When Grizzlies
Walked Upright
Retold by: Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz
Summary
• The Chief of the Sky Spirits was tired of his home in the sky
and decided to carve a hole in the sky and created a giant
mound, which is called Mount Shasta today. He walked onto
the land and everywhere he pointed, trees would grow. As
he stepped on snow, it melted which created rivers. He
created animals and plants. His daughter got caught in the
wind and was lost in the forest and taken in my a grizzly bear
family. She married one of the grizzly bears and had a child.
When her father found out, the Sky Spirit, he said “Get down
on your hands and knees. You have wronged me, and from
this moment all of you will walk on four feet and never talk
again.” His grandchild became the first Indian and that is
why Indians will not kill grizzly bears and Indians killed by
grizzly bears would be burned.
Main Points
• Setting:
– Mt. Shasta
– Sky
– Forest
• Characters:
– Sky Spirit
– Sky Spirit’s
Daughter
– Grizzly Bear Family
– Sky Spirit’s
Grandchildren
Point of View and Importance of the
Story
Point of View:
• The story is told in
3rd person
omniscient.
Importance of the Story
to the Culture They Come
From:
• Native Americans had
questions about the world
and how things were
created so they made up
myths to answer their
questions.
• The short story gives the
Native Americans an idea
as to how they were
created. It gives them a
purpose to turn to.
Attitudes
Life:
• Indians were created by grizzly bears and
both have the right to live. They have a
purpose for being on the earth.
Nature:
• The Sky Spirit is the creator of nature. It
is responsible for creating animals,
plants, mountains, and other things.
Nature should be preserved and that is
why Indians will not harm grizzly bears.
Death:
• Indians will not kill grizzly bears. It is like
killing themselves. If a grizzly bear kills an
Indian, the body was burned.
Questions
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
In the story, the Sky Spirit lives inside Mt. Shasta and builds great
fires inside, and whenever he places a log into the fire, the
mountain spews sparks and smoke. Why would the Native
Americans describe a volcano in this way?
Is the Wind Spirit the antagonist of the story? Why or why not?
In the eyes of the Great Spirit, what was the crime of the bears?
“… the Indians around Mt. Shasta would never kill a grizzly bear.
Whenever a grizzly killed an Indian, his body was burned on the
spot.” The Native Americans in the story held a respect for the
bears and nature. In what other ways was this shown in the
story?
Is the fact that bears once walked upright and talked important
to the story? Explain.