Our Voices: Native Stories of Alaska and the Yukon

How Dentalium Necklaces Came to the Country

gaither paul How Dentalium Necklaces Came to the Country After that there’s a different story they tell about how those dentalium necklaces came to the country around here.1 The people used to tell the story. A man was out hunting. From way up he was looking out. He was looking out over the flats and he was waiting for moose. And way over, way over on the flats on the side of a hill that sloped down a great big grizzly bear was going along. Even so he just let it go. He was only looking for moose so he just let it go. He thought he wouldn’t kill it. He just waited for moose. And then below  Tanacross that bear toward that bear he noticed there was a man walking along. And so he was going to yell to him in the distance. He was going to yell to him but he thought it was too far for him to hear and so he just watched him. He thought maybe it was someone from among the people staying with him. So he just kept watching where he was going. He was walking right toward the bear. It was too far and there was no way that he could yell so he just watched him. And then that bear saw the man and he set himself to attack him. And then the man realized that the bear was going to attack the man and he got ready. He thought he would run to him and, and so he watched where the man was walking. Just as the man got up to the bear the bear jumped him and started to fight him. gaither paul: how dentalium necklaces came  That’s all the man saw and what they call a horn club he had that and he grabbed his arrows too and started across. He started running toward him. Being a fast runner he ran and there the bear had grabbed the man and when he got there the man was still alive. That man must really have been strong because as they rolled around he was holding the bear away. He really must have been strong because that bear was a big one and he was holding it off. He was still alive and he was still not being hurt. This was still going on when he got there to him. So then with his horn club he hit the bear right on the head and knocked him off to one side of the man. The bear fell down and he kept on hitting him until he smashed in his head and killed him. The man that this happened to started to turn to him and the man was not from his village. It was a Brush Indian who had had the bear on him. Now the Brush Indian’s heart was beating hard and he was breathing heavily and  Tanacross as he turned to the man he told him, ‘‘Don’t look at me. Don’t look at me. Don’t run away. Don’t run away. Wait until I talk to you.’’ The Brush Indian told the man. The man looked at the Brush Indian and found out that he was a Brush Indian. He was not an Indian but he found out that he was a Brush Indian. Even so he understood him. He understood what he was saying to him. So he just stood there. So the Brush Indian with his heart beating hard and breathing heavily waited to catch his breath. When he was well rested up and had gotten his breath back, getting up and coming to the man’s back he patted him lightly on the back, ‘‘Don’t run away. I’m telling you not to look at me. If you looked at me you would be afraid and you might run away so I told you not to look at me. gaither paul: how dentalium necklaces came  I am not one of you. You call us gu ˛u ˛. I am a gu ˛u ˛. I am not one of you. Even so don’t be afraid of me. You saved me and I want to give you something.’’ He told the man. So then he stood in front of the man. Now that he...