Original subtitles

The story of Grizzly Adams is big, powerful, beautiful.

They called me magic.

And me and my burrow number seven been traips and these slopes and valleys for a long spell.

So I know the story from the beginning.

My friend Adams was accused of a crime he didn't commit.

So he escaped into the mountains, leaving behind the only life that he ever knew.

Now that wilderness out there ain't no place for a green horn.

And his chances of surviving were mighty slim.

Where no time at all for he was beaten down, bragged, nearly star-heart.

Well, how about then he come upon a Grizzly Bear cub all alone and helpless.

Adams knew that little critter couldn't survive without his help, so he started right down that cliff, risking his own life to save it.

Now that cub took to Adams right off.

And that was when he discovered he had a special kind of way with animals.

They just come right up to him like he was a natural part of the wilderness.

But that bear cub, he was extra special.

As he grow he became the best friend Adams ever had and together they became a legend.

There's a world where we don't have to run, maybe. There's a time for all our own living free and holy in majesty.

Now if we're mountain men like me and James Adams there's nothing to match the glory of nature in the good times.

But there are other times that are, well, not so good.

When all of a sudden there's too much of one thing and not enough of another.

Like when one blistering hot day tags right along after the other.

And no sweet rain comes to wash and cool things off, leaving only the parchment heat and the time of thirsting upon the land.

Now my friend James Adams knowed the groan of things and he could read their needs like a teacher does a book.

You're right, Ben.

This dirt's awful dry.

We don't get some rain pretty soon. We're going to lose these baby carrots and these turnips you're so fond of.

Well, we'll just nurse them along the best we can.

What is it, Ben?

Visitors?

Where?

Oh, I see her. Well, that looks like fancy.

Remember that little cobwech on after that lightning storm? She was all singed and scared?

Hi, fancy.

Did you come to visit? We haven't seen you for about a year.

Well, that's fancy, Joshua. Looks like there's something bothering her though.

You're right, Ben. She's trying to tell us something.

You better go with her. Come on, Ben.

Right behind you, fancy.

Take a look at that.

Well, you've been on my busy, fancy.

It's a right-looking, proud cubby out there.

He looks like a thirsty dog.

Well, how about a nice little drink?

Not too much.

Well, Ben, you won't find better matters than a Bobcat mama.

Well, as much as you need, fancy.

You get enough, fancy?

Well, we best get going. We don't know where I'd have welcome.

Now, I could see things with a getting bad, but I wasn't all that worried.

Mainly because my dry knee wasn't acting up.

It takes a heap of parchment to crick up my dry knee.

Well, I'm sure that's a good one.

You're a good one, Jack.

You're good.

You're a good one.

Well, yeah, then, it's dry, but that don't mean much.

It's when the whole thing gets dry.

You've got to drop on your hands.

Well, I've seen these mountains sold dry, that the grass just rolled up like carpet

and fell down into the bottom of the hollows.

Well, that's the truth. You were going up to Adams?

By the week, he will be re-sheik.

You're going to work with their people and make do-catchers.

You'll be along later?

Uh...

All right.

Do-catchers.

You know, we've come along.

That's a lot of hard work making them do-catchers.

Well, now, I suppose you're a thirsty too.

Do you know what?

You're the third critter that's come begging to me on this trail this morning.

Thanks, Lutch.

If you were welcome to what they is, you wait here to give you a drink later.

Now, here you go.

You was thirsty, weren't you?

Well, now, if the creeks is all dried up here about,

why don't you all go up to Swallow Lake?

Can't be more than eight or so miles.

If you ask me, it's just plain laziness.

Just laziness, that's all.

Well, now, that's all you're going to get.

That's enough.

Well, at least you could have said thank you.

You know, maybe Lazy does his catch and like them.

Catch barrels that Greenhorn Adams fixed up to catch the rain runoff and back of his cabin.

He did that just so he'd have water closer instead of farther.

Lazy does for pure or certain.

