J53c1. Grizzly and black bear. .43.48.

Two women live together, both have children. One of them kills and (then) eats the other. The killer is associated with a grizzly bear, and the victim with a smaller species of bear.

Thompson, Lillooet, Halcomel, Comox, Snohomish, Skagit, Clackamas, Coos, Takelma, Yurok.

Coast - Thompson Plateau: Boas 1895, no. 2 [Woodpecker had four sons each from Grizzly and Black Bear; Grizzly killed her husband and Black Bear; her children fled, the ferryman drowned the pursuer; Qoeqtlk-otl - the youngest of four brothers; turned into a salmon, allowed himself to be harpooned by a giant, took the harpoon; the brothers came to his dugout, said they had found the harpoon, gave it to him; Q. lay down by the fire, and the eldest brother threw his beaver hat into the fire; the river overflowed, but the place where K. lay did not flood; the elders took wives; were killed by a bear; K. turned into a dog, tore apart the bear, the inhabitants of that village, revived his brothers, then they turned into stones]: 16-17 (trans. with commentary by Boas 2002: 84-86); Hanna, Henry 1996 [Grizzly marries (Black) Bear; they have four children; Grizzly searches his wife's head, kills her; tells his children to bake Bear Cubs; they kill them themselves, bake the youngest, leave him where Grizzly eats; he realizes he has eaten his son; chases the Cubs; quarrels with Squirrel, grabs her on the back, leaving white marks; the Cubs' grandfather takes them across a river; while taking Grizzly across, makes a hole in the boat; water creatures grab Grizzly through the hole, eat him; Monster sits by the river, biting women on the back of the head; one of the Bear brothers turns into a salmon, allows himself to be harpooned, bites through the line, carries off the spear; Monster goes home; the brothers return the spear to him; survive the flood]: 67-71; Hill-Tout 1899 [Woodpecker marries Grizzly and Black Bear, loves only the latter, each has three sons; Grizzly tells his sons to feed Bear's sons a thin decoction; they will become weak from it, they must be drowned, the youngest must be roasted for her; Bear tells her sons to feed Grizzly's sons a thick decoction to make them heavy; Grizzly takes Bear to dig roots, offers to take out lice, bites off her head; meets Woodpecker, kills him in the same way; Grizzly's sons drown, Bear's sons roast the corpse of the youngest for his mother; the little bird tells her that she ate her son; when Grizzly catches up, the brothers climb a tree, throw wood dust in her eyes, wasps and ants on her chest, run away; While Woodchuck teases Grizzly, Woodchuck's brother takes the brothers across the river; while taking Grizzly across, he places her on a hole in the bottom of the boat, tells the fish to bite her, they rip out her insides, she dies; the younger brother Sqaktktquaclt (S.) turns into a hummingbird, flies into the back of a moose, flies out of his mouth, the moose dies; S. drinks up the lake, kills beavers with a stick; the two older ones come to a man who is ready to cut open his wife's belly to extract the child; each wife gives birth to a girl, she grows up, the man marries her, kills her to extract the girl, etc.; S. helps give birth to a boy, the woman will continue to give birth; Coyote boasts that he eats human flesh, S. offers him to regurgitate it, closes his eyes, but peeks; Coyote regurgitates grass, the young man turns him into a coyote; two women hold salmon behind a dam; S. throws a wooden bowl into the water, it destroys the dam; his brother opens the women's five boxes, releasing their weapons into the world - wind, smoke, wasps,mosquitoes; the women turn into two rocks; the brothers enter the house, the eldest finds a piece of wood in the bed, throws it into the fire; a trace of a human figure remains in the ashes; the owner enters, looks for his wife, cries when he sees the trace; S. carves two women out of poplar and alder, brings them to life; one is white, the other is red-skinned; S. gives them to the owner of the house; a one-legged cannibal pierces the shadows of those passing by along the shore with a harpoon, passers-by die; S. turns into a trout, lets himself be harpooned, carries away the harpoon; turns the one-legged man into a blue jay (he grabbed him by the hair, the jay now has a crest); his wife - into a