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AFTONBLADET (Sweden) — This story requires a
bit of background. Take a look at the stars tonight and try to
find Orion the Hunter. He should be easy to spot, because he's the
one with the two dogs.
(Now bear with me for a quick astronomy
lesson; I promise this is leading somewhere.) In the star
chart above, Orion is the one in the middle. In the top right
corner you'll see Taurus, the bull he's stalking. Directly below
Orion is Lepus the hare, who is being chased by celestial pooch #1,
Canis Major.
The straight line to the left of Orion
is supposed to be his other dog Canis Minor. I guess Canis Minor
is a Dachshund.
Now that we have the cast of
characters, let's quickly review the legend: While Orion was out
hunting for bulls one starry night, his two dogs were momentarily
distracted by a tasty-looking rabbit. That's when, unbeknownst to
the hunter and his hounds, Ursa Major the big bear sneaked up from behind
and swallowed Orion's head.
The great hunter thrashed about in vain
and finally managed to whistle for his dog Canis Major. The
faithful pooch came running back and bravely attacked the enormous bear,
who upon succumbing to the wrath of dog (or maybe he just didn't like
the taste of Orion's head) released the hunter and scampered off into
the night. In fact, the defeated ursine now resides all the way on
the opposite hemisphere of the nighttime sky.
Note to astronomers and
mythologists: ok, so I got a little creative. |
Now what does this have to do with today's news?
The Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported today that a hunter managed to survive a brutal bear attack, thanks to the resources of his trusty dog "Birk".
Göran Ryman, 49, was hunting elk in the wilderness of central Sweden when he was surprised by a vicious bear. Before he could react, Mr. Ryman was thrashed about and found his head gripped by the bear's jaws.
"First, it ripped a piece out of my thigh and arm before going for my face," he describes. "At one point it had my head in its mouth and I heard my skull cracking. I thought that my time had come."
According to the man, that's when Birk, a Norwegian elkhound, came to the rescue. The dog began to bite the bear in the leg and managed to draw the beast away from Mr. Ryman. Birk then ran off into the forest, closely followed by the animal.
Mr. Ryman called his hunting party who summoned an ambulance to take him to hospital where he received 50 stitches for his head wounds. (Photo: Urban Andersson / Aftonbladet)
Our hero Birk was found in the woods unharmed and quite proud of himself. Meanwhile, Göran Ryman is recuperating in the hospital, lucky to be alive and certainly grateful to his dog who proved once again that there are very few things in the cosmos as miraculous as a dog's devotion. After all, it's written in the stars.
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