Wich your little tongue?

You're hungry?

Try that leg out.

You would mind some, would you, Ben?

Sure, hot in it.

Let's go check your catch barrel.

Not so good, Ben.

Not so good at all.

Thank you, right.

We're going to have to get ourselves a bucket brigade coming up from the creek.

Come on, Ben.

I'm dressed as thirsty as you are, but you don't hear me catter-walled, do you?

Get your gumption up.

Get a move on.

We as mountain folks, we, some of them weak-need flat-foot dry landers, like...

Oh.

Oh, it's all right.

Nothing.

I just kind of...

Rock-skittered my heel.

That's all.

Well, yeah, you're right.

That is the trail over to the old waterhole.

Why don't you just go ahead, Ellen?

I'll catch up with you.

Well, that's the spring hole, all right.

But there ain't enough water in there to give a nad a bath.

Here.

You thirsty?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I suppose you're thirsty, too.

Here you go, little one.

Here you go.

Isn't that good?

Hey, you're thirsty.

Yes, you were.

Mm-hmm.

I ain't that always the way it is.

You run short of something in a whole world shows up to doorstep.

Okay.

This is a whole lot worse than we thought, man.

Band of creeks drying up off a fast.

You guys make this the last trip with the buckets.

There's other folks downstream that need this water just as much as we do.

Besides, we got Swallow Lake.

Well, sure, I know it's a long way to get water.

Well, this would be mighty grateful that's there for the getting.

Get your bucket, let's go.

Howdy, Adam.

Howdy, Jack.

Must be a long, hard-dried trip through a seventh town.

Members, Evans got the manners of a three-toed caterpillar.

Bacon, before you've been invited.

Seven little drink.

Easy doesn't... not too much, seven.

How about you?

Well, I would take just a pad to get the trail dust off of my teeth.

Thank you.

I tell you, Adam, it's going to be bad.

It's going to get worse.

My dry weather knee is a glitch in something fairs fit to be broke.

Your bones are always telling you something.

Well, of course they do.

Well, Jack, you know how to get up here.

But somehow or another, it always manages to rain.

You feel that?

It's a nice, cool, refreshing breeze.

Yeah, the breeze is a-freshin' and all right.

But it's the wrong breeze.

It's out of the southwest.

What the old timers used to call the breath of the devil.

Because it blows up out of the desert just perching everything in front of it.

It's the worst medicine that could happen to these mountains or to these critters.

No.

There's more to it than that, Jack.

Animals are acting different.

There's something real wrong.

Real different up here.

It's getting lazy if you ask me.

All along the trail up here that he was coming up begging for water.

Well, does that sound normal to you?

No.

How many do you see?

Almost happened four or five times.

I'm going to go up and see if I can do something for him.

Well, you got to go right this instant.

Don't seem fit.

It used to be a man would.

How do you proper?

You're rushing you off into something.

Come on, Ben.

I see him, Ben.

It's a deer over here under.

There's some wolves.

They're leaving the mountain.

Why?

Well, if I didn't know Swallow Lake was right up over yonder, I'd say that he was going down for water.

No, something's happened, Jack, and I got to find out.

Well, don't get excited over nothing.

What could happen to a whole lake that's always been there?

Oh, no.

Who would you look at that?

You know somebody that told me this.

I wouldn't have believed it.

It looks like the end of the world.

You might be right.

Because without this water, hardly any of these critters are going to make it.

Now, things were bad before they were a hundred times worse now, and the days kept coming right along, each one hotter than the one before.

The forest was turning so poorly, it hurt just to look at it.

And the mountains seemed like they were ready to give up and blow away.

For as usual, it was the critters that suffered most.

From the instant we found Swallow Lake all dried up, Adams got to worrying for the critters.

We had to find some water for them, or they was done for them.

So, Adams went one way to look, and me and number seven, we went the other.

We sure could have used Nicoma.

But Nicoma was still down at his village, helping his people get them cisterns of theirs made.

