Mishi-makwa

In the Great Lakes region of North America, long before European contact, the Anishinaabe people developed a worldview shaped by water, seasonal movement, and continuity across generations. Within this world, animals were understood as beings with agency and memory, participating alongside humans in the life of the land. Among them, the bear held a particular place of respect—associated with endurance, protection of kin, and attentiveness rather than domination.

Within this tradition lives the story of The Sleeping Bear, the mother bear whose presence still shapes the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The story tells of her and her two cubs fleeing danger on the mainland and swimming westward toward safety. The crossing was long and exhausting. The mother bear reached the far shore first and turned back to watch. The cubs, weakened by the journey, could swim no farther and became the two islands now known as North Manitou Island and South Manitou Island, still visible from the shore today.

The mother bear—remembered simply as The Sleeping Bear—did not leave. She lay down along the shoreline, facing the open water, keeping watch over the place where her cubs last swam. Over time, she became part of the land itself, her body forming the dunes, her gaze fixed on the horizon.

For the Anishinaabe, this story reflects a broader understanding of guardianship. Protection was not defined by constant action, but by constancy. Bears were seen as teachers of how to endure and how to remain present. The Sleeping Bear does not intervene again—but she stays. Her watch continues, held in place by land, water, and memory.

True guardians do not leave.

Source: Anishinaabe oral tradition as preserved by the U.S. National Park Service,
Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
https://www.nps.gov/slbe/learn/kidsyouth/the-story-of-sleeping-bear.htm