The Bear's Favor

Home. The Blue Ridge Mountains, sprawling evergreen hills, and cotton candy sunsets. The land of possibility, adventure, and bears. My grandmother was born and raised in Appalachia, and if there ever was a country woman it was her. My three sisters and I were raised by our grandmother and spent our days hunting for crawdads in the creek or making dandelion soup out of weeds. My upbringing nourished my sense of adventure and my thirst for something new.

           The Appalachian Trail has always been this elusive thing nagging at the back of my mind. There was one day when I was a kid when we watched a movie about this woman who managed to hike the entire thing by herself, and I decided right then and there, at ten years old, that that’s what I wanted to do. Some kids wanted to be doctors or architects or scientists. I wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. Of course, you would hear stories of hikers going missing or being hunted by bears. Stories like those never deterred me. I needed to prove to myself that I could do this.

           “The Appalachian Trail is no place for a woman, Lyra. Bears can smell fear.” My grandmother would say. My sisters and all my friends called me crazy, but I threw myself into the world of backpacking. I took rope-tying courses and survival tests and learned from the experts on YouTube how to survive on rice cakes and boiled river water. By the time I turned eighteen, I knew it was time.

           My bag was packed, goodbyes were sent, and as soon as the sun came up over the Blue Ridge it was time to go. The first day was easy. Friendly day hikers wished me good luck and the sun was shining this morning. I marched with a purpose and a fierce determination. There was never a reason to suspect that danger might lurk around the corner.

           The first night on the trail I couldn’t sleep. I was too excited about the idea of being able to accomplish something hard, something I had been working for and dreaming of for so many years. I finally drifted off to the sound of crickets and noisy night creatures.

           The next morning I was off at sunrise after a hasty breakfast of peanut butter crackers. As I walked on the day hikers became more sparse. The friendly hellos I was used to were starting to dwindle. It hit me then that this was real, that I was alone in the woods.

           The second night was when he came.

           I had just finished settling down for the night when I heard a low growl outside the door of my tent. Carefully I sat up and shined my flashlight, illuminating the dark outline of a bear on the tent wall. I held my breath and slowly grabbed the bear spray when the bear began to speak.

           “Lyra of the Appalachia,” he said in a deep voice. I had never heard a bear speak before and I wondered if I was dreaming. 

           “Yes?” I whispered back to the bear.

           “I need your help.” the bear said.

           “My help?” I asked. “You’re a talking bear, what could you possibly need my help with?”

           “I have lost something precious to me and I need you to retrieve it.” The bear said. “In return, I will grant you the bear's favor, which will give you strength to complete this journey that you are on.”

           “I’ll be able to complete the Appalachian Trail?” I asked.

           The bear’s shadow nodded. “Without a doubt. My favor will grant you the energy you need.”

           I thought about it for a moment. Did I need the bear's strength? What if there was a catch to his quest? It would guarantee me the completion of my journey.

           “What do I need to do?” I asked.

           “One of my children has been captured by an eagle and I need you to get him for me. The eagle lives at the top of the tallest tree in the lowest valley,” the bear said. “Bring him back by tomorrow night and I will grant you my strength.”

           "You've got a deal," I said.

           The next morning I set off, off the trail. The valley was down below the trail and to get down there I would have to wander through the thicket and overgrown shrubs and who knows what else. As I was walking through the trees, getting scratched by thorns and vines, I stepped on something that squeaked loudly. I jumped back. Under my boot, I had stepped on the ear of a white hare, who was eyeing me suspiciously with red eyes.

           “Watch where you’re walking,” the hare said.

           "Sorry, I didn't see you there," I said.

           The hare scoffed. “Come with me.”

           "I have somewhere to be…”

           “I said come with me.” The hare repeated.

           The hare hopped away into the bushes and I followed after it.

           “Keep up!’ The hare called to me.

           I weaved quickly through the underbrush trying to keep up with the darting white creature. Suddenly it stopped on the edge of a cliff and I almost went soaring over the edge.

           “I need you to do me a favor,” the hare said.

           “I’m already kind of…” I started.

           The hare interrupted me. “My hare wife is about to have babies and I require berries that only grow along the side of this cliff for her to eat. I need you to get some for me, as recompense for stepping on me.”