They used them contraptions to catch the dew that come from the coolant of night.

Didn't amount to more than a handful in each, but a long time back, Nicoma's folks learned it could save them in a bad time.

Of course, the water was too precious just to drink.

So they dipped pieces of bark or pine cones in it and chewed on them.

Nicoma finished up the work on the cisterns and decided he'd go on up and see how Adams used to.

Not even damp, yeah?

If our best creek's gone dry, that means all the rest have two.

Now there's no sense to look at any farther.

But we're going to have to figure something out.

Some way, somehow.

That's a good boy, man.

These little guys are in trouble.

Until about that.

Look at their nest that their mom's been gone for more than a day.

They look like she's coming back.

It's a take you fellas with us.

I don't know, turkey inside here.

It could be nice and safe in there.

I know, Ben.

It seems like hard times are hardest on little critters.

Don't you worry. We'll find your mommy.

Is that all you?

You know, we're going to have to figure some way to get water up to these little critters and they aren't going to make it.

Now you've got to be fun.

You're too big for me to carry you.

Come on, let's go.

Now, while Adams was beating the bush for a new creek or hitting pond, I went on up to the high cranks.

Because I recollected that them rocks was just full of good springs.

All you got to do is keep a turn over rocks until you find one with moss on the bottom.

Then you dig out the rocks underneath of that one and you find a good spring of water.

Nothing to it, just as easy as falling off a rock.

Now, they've got to be one in this.

Now, they've got to be one in this.

Why don't you get up here and help me?

Now, that's that hurt.

That's my water finger.

And when it flitches like that, that's a sure sign these water around here somewhere.

Look at that.

That cheese right there.

Now, little critters are going to get themselves a tree.

Dang lizard.

Now, that lizard wasn't in there taking himself a bath.

You never find lizards and water together anyplace.

You know, seven, that old devil's breath is blowing the hotter up here and it is down below.

It's enough to burn the hide off in a stone statue.

Now, you just get over here and sun yourself a little bit.

Of course, this here drought compared to the ones we had in the old days is practically a flood.

Why, I remember times when it was so dry that...

Now, blow up there number seven.

Don't you want to hear the rest of this story?

I got another and it's even better.

Here's your family, Mama. All safe and sound.

Well, we all know that we haven't had much rain this year.

We're a lot like you're the most.

We've got some water stored up in the barrel.

But we're going to have to ration it.

It's not going to be easy.

All we can do is drink it. No washing, nothing else.

We're all going to have to stick together. This is going to be tough.

We'll stick together through the good times. We're going to have to stick together through the bad times.

Now, what ration it means is...

Everybody's going to get a little water.

We'll get a little water in the morning.

And we'll all get a little water at sundown.

And that's all.

So we've got to make it last.

Here you go, Penn.

Joshua?

I know it's not much, Josh.

We're just going to have to learn to live with it.

Come on, Mary Lou, you're next.

That's it, girl. That's good.

We're going to get this down real quick.

Dannel?

That's a good boy.

You know, Dannel, I bet those catch barrels are the only water left in these mountains.

You got some of that for me.

Howdy, Jack.

Yeah.

I'll just explain to the crew just how the ration is going to work.

That figures.

Well, now I'm just taking what's my do.

We're all in the same pond.

That's a joke.

Don't ask me how my luck went.

I didn't have none.

I'll tell you, there ain't no water up there in them rocks.

Just nothing in them spring holes, but a...

Her little lizard.

Of course I know there wasn't no water up there all along.

I just went up there to satisfy your curiosity.

I know more about them things than you do.

Tell me that would. I got to cover up this.

Now that right there, that's one of the better ideas you've had.

Of course he didn't build it, right? He didn't build it like we did in the old days.

Well, I'm glad we got it.

We'd be in a fine fix without it.

Yeah, I got an idea about saving the animals. I want to show you.

Well, I'm not worried about the big animals. I think they can take care of themselves.

