This story happened long ago, back when the Great Turtle Island was new...

There was a village of Haudenosaunee with lots of people. Each Clan had their own longhouse and, as was the custom, had a symbol carved above the door to show which Clan family lived in each house. This village was large enough that all nine clans lived there. One day, an old man came stumbling out of the woods and walked into this village. He was not very well kept - his clothes and moccasins were dirty and torn, his hair was disheveled, and his belly rumbled with hunger. He approached the first longhouse, hoping to find a place to sleep and something to eat.

When the Old Man got to the Longhouse door, he noticed a Wolf carved in wood hanging above the entrance; he knew the Wolf Clan family lived inside. He rapped on the edge of the door and soon, the Wolf Clan Mother looked out. “Oh, Sister” said the Old Man, “I have been traveling for many days and am tired and hungry. Can I come into your house to sleep and have something to eat?” The Clan Mother looked at the Old Man with his dirty clothes and torn moccasins.

She made an awful face and yelled “Shahh…Go away Old Man! Look at you with your torn clothes and dirty hair! Nobody wants you in this Longhouse!” Then she pulled a deerskin across the doorway.

The Old Man turned and shuffled away. He soon came to the next Longhouse in the village. Above the door was a carving of a Hawk. Perhaps the Hawk Clan would welcome him? Again, he knocked on the side of the Longhouse door. The Hawk Clan Mother looked out and saw his bedraggled clothes and dirty moccasins. “Shaaahh…What do you want Old Man?!?” she yelled. “Go away from my door!!” Before the Old Man could say anything, she placed a long stick across the doorway, which was the signal that no one could enter. The Old Man turned and slowly walked toward the next house.

But as the Old Man made his way through the village, he was turned away from longhouse after longhouse. The Wolf Clan said “No!”, the Deer Clan Mother shooed him away, the Beaver Clan just laughed at him, and on and on as he also went to the Deer, Heron, Snipe and Eel Clan longhouses. Finally, the Old Man - now stooped over very low, stomach grumbling louder than ever, feet barely shuffling through the dirt – came to the end of the village. There, he found a small longhouse, not in very good shape. Only one smoke hole had smoke coming from a single fire. Weeds were growing at the edges of the house. Above the door, there was a carving of a bear’s head. The Old Man had only this last hope, the Bear Clan.

He knocked on the side of the doorway and the Bear Clan Mother came out to greet him. She saw the Old Man stooped over his cane, saw the holes in his moccasins, heard his stomach rumbling…and her heart went out to him. “Grandfather,” she called him, “why are you out here in the cold night air? Please come into my house and warm yourself by my fire.” She took the Old Man into the longhouse and laid out her best bear furs for him to sit upon. “You must be very hungry as you look like you have been traveling,” she said. “We do not have much among our family, but we will gladly share with you” she said as she prepared him a heaping bowl of corn soup.

“Granddaughter why are you being so good to me, a stranger in your house?” asked the Old Man. “Grandfather, it is our instructions from the Creator” answered the Bear Clan Mother. “We are told to treat all our elders with respect. And, we are to care for travelers when they come to our village.” The Old Man thanked her and then laid down on the bear furs and fell asleep. While he slept, the Bear Clan Mother mended his moccasins and put on some fine porcupine quill decorations.

In the morning, the Old Man awoke but now he had a terrible cough. The Bear Clan Mother insisted that he stay with her family until he was well. “Granddaughter, you have been so kind to me – a stranger! – that I wish to give you a gift,” said the Old Man. He then told the woman to go out into the forest and at a certain place on the path, she would find a certain tree. He described the leaves and asked her to bring some back to him. The woman went out and, exactly where the Old Man had said, she found the tree. She gathered the leaves and took them back to the Old Man. He showed her how to brew them into a tea. After he drank the tea, his cough went away...

“Granddaughter, the leaves of the Sassafras tree, they make good medicine. I want you to remember that and share it with the people in your family,” he instructed the woman. Bear Clan Mother promised that she would remember. The next day, the Old Man awoke but now had a different ailment. Again, he instructed the Bear Clan Mother to go into the woods to find the root of a certain plant; he told her right where is was and, sure enough, she found it right there. When she brought it home, he showed her how to gargle with it and his sickness went away. “Witch-Hazel makes a good medicine” he said. “Remember this and share it with your family.” Again, the woman agreed to do so.

And day after day it continued like this. The Old Man would wake up with some kind of sickness. Each day, he would send the Bear Clan Mother into the forest to find a plant that made medicine. He showed her how to treat many different types of ailments and made her promise to share this knowledge with her Clan. After many days, he awoke one morning fully healthy and ready to continue his journey. The Bear Clan Mother insisted that she gather some strawberries for him to take on his journey. She went into the forest to gather some of this sweet treat.

When she returned to her village, the Bear Clan Mother saw a great light coming from near her longhouse. “Oh no!” she cried, “My longhouse is on fire!” But as she approached her house, she saw a Young Man standing in her doorway. And the light was not fire but was coming from the Young Man. “Oh no!” she cried again, “An Evil spirit has come to live in my longhouse!” But the Young Man spoke to her in a beautiful, soothing voice “No Granddaughter, I am not an evil spirit. I am the Creator and I came to you weeks ago in the form of an Old Man. I went from longhouse to longhouse looking for food and shelter. But all the other clans had forgotten their instructions and turned me away. Only you, of the Bear Clan, remembered to care for their elders and for weary travelers. In Thanks, I gave you a gift…the gift of Medicine. You now know how to cure many sicknesses. Pass this on to the people of your Clan because you will be the ones that know these medicines.” The Bear Clan Mother promised to do so and, to this day, many of the people that know traditional medicines still come from the Bear Clan. Da neh Ho.