partridge (mountain grouse); S. lies down in a basket, takes red and white clay in his mouth, the eagle carries away the basket, throws it away, takes the clay for blood and brains, brings S. to the chicks; S. seizes the chicks, climbs down from the cliff onto them, puts their skins on his brothers, turns himself into a dog by placing stone knives under his skin, comes to a village where all the animals are dogs; defeats everyone, revives them, turns those people into ants, the dog-animals into ordinary animals; a seal overturns boats with tornadoes, S. turns him into a seal]: 195-216; Teit 1898, No. XXII [a man marries a Grizzly and a Black Bear; each gives birth to three or four sons; a jealous Grizzly asks her husband to help her carry the roots she has dug up; says that there are many insects in his head, kills him by biting his neck; calls the Black Bear to look for her husband, kills him in the same way; Black Bear's youngest son notices Grizzly roasting first their father's genitals, then their mother's breasts; Grizzly tells his children to drown Black Bear's sons, who drown them themselves; Lark tells her that she is eating her roasted child; Black Bear Cubs run away, climb a tree; ask Grizzly to open his mouth; throw not their youngest brother into it, but an old branch with ants; Cubs' grandfather takes them across the river in a boat; tells Grizzly to sit on the bottom of the boat to plug the hole; fish eat her insides; Coyote finds her corpse, roasts the meat]: 69-71;#22 [A man marries a Grizzly and a Black Bear; each bears three or four sons; the jealous Grizzly asks her husband to help her carry some dug up roots; says he has a lot of insects in his head, kills them by biting his neck; calls Black Bear to find her husband, kills him in the same way; Black Bear's youngest son notices that Grizzly first roasts their father's genitals, then their mother's breasts; Grizzly tells his children to drown Black Bear's sons, who drown them themselves; Lark tells her that she is eating her roasted child; Black Bear Cubs run away, climb a tree; ask Grizzly to open his mouth; throw into it not their youngest brother, but an old branch with ants; the Cubs' grandfather takes them across the river in a boat; tells Grizzly to sit on the bottom of the boat to plug the hole; fish eat out her insides; Coyote finds her corpse, roasts the meat]: 69-71;#22 [A man marries a Grizzly and a Black Bear; each bears three or four sons; the jealous Grizzly asks her husband to help her carry some dug up roots; says he has a lot of insects in his head, kills them by biting his neck; calls Black Bear to find her husband, kills him in the same way; Black Bear's youngest son notices that Grizzly first roasts their father's genitals, then their mother's breasts; Grizzly tells his children to drown Black Bear's sons, who drown them themselves; Lark tells her that she is eating her roasted child; Black Bear Cubs run away, climb a tree; ask Grizzly to open his mouth; throw into it not their youngest brother, but an old branch with ants; the Cubs' grandfather takes them across the river in a boat; tells Grizzly to sit on the bottom of the boat to plug the hole; fish eat out her insides; Coyote finds her corpse, roasts the meat]: 69-71;lillooet [four brothers and a sister live by a river; on the eve of the salmon run they built a dam and went hunting; the sister stayed behind; when she caught a salmon and was about to eat, someone called her and she fell asleep; a grizzly woman came in, ate the salmon; the same the next day (two salmon); the third (three salmon); the brothers sense that something is wrong with their sister; they returned; the eldest followed the grizzly to her home; she lived with her sister, a black bear; the young man married them; the black bear is a better cook, the grizzly is jealous; each gave birth to 4 daughters; (further the same as in text #22 of the Thompson Indians: the grizzly asks her husband to help carry the dug up roots; says that there are a lot of insects in his head, kills them by biting his neck; calls the black bear to look for her husband, kills her in the same way; the black bear's youngest daughter notices that the grizzly first fries their father's genitals, then their mother's breasts; the grizzly tells his children to drown the black bear's sons, they drown them