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Forest Folklore
Greg Laden (gladen@HUSC.HARVARD.EDU)
Fri, 1 Dec 1995 20:22:02 -0500
Here are two brief cases. Both true, HONEST!
A man is out hunting in Montana. He enters the forest under cover of
night, and plans to do his hunting at the very break of day and return
right away. This is because he is allergic to the sun. Unfortunately,
he becomes lost. He climbs a tree to look for the "park line" of
Yellowstone (a swath of cut forest around the park). Unfortunately, he
falls out of the tree and breaks his leg. The sun is coming up, so he
covers himself with leaves and pine needles for a couple of days until
somebody finds him. He was never far from town, so he had a chance. His
chances would have been even better if he could have fired a couple of
distress-shots to signal his whereabouts. Unfortunately, he was bow hunting.
The second one I read on a bulletin board in an inn after having been run
out of the forest by a bear. It's a story about a man who encountered a
griz, I think in Wyoming or Montana. The bear attacked him, wanting to
have him for dinner. Remembering the rules of what to do whenever this
happens, he played dead. The bear dragged him into a cave and half
burried him (saving him for later). He waited 'til all was quiet,
unburried himself, and started limping home, with a couple of broken
bones and some bad gashes. Not far away, the bear found him again. He
played dead again. She burried him again. He waited again, and tried to
get away. Again, the bear found him. This happened a total of four
times (or was it five, oh what the heck, let's make it five).
Eventually, the bear must have had a religious experience and decided not
to bother any longer with this one, and he managed to get home.
One wonders how many times this has happened and the guy didn't get away?
Cheers,
GTL
Greg Laden
Department of Anthropology
Harvard University
11 Divinity Avenue
Cambridge MA 02138
gladen@fas.harvard.edu
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