"The Ocean Bear"
In the time before time, when the sky and sea still spoke the same language, there lived a spirit known as Nokoma, the Ocean Bear.
Nokoma was born from the foam of the first crashing wave, where the moonlight met the heart of the deep. He was unlike the bears of the forest or mountain — his fur was kissed by salt and sun, his heart beat with the rhythm of the tides, and his roar was the thunder of distant storms.
The People of the Coast feared and revered him. They told stories of how Nokoma stirred the seas when angered and calmed the waves when pleased. It was said he walked beneath the ocean like it was a forest, and that his claws carved trenches so deep that even the light could not find them.
One day, the sea grew restless.
A great darkness from beyond the edge of the world began to poison the waters — strange creatures rose from the depths, bringing chaos, and the fish that once danced in the nets of the People vanished.
The shamans climbed the cliffs and lit the sacred fires. They sang the ancient call:
"Nokoma, Spirit of Tides, awaken. The sea is wounded."
And from the waves he rose.
Mighty and furious, towering above the storm clouds, Nokoma bellowed a roar that shattered the silence of the deep. Water coiled around him like serpents, and the clouds parted as if in fear. He fought the darkness beneath the surface, clawed through the monsters of the deep, and drove the poison out of the heart of the ocean.
For three days and nights the sea raged, until finally the waves calmed and Nokoma stood once more beneath the moonlight, his breath heavy, his spirit at peace.
He looked to the People — small and silent on their cliff — and with one final roar, he vanished into the mist.
It is said Nokoma still sleeps beneath the waves, guarding the balance of the waters. And when the sea rises high and wild, when thunder rolls across the ocean, the elders say:
"The Ocean Bear stirs again — may we walk gently upon his waters."
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