-->“In the Beginning of All Things,
Wisdom, and Knowledge, and Love,
Were With the Animals.”

A Native American Proverb


Music: Bear Mountain



Every spring when I’ve wandered Lake Michigan
I’ve always visited ‘The Sleeping Bear Lakeshore’
A place that has fascinated me, since my childhood
With a marvelous legend, worth repeating once more

Long, long ago, far, far across this lake, in Wisconsin
A massive forest fire had erupted one horrendous night
A mother black bear rushed her two children to the shore
They were trapped by the fire, her children filled with fright

Mother Bear led her two tiny children into the lake and began swimming
She and her two offspring swam for hours, attempting to reach this side
Mother Bear kept urging them on, and she finally crawled onto this shore
But as she lay here in exhaustion, her two beloved children sank and died

The Great Spirit, looking down from the heavens, saw what had happened
And, He soon took pity on this now grieving Mother Bear, on this lakeshore
He lifted two dirt mounds from the lake bottom, to mark her children’s graves
And these two new islands now became known as ‘The Manitous’ forever more

To this day, Mother Bear still lies here on this shore, looking out at her beloved children
She refused to move from this spot, eventually becoming covered over, by dirt and sand
The Chippewa Indians who revered all life forms, still tell ‘The Legend of Sleeping Bear’
As a young camper when I first heard this mesmerizing tale I was impressed, and I still am

These Sleeping Bear Dunes were named one of America’s most beautiful places in 2011
And, I have happily just learned that this place will now finally be protected, forever more
This is the first Wilderness Area to be federally protected by Congress in the last five years
I'm delighted that this wondrous legend, and this wondrous place, will live on, on this shore




Congress finally passed a Wilderness Bill for the first time in five years,
Designating 32,500 acres of this Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
As ‘Wilderness.’ The Wilderness Act celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year,
And I hope that this place is the first of many that Congress now moves to protect.



©Spring 2014, Mr. Ed