; wife plays a bear, turns into a Bear, kills all the people in the village, turns her younger sister into a slave; tells her to get a rabbit or kill her; the girl's six brothers come back, give her rabbit, they teach how to show that she got it herself; the brothers taught her sister how to stick needles into the ground, the Bear ran into them; while she was taking it out, the brothers and sister run away, climb the rock; the sister speaks brothers that the Bear has vulnerabilities between her toes; brothers shoot there to kill the Bear; they and her sister, along with the rock, rise to the sky and become stars; the brothers' names are Sensitive Ear, Sharp Eye, Fast Runner, Sharp Mind; others unnamed]: Parsons 1929a, No. 3:9-11; wichita [a girl comes to the eldest of seven brothers at night; he smears her back with white clay; in the morning asks women to play ball, identifies her older sister; hits her with an arrow; she becomes a Grizzly bear in anger; brothers go camping, Grizzly destroys people; their younger sister comes to the brothers, they they give her dead rabbits; to kill the Grizzly, you have to shoot her four legs; the brothers do it but she is unharmed; the Grizzly chases the brothers; they throw the turtle's shell, it turns into a multitude turtles, the Grizzly eats them; they throw a red stone, the Grizzly loses time painting themselves with paint; they scrape the dust off the arrows, it turns into a thick bush; they break through the gorge with a string, the Grizzly crosses it; go up to heaven, turn into Ursa Major; Grizzly goes north]: Dorsey 1904a, No. 9:69-74.

The Great Southwest. Hicarilla [children play bear; the girl gradually becomes a real bear; for the fourth time she is completely transformed, kills everyone; leaves her younger sister to serve her; carries water in human turtles, from which the Bear made buckets; the father and five other men return from hunting; together with the girl, they make a fire near the Bear Cave, throw it in the face burning deer peritoneum; rising to the sky on a cloud, turning into Pleiades; there are 7 stars in the Pleiades; if you see that there are only 6 of them, then the Bear has reappeared and threatens people]: Opler 1938, No. IC1:113-116.