The Old Winds Essay, Research Paper

The old winds

How the bears got their color

Before the earth existed, there was only water and air. The two oldest spirits of this time were the old North wind who ruled the North, and the old South wind who ruled the South. There was one day an argument between the two Old Winds, which started a huge battle between the two oldest spirits. Out of bitterness towards the old South-wind, old North-wind wanted to expand further south and bring with him ice and snow to the warm Southern regions. Out of bitterness towards the old North-wind, old South-wind wanted to expand further north and bring with her warmth and freshness to the cold north regions. One cold night old North-wind gathered all his strength and began to blow towards the south, the same warm night old South-wind gathered up all her strength and began to blow towards the north. After a long journey they met up over the waters named Canada. With all their might they attempted to force their way past each other and collided. The collision formed earth, it landed in different places all across the water. The younger East-wind and the younger West-wind, came over to see what was going on. They discovered the earth and decided to make beings to live on it. They created animals, insects and humans. They also made beings to inhabit the waters that had already been there. In the mean time, the old North and South winds had made a compromise. The north would always be cold and covered in ice, the south would always be warm and fresh. The younger east and west winds proclaimed “For your wrong doing, you both shall have to share the middle of the earth.” “The north shall rule for half the year, and the south for the other.” The old winds were not happy at this but obeyed the rule none the less. For years the two old winds shared their time on the earth equally, rotating back and forth. Half the year would be warm and sunny and half the year would be dark and cold. All the animals created by the East and West winds, were for the most part evenly spread in the two regions, except for the bears. They prefered the warmer half to the colder half. This upset old North-wind. He enjoyed the bears and wanted them to stay with him in his cold north region. So, one day old North-wind decided to kidnap all the bears and place them in the far north where they could be with him all the time. The bears didn’t like it up there it was too cold, and they were constantly being prayed on due to their outstanding color. The east and west winds warned old North-wind. “Give back some of the bears or you will be punished.” Old North-wind didn’t care he loved the cute bears to much to let them go, even if they did hate it up it the cold far north. The younger East and West winds began to get annoyed with old north wind. They were sick of him constantly going against what they told him to do so they decided to punish him for his disobedience. The younger winds decided to turn some of the bear’s white which served 3 purposes. The bears would blend in with all the ice and snow and therefore not be constantly prayed on and have some protection from the other animals. Two, the bears would blend in so well with the snow that the old north-wind would not be able to watch them from where he resided high in the sky, his punishment was to not be able to see the bears he loved so much. Also the bear’s new color would make them hard to find so old south-wind couldn’t come and kidnap them and bring them back with him. The bears would only be allowed in the middle of the earth and no further south because they could not survive in the extreme heat. Some of the bears were placed in the middle of the earth were the old north and old south wind took turns ruling for half the year. The younger winds still wanted to punish old north wind so they made the bears sleep during his half of the year so he could not see them. The bears were not changed in color like the bears in the far north, they remained brown to tease old north wind that if they were awake he would be able to see on his half of the year. So, that is why polar bears are white and other bears are brown, why they are not found far south and why they hibernate during the winter.