After everyone had eaten and talked, the chief stood up and looked at Peesunt. "You will stay in this village forever and marry my young nephew, who brought you here." "I will not!" shouted Peesunt. "I am Peesunt - daughter of the chief of my tribe!"

"Enough. I have spoken" said the old man. He waved to two men and they took her to her new husband's lodge. Standing inside, scared and confused, Peesunt heard a little voice squeaking "Peesunt! Peesunt!"

She looked around, but couldn't see anyone. Then she felt something tugging at her dress. Looking down, she saw the tiny Mouse Woman.She was no longer vain and proud. She worked hard and stayed with the Bear People for a long time. She gave birth to two sons, who were both half man and half bear. Peesunt's husband was kind to her and Mouse Woman taught her many things. But she missed her family.

One day, strangers were seen outside the village. Peesunt's husband told her the men were her brothers. "They found bear tracks when you went missing and they have killed many of my people since then. They will not stop looking for you."

He looked at Peesunt sadly. "I've dreamed that they will kill me. I know you love them very much, and I won't hurt them. I ask that they treat me with respect as you have, Peesunt.

They must not drag my body on the ground after they have taken my skin. My feathers must be placed behind my ears and red ochre rubbed on my back."

He stroked Peesunt's long black hair and said goodbye to his sons. Then he put on his bear cloak and started to walk out of the village. Peesunt followed him and saw him turn into a bear. Holding his arms out in front of him, he went to meet the brothers. He let them kill him without struggling.

"Peesunt, our sister! It's so good to see you again!" shouted the brothers. Peesunt cried for her dead husband and with joy to see her brothers again.

She made them treat her husband's body as he had asked and they took her and her two sons back to her father's village.

The people from her tribe looked at her closely and were amazed to see soft brown hair growing on her beautiful skin. She was no longer fully human.

Peesunt told her father, the Chief "I don't feel comfortable living with people now. May I live in the small house at the edge of the village?" "Yes my daughter, you can" said her father.

Peesunt took her two cubs and lived in the small house. One day, one of her brothers brought her some bearskins to make warm clothing for the winter. Peesunt and her children put the skins around them and turned into bears forever. She took the cubs into the mountains and they were never seen again.

The people of her tribe remembered how the daughter of their chief had married a bear and taught them to respect any bear that they killed.

They followed her teaching and were very successful hunters.
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