A Natural Life

He had lived in the woods so long that he had forgotten how those in so-called civilised society behaved. His hands and feet had been wrapped in animal fur to protect them for so long it had almost grown into his skin. His clothes so ragged his body hair showed through.

There were sightings of him, he knew that from the odd newspaper that was discarded by the roadside. They called him ‘The Bear Man’. He had survived a bear attack and only god knew how. His skin was now ridged in places by the hard scars that had formed to cover the gaping wounds the animal had inflicted.

When the bear attacked he fought back at first as a man would fight but something changed when the bear bit him. He no longer fought as a man but as an animal. Whether it him biting back that frightened the bear he would never know but his change of behaviour had driven the animal away.

As the days went by so his body healed but his behaviour changed as well. He seemed to understand nature better and in a way that opened up its behaviours and patterns to his inner spirit. The fur covering his hands and feet felt natural.

One morning by the river he felt its presence. He was just undoing the fur on his hands to bathe them when he sensed the massive Grizzly behind him. It was on him before he could react. It was twice the size of the animal that had attacked him before and twice the struggle.

In the end he managed to squeeze the life out of the animal by choking its neck. As it fell to the floor he stared at his arms. Not fingers but what looked like massive claws sat at the end of his arms bathed in the blood of the Grizzly.

He had done it. He had killed it with his own bear hands