It's the little ones.

We'll just hang these long-term animal trails, and I think they'll make it.

Well, how's a little critter going to drink out of one of them? They can't even lift it.

Well, they don't have to lift them. These are drip sacks.

We hang them up along the trail, punch a little hole in the bottom.

Water drips out on a flat rock. They come right in and take a drink.

Well, I don't think it'll work, but...

Well, me and number seven better go along with you just to make sure you don't get everything hindsight too.

That's it, Jack.

I'm going to wrestle out easier knowing some little critters are going without tonight.

Me too. But I'll tell you something. Right now, I'm feeling awful again.

And I'm looking forward to some of that nice juicy stir about you make with them taters and carrots and the green.

What are you saying? Let's go get it. Let's do that. Come on, Sam. Come on, Ben. Let's go.

Jonah, do you big L? Hi, Tacoma.

They will go, ain't you? They will go in the coma.

Well, we got trouble. Lots of trouble. Swallow Lake is dried up drier than last year's echos.

Clotha? Can't believe that. We were just up there.

Yeah, but, uh... Well, I'll tell you what we're doing for water. We're doing without. That's what we're doing.

Let's get up to the cabin and have some supper. I'm for that.

I want to drink out of that catch barrel. I'm so dry I could blow dust bubbles.

Hey, fellas. What's all the ruckus?

Jack, I've never seen him so upset.

I'm gonna go up a second.

You better check the water supply.

The wind must knock this dead tree down. Smashed our catch barrel.

Sure is a sad sight. What are we gonna do now, Adam?

Pray, Jack. It's anything we got left.

There's no reason for you, fellas, to fret. There's nothing you could have done about this dead tree falling on our catch barrel.

The tree stood there for all those years. Why couldn't it have just hung on for a couple hours more?

You can blame the devil's breath for this. I'll tell you that wind never blowed anything any good.

Blame it never got nothing done, Jack.

Holy jumping geosafract! Just because your roostin' tree fell over don't mean you could start on me.

I'll just go find somewhere else to roost.

It is time for our drink of water, eh?

Things weren't any better than next morning.

Jack, if we cut down to one small drink a day, I don't think we'll do it.

Well, I appreciate it. Call Doc, I'll be up.

I know it.

We better get started.

We better get started. We gotta heap a lot of work to do before this day's over.

Edins, they ain't a harder work man in these mountains.

If I know what I'm doing, it's important. Now, are you sure that what we're doing ain't no for nothin'?

Jack, I can't tell you how many animals we're gonna save. But if we can save one, just one, it'll be worth twice the work.

Jack, you shame. You know you, you sogwa.

What do you mean, stay here, old man? I cannot work you or, Edins?

Come on, Ben, let's go.

Or a 20-year-old teen freight hitch. What do you think of that?

And then when I get home at night, I can do a jig. Like that. What do you think of that?

Ha!

I gotta say that once we got started, the going wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

He was just a whole lot worse. That old son acted like he was mad at us special and made it all the hotter for spite.

Everywhere we looked, the drought was already settling down like a weary sickness.

And the critters, well, they couldn't change their instincts or their ways, so theirs was even a more hurtful time.

And the mighty of the wilderness were put down as sorely as the shy in the gentle.

Now, Edins' plan was for us all to take whole flocks to them cisterns like when conas people did on all the animal trails.

Now, with Swallow Lake on, there weren't no good chance if any at all of saving them critters up on Blueberry Ridge, but that didn't seem to make no difference to Adams.

As long as there was any chance at all he wouldn't give up. For Adams, they were his neighbors and his friends, and even more important, they were like family.

And it made his heart heavy that he might be seeing so many of them for the last time.

But all that hard work was beginning to pay off, just like Adams said in the wood.

Ben, see how good our drip bags are working? Everywhere we've checked the little critters are holding their own.

It's good. Well, we best get to work.

