Brown Bear lived on the shores of a Great Lake. Brown Bear lived in a big wigwam, a conical tent, along with his wife Snowbird. Now Brown Bear lived in the big wigwam with an orphan child, whom Snowbird and Brown Bear had adopted. Snowbird and Brown Bear had their own little son whom they called Pigeon. Along with them lived Brown Bear's mother.
Brown Bear supplied everyone in the home with enough food and Snowbird took good care of the house and the people around. They lived happily there in the wigwam.
However, Brown Bear's mother was not a good woman . While she was good to Brown Bear, the old woman was jealous of everyone else including Snowbird. Brown Bear's mother wanted to get rid of Snowbird.
So one day Brown Bear’s mother asked her daughter-in-law to see a swing that she had found in the Great Lake. The swing was actually a twisted grapevine that hung over a huge rock. The old woman grasped the wine tightly and swung herself first. Then the old woman asked her daughter-in-law to try it. When Snowbird tried the swing, the old woman cut the grapevine.
Snowbird fell over the water and went deep down.
The old woman did not turn back and kept walking.
She went to Brown Bear's wigwam and sat in Snowbird's place beside the fire. She wore Snowbird’s clothes and she hid her face so that her wrinkles were not visible. However the orphan boy whom Brown Bear and Snowbird had brought home felt immediately that this was not Snowbird.
That evening as Brown Bear came home, Pigeon was not happy with his mother and he cried throughout.
Though no one knew why it was so.
The orphan boy stirred the flames of the fire and for a second he was able to see the old woman's features clearly and realized that this was not Snowbird.
He then went to the Great Lake and saw the broken swing. He told Brown Bear everything.
Brown Bear went to the Great Lake in search of his wife's body.
Meanwhile the orphan boy took the little Pigeon and played with him near the Great Lake.
At that time a beautiful gull rose from the centre of the lake and flew towards them. Then it suddenly changed into a woman! It was Snowbird - little Pigeon's mother. Snowbird had a powerful belt around her waist. However, she could not talk. She looked after the baby first.
The baby was very happy with its mother.
Snowbird signaled the orphan boy to bring the little Pigeon to the place every day. That night the orphan boy told Brown Bear everything that had happened.
The next day Brown Bear accompanied the orphan boy and Pigeon and saw the gull change into his wife. “Where have you been?” He cried on seeing her.
Snowbird still could not talk as she pointed at the belt in her waist.
Brown Bear understood it and took his staff and broke the belt. The belt had remains of a large shell which was evidently magical and prevented Snowbird from speaking or escaping from there.
It was only after the belt broke that Snowbird could speak.
Now that Snowbird could talk she said that after she had fallen into the water, the Water-Tiger had brought her deep into the waters into his kingdom. Water-Tiger lived with his mother, the Horned Serpent.
Snowbird described the beauty of the forest in Water-Tiger's kingdom, where the trees were longer, finer and broader. At night when the sun no longer shone fireflies of various colours like green, blue, crimson, orange, fluttered around the throne of the Horned Serpent and enlightened them all.
Water-Tiger wanted Snowbird to become his wife. Snowbird agreed on the condition that she could see her child.
Then after consulting his mother, Water-Tiger took his mother's sea gull wings which would cover Snowbird and help her fly to shore. Just to make sure that Snowbird would not escape, Water-Tiger tied his tail around her waist, as a belt.
However now that Brown Bear had broken the belt around Snowbird’s waist she could come with Brown Bear.
Brown Bear brought his wife, the orphan boy, the little Pigeon back to his wigwam. When his mother saw this she ran out of the place and she was never seen again.
Adapted from American Indian fairy tale
