Bear was standing at the mouth of a creek looking for sockeye salmon when Halibut noticed him.  

Halibut said to Bear, “I see there aren’t that many fish left and you look hungrier each day.  If you promise not to eat me I’ll tell you how to catch halibut so you can eat.” 

Bear agreed and Halibut told Bear what material to gather in the woods, how to make a halibut hook and how to use it to catch halibut.  Bear did as he was instructed and made the first halibut hook.

Raven was up in a tree, and he saw Bear was eating very well.  Raven thought, “I must find out how Bear is getting all his fish.”  Bear kept the hook in a pouch on his side.  Raven flew down next to bear and asked him what he had in his pouch.  Bear said it was a secret.  Raven flew back up to his tree and thought to himself how can I get that pouch…

The next morning Raven called down to Bear and said he wanted to invite him to lunch.  Bear agreed.  When Bear showed up for lunch, Raven told him they were going to have a special soup and that he had to drink it very fast.  Raven told him it was the way to eat this delicacy.  Bear quickly drank down the soup and it killed him.  Raven tricked bear by putting hot rocks in the soup.  Raven quickly flew over and took Bear’s pouch and looked inside.  Not only did Raven steal the hook, he also skinned Bear and took his hide.

Some time passed and Raven was up in his tree again when he noticed Tlingit children catching Coho Salmon in the creek.  Raven flew down and put on Bears hide.  He growled  and acted like Bear to scare them off.  They jumped into their canoe and paddled back to their village to tell what had happened.  Their grandfather told them not to let anyone or anything take their food or they would starve in the winter.

The next day the children went back to the creek to gather more salmon.  Raven saw another free meal and put Bear’s hide on again.  He waddled over growling and acting like Bear.  The children kept fishing until Raven was right beside them.  They grabbed big sticks and rocks and started beating him mercilessly.  Raven yelled, “STOP! STOP! ” He took off Bear’s hide and said, “It’s me Raven, and I have a gift for you!”  They stopped beating him, and Raven gave humans the first halibut hook.

--Story as told to Heendei/Donald Gregory by an Elder 

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