Long ago, in the land now called Wisconsin across the great lake, terrible hunger caused many deaths. A bear and her two little cubs tried to leave that place and go around the lake where there would be more food, walking together on the beach for many days. When the cubs began to whimper with hunger, the bear decided to swim across the rest of the lake. With one cub on each side, they went far out into the water. As the cubs grew tired, the bear urged them on, saying that land was not very far, and soon land came into sight. But the cubs kept weakening, and one sank only ten miles from shore; soon after, the other drowned. Heartbroken and unable to help them, the bear waded ashore and lay down looking out over the water where her cubs had died. In time, the two cubs rose to the surface as two little islands, and the bear still lies atop the dunes watching over her children. The Anishinaabek told parables like this in winter around their wigwam fires to teach cultural values. For a people who depended on harvesting their own food, famine was a great fear, and the bear's choice between starvation and a perilous journey would have been familiar.