           I took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll get your berries.” Carefully I peeked over the edge and off the side, where the bottom of the valley was just a speck below me. I swallowed hard and slowly swung my leg off the side of the cliff. Bit by bit I crawled down the side of the cliff, searching for the berries the hare had mentioned. Suddenly I heard a crunch under my foot. I looked down and saw that my foot had landed in a bird's nest, and there was runny yellow yolk all over my shoe.

           “Caw!” Said a new voice.

           I looked up and saw a crow circling over my head.

           “My eggs! My eggs!” It was saying. “You have squashed my eggs!”

           “I didn’t see your nest there!” I said to the bird, trying not to look down at the cavern below me.

           “Recompense! Recompense!” The bird shouted.

           "Uh oh," I said. "Do you need a favor from me too?"

           The bird cawed again in response as it circled lower over my head.

“You must bring me a shiny rock from under the tallest willow tree as recompense!” The bird said.

“I’m already doing a favor for this bear, and the hare, and…” But I did not get a chance to finish as the bird swooped down and grabbed a beak full of my hair and yanked.

“Ouch!” I said.

“Quickly! Quickly!” The bird said.

I scurried back up over the top of the cliff and the bird chased me, cawing and pulling at my hair. I scrambled back into the safety of the woods and the bird stayed by its mangled nest. The hare was nowhere to be seen. I remembered seeing a willow tree somewhere in these woods but I couldn't remember where. I had to hurry if I was going to pay recompense to the bird and the hare and have time to rescue the bear’s child before sundown. I wanted the bear’s favor.

The sun beat down hot on my back as I wandered through the trees searching for the willow. My boots created a long path through the bushes of squashed undergrowth behind me. I stepped through a thick spiderweb that tangled in my hair. I coughed and brushed it off of me when I heard a small voice.

"My home! It's destroyed!" A small black spider was sitting on an oak tree's trunk, one that the spider web had been attached to.

“Your home?” I said.

“My web! Weeks of hard work gone in an instant!” The spider said. “You must pay for this crime!”

"Listen," I said. "I'm sorry about your house, but there's this bear and hare and this crow and…”

“My house has been destroyed by you!” The spider continued. “Therefore you must build me another one!”

"I can't build a web," I said.

"You must gather up all the spider silk in this forest and weave me a new web to recompense for your crime!” The spider insisted.

Frustrated, I ran. I chose not to acknowledge the spider or her ridiculous request and headed for the valley where the bear had said their child had been taken. I was running out of time and I decided I could worry about the rest of the forest animals later. My legs scraped along trees and branches as I ran downhill into the valley. I would do whatever it takes to get the bear's favor. I reached the bottom of the valley in a flash. The wide expanse of green forest stretched out all around me and a clear blue stream cut a scar in the landscape below me. It was the forest I had known all my life. This was, and would always be, my home. Then I noticed how low the sun was getting on the horizon. I was running out of time, I had to find the eagle’s nest. Suddenly I heard a voice cry out from behind me.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

I spun around to see the hare, the spider on his back, and the crow waiting there. It was the hare who had spoken.

"Looking for the bear's missing child," I answered. "He promised me his favor if I rescued his child."

“Did you forget about my home you destroyed?” The spider said.

“Or the berries my wife needs?” The hare shouted.

"Or my eggs that you crushed?" The crow squawked.

“I can’t do everything!” I shouted, throwing my hands up and pointing to the setting sun. “I am running out of time! I have to find the bear’s child.”

I let out a primal, throaty scream that echoed off the forest floor and sent smaller birds scattering.

Suddenly the bear emerged from behind the other forest creatures.

“Did you find my child?” The bear asked.

I took a deep breath. “I tried. But the other creatures they…”

"Do not blame the other creatures for your mistakes." The bear answered. "Because of your mistakes, you will not receive my favor and you will not be completing this trail with my strength. Whatever you choose to do from here on out will be of your resolve, without my help.”

And with that, the bear, the hare, the spider, and the crow all disappeared back into the trees. As I looked around at the beautiful orange sunset and the shadows of the trees lengthening on the forest floor I realized that I was completely and hopelessly lost.