In the old days, food could sometimes be scarce in the spring, so sometimes people went bear hunting. Old Aslak was a well-known bear hunter, and one day he foraged up to the valley to see if there were any bears there.
He took the dog with him. He started up the mountain and searched all day, but didn't find anything. Then he came down from the mountain and started home.
He walked for a while, and suddenly he saw something lying in the field not far from the path. It was a bear that was lying there. He saw that it was about to have a cub, and it was having trouble. Then Old Aslak told the bear that if it didn't do anything for him, he would come and help it and be its midwife.
The bear put its feet and head to the ground, signalling that it was not going to do anything to him. So old Aslak cautiously walked over to the bear and began to work on getting the cub out. The bear lay perfectly still and didn't move. Aslak got the cub out and carefully floated it up towards the bear. Everything seemed to be going well, so Aslak started walking away.
After a while it became evening, and he went under a rock and lay down to sleep.
Old Aslak woke up early the next morning at three o'clock. He made coffee in a small kettle and started on his way home. When he had been walking for a while, the dog began to press against his feet. When he noticed it, Aslak realised there was a bear nearby. He started to look up the mountainside. There he saw three bears. They had killed a reindeer and eaten it.
Old Aslak took his brush and shot the three bears, one by one. Then he went home and warned the people to take their horses and go to Svartskogen to slaughter and bring home the meat.
Bear hunter Aslak is a bear midwife, narrated by Tor Mikalsen
Bierdnabivdi Áslat veahkeha biertna jormoran, narrated by Hans Vandbakken
Bear-hunter Aslat becomes a bear's midwife, narrated by Eline Petrine Johansen
