Traditional indigenous cultures in many parts of the world have displayed a profound appreciation of the relationship between human and ecosystem health, something global culture is trying to rediscover under the label of sustainability. A spiritual resource for sustainable living, this poem records the creation story of the Sami, a nomadic people of Northern Europe, and then retells several Scandinavian folk-tales derived from their playfully animistic world view. Their deep kinship with the wild is shown in their awe for bears:The bear is more like people areThan any other thinking creature:He stands up on two legs to strike, With eyes that skewer like a spike, And when we cut away his skinHe looks like a great bloody man.