themselves; the lark tells her: look at the claws (of her child, whom she eats?); the black bear cubs run away, climb a tree; ask the grizzly to open her mouth; they throw into it not their younger sister, but an old branch with ants; the black bear cubs' grandfather transports them across the river in a boat; tells the grizzly to sit on the bottom of the boat to plug the hole; the fish eat her out entrails; coyote finds her corpse, roasts the meat]: Teit 1912b, No. 19: 321-323; halkomelem : Hill-Tout 1904b [Magpie has wives Grizzly and Black Bear, each with four sons; Grizzly suggests that her husband search his head, kills him (further as in Thompson in Folk-lore 1899, vol. 10, No. 2)]: 360-362; Thompson, Egesdal 2008 [Grizzly's older sister has daughters, the younger Black Bear has a daughter (BM), a son, and a small son; BM's daughter notices her mother's breast in her aunt's kettle; Grizzly replies that BM will come later; BM's children take Grizzly's children to swim, they drown (grizzlies cannot swim); BM's children run away, putting rotten wood in Grizzly's children's bed, as if someone was sleeping there; they climbed the spruce, Grizzly came running, the children of the World Cup said that her children were with them, asked her to open her eyes, blinded her by throwing what they had scraped off the bark of the spruce; the man ferried them across the river in a boat; while ferrying Grizzly, he capsized the boat, Grizzly drowned; the elder brother threw the younger brother's hat into the fire; he began to cry, the water in the river began to rise; the brother and sister ran away, the younger one remained, a fire remained burning under the water; seeing the fisherman, the younger one became a fish, bit off (torn off?) the hook; having become a man, he came to the fisherman, he complains that the hook is missing, the boy says that he found it; stays with the fisherman; finds a piece of wood with a hole from a branch in his bed, throws it into the fire; the fisherman says that his wife went out and burned; that he is the first man, and the creator forgot to make him a wife; the boy cuts out two women, from birch and from alder; the fisherman replies that he wants the alder one, it is his color (i.e. with red juice); the boy completed the woman, the first man got a wife]: 258-261; komoks(chatloltk) [Grizzly asks Black Bear to take lice out of her; they are frogs, they fall to the ground, Bear says they are twigs falling from a tree (she is supposed to eat imaginary lice?); Grizzly kills Bear, cuts off and boils her breast, gives it to Bear's sons to eat; they recognize the meat as their mother, kill Grizzly's children, leave them standing near the chest, pretending to get food from it; run away, climb a tree; ask Grizzly to open her mouth, throw wood chips in her face; Grizzly runs away]: Boas 1895, no. 9: 81; Snohomish [Grizzly woman kills Black Bear; Bear's two sons kill Grizzly's two sons; run up the river to their grandfather; give an arrow to Echo, the Fruit Tree, Log, who hinder the pursuer; The Crane stretches his leg across the river, warns not to step on his knee; the Grizzly steps on, falls into the water, continues the chase; the boys' grandfather crushes her, slamming the door of his stone house]: Haeberlin 1924, No. 31: 422-425; skagit [Grizzly and Brown Bear are married to Woodpecker; Bear brings ripe berries, Grizzly green; Bear warns her husband that Grizzly will kill her, searching in her head; Bear's youngest son sees Grizzly roasting his mother's breast; Woodpecker makes arrows with flint tips for his sons from Bear, with coal tips from Grizzly; the former kill the latter (this is not a game); Woodpecker gives them berries, feathers, a spear to pay the bushes, the tinder fungus on the spruce, the Crane; flies away from Grizzly, taking the baby; bribed bushes let the She-Bear's children through, but prevent the Grizzly from escaping; the Crane stretches out his leg like a bridge; the She-Bear's sons cross to the other bank, give the Crane a spear; he pretends that his leg hurts; twitches when the Grizzly steps on it, throwing it into the river; she swims out; runs to Flint, the She-Bear's father, with whom his grandchildren have hidden; he suggests that she enter the house backwards; the blade cuts her in half; the sons fly off into the forest to their father, the