(a reprise from 2013; I needed some more Cowbell Bear Dance as an antidote to D-pression.)

One spring long, long ago, a man dreamt of A Bear.  It told him that if he would go to a certain place in the mountains, The Bear would teach him something that would make him and his tribe stronger and wiser.

The man went to the place and saw the Bear standing on its hind legs and clawing the trunk of a large Ponderosa pine tree.  When he approached, The Bear turned toward him, and began to move back and forth in a shuffling pattern.  As he danced, he sang a song and spoke words of strength and wisdom to the man.  The Bear said the man should go back to his people and teach them the dance and the song, and that they should celebrate the dance, and follow it with a feast.  It would be a good thing for The People.