Woodpecker; the baby turns into red feathers on his head]: Hilbert 1985: 130-136; kowlitz [The She-Bear and the Grizzly are the wives of one husband; the first has five daughters, the second five sons; the She-Bear brings many berries, the Grizzly - few; lies that Grizzly Bear has lice, pretends to bite them, kills her, takes her berries; father tells daughters to run away; they kill and roast Grizzly's sons; she eats them; pursues girls; asks his father Hot Rock to kill them; he kills four, marries fifth; man takes her away; digs well; Hot Rock's five brothers come to drink; man pushes them into well, they drown]: Adamson 1934: 211-213; Clackamas[Black Bear and Grizzly both have five sons; Grizzly asks to search her head; there are frogs, Grizzly eats them; searches for breasts in Bear, bites her, devours; brings breasts home to stove; youngest cub notices them; cubs kill and cook Grizzly's sons; leave one body standing with smiling mouth; Grizzly eats his children; chases Cubs; Crane stretches leg across river, warns not to step on kneecap; Cubs cross, Grizzly scolds Crane, steps on knee; he removes leg, she drowns; crows peck at her vagina, she comes to life; paints face with vaginal blood; goes and asks various trees what she looks like; determines what their properties will be depending on answer]: Jacobs 1958, no. 15: 141-156; kus [Grizzly and Black Bear are Puma's wives; Grizzly asks Bear to take lice out of her; takes them out herself, bites her, eats her; Bear's children follow and throw Grizzly's children into a boiling pot; they flee; Grizzly eats his children; gives chase; Bear's children's uncle puts his foot across a river; the children cross, he pushes Grizzly into the water, kills him with a spear]: Jacobs 1940, no. 13: 152-155; Kalapuya : Jacobs 1945, no. 7 [Grizzly and Brown Bear each have five daughters; Bear tells hers that Grizzly wants to kill her; if her basket falls, she is dead; Grizzly bites through Bear's neck while searching her head; eats her; The She-Bear's children fight with the Grizzly's children, kill them, roast them; they tell five rotten things to swim in the water; they run away; The Grizzly thinks that her children are swimming, eats the roasted ones; the fly tells her that she has eaten her children; The Crane stretches her leg across the river; The Bear cubs cross it as if it were a bridge; The Crane does not tell the Grizzly to step on his knee; she steps on it, he takes his leg away, she falls into the water], 7 [Wild Cat brings salmon, does not tell Coyote where he is catching them; he pushes him, the salmon fall, Wild Cat picks them up, Coyote kills him; tells his five children to make a fire, playfully wrestle with Wild Cat's five daughters, push them into the fire; they themselves push the little Coyotes; Coyote eats his children, and Wild Cat's children run away; Coyote pursues them, but they kill him]: 115-119, 360-363; takelma [Grizzly and Black Bear are sisters, each has two daughters; both gather nuts, Grizzly offers to take insects from Bear, bites her each time more and more; she tells her daughters to drown Grizzly's daughters when Grizzly kills her; Bear's daughters drown and roast Grizzly's daughters, run away; Grizzly eats the liver of his daughters; Crane stretches his leg across the river, turns it into a boat or a bridge, Bear's daughters cross to the other bank; Grizzly scratches Crane's leg, he pushes her into the water, she drowns]: Sapir 1909, No. 13: 117-123.

California. Yurok [Puma has two wives - Black Bear and Grizzly (Brown Bear), they are sisters; Black has a boy and a girl, Grizzly has a girl; leaving with Grizzly to collect acorns, Black Bear warns the children that if she does not return, then Grizzly killed her; the mother did not return, Grizzly said that she was delayed somewhere; Black Bear's children invited the girl Grizzly to climb into a toy house in the sand, brought it down, cooked the meat as if it were venison, gave it to Grizzly, shouted that she was eating, ran away; climbed a tree, Grizzly began to undermine it, they climbed to another, ran to the river, asked an old man to help them cross, he stretched his legs across the river like a bridge; when Grizzly went, the old man removed his leg, Grizzly drowned; [The children of the Black Bear began to live with their aunt]: Sapir 1928, No. 10: 259-260.