Now, Nicoma was working hard, working alone, and that made it all harder, so he was mighty glad to find somebody to say hello to him.

Hello?

Oh, Louis was trying to do our best to help. Some of us got carried away.

way.

Now date David number seven quit your life.

You like to laugh with somebody gets hurt.

Like Jack.

It's good stuff with us.

Let's go take a look.

I'm just plumbed.

Tucker that.

Was it.

How's it going Jack?

I didn't.

They like that or done.

Well what do you mean it's all wrong.

What does a bear know about digging a sister in any ways.

Well Ben don't mean it's not right.

He's just saying doesn't look quite like the one of Coma's folks built.

They've been doing a lot longer than you and me.

Well.

Yeah there's inventing like they done and then there's improving like I done.

I built me some like the Coma's but this here's my new improved water catcher.

I call this a little Jack Danny new improved water catcher.

You know I think you've been out in the sun too long.

I've decided.

You wait till tomorrow morning.

We'll come up here and them that are built like the Coma's is going to have.

We'll buy that much water in.

But this one here.

It's going to have so much water in it you can jump in and take a T total and full over back.

Well the sun will be setting soon in the Coma building camp up on the ridge.

How about going up there.

Can't sit too soon for me.

Come on Ben let's go.

Nice one Ben go.

Steve.

See you.

Well sir.

There I was up on the high ridge during the year of the big drought and there was a whole herd of fish following me along the trail and.

Look at him sound asleep just come tuck it out.

Here I am ready to go.

Oh.

Where was I.

About the fish following up the hill.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Well sir.

There is this one big fish and he was a.

He is a.

Of course.

I was just dozing off a little bit mind you.

Because I had every intention of getting back up and finish my fish story and then doing some more work.

It being cooler at night.

I guess Adams must have had the same idea.

Adams and Ben spent the whole night digging one well after another.

They had no intention of stopping until the sun come up.

Good morning Ben.

All right.

Sunset.

Everybody rise and shine.

Well it's a sad thing to see a full grown man lolly gagging around in bed with the day half gone and.

It worked to be done.

Having a hard time waking up are you.

Oh no Jack.

No.

Jack look up strange all the animals are acting.

Pull up a peak.

I smell too.

Jack the woods are on fire.

In a matter of minutes things was a gone from a calamity to a catastrophe.

How's it look how bad is.

Oh.

Jumper.

Jumper.

Well the main fire is down there in that hollow Jack.

It's a ways off you though.

Some smaller blazes down there to the south and east.

It's not moving too fast but it's coming right up through blueberry ridge.

You just saw a dog.

She doesn't grab it.

There's nothing worse than rabbit than a force fire.

The sparks are getting a fur in the panic and running into the bushes and spread the fire.

That's a good boy.

Then you stay here.

That bluff down there will make a natural fire break.

It's hit down that way.

We get down here in a coma and try to get in front of the little critters and drive them up out of the woods.

I want you to take the draw to the east and I'll take the granite spine to the west.

I'll go down and work my way back up the middle.

That way we can drive the little critters up to the barren rocks.

They'll be safe up here in the rocks.

Now number seven, you do like Adams told that badger fella.

You get back up yonder into the barren rocks and you stay there.

Now number seven, there's two things that make me lose my temper.

One of them is a slab-sided, knuck-kneed, lopped beard,

spival-legged, blue-nosed, mule-headed pearl that don't do what he's been told to do.

Now you get back up there into the barren rocks and you stay there.

Until I come for you.

Now go on.

That's right.

I'll be back.

With the fire worsening, each of us was trying to get as many animals to safety as we could.

Come on, fellas.

Come on.

That's it.

Get going, old guy. Scoot. Scoot all you fellas get on up to the ridge like Adams said.

Get on out here now. Get up to the ridge, all of it.

Well, I'll be daggin' after and glum-buttered now.

What you doing standing there bar in my way?

First, you drink up all the spring water up yonder.

Now here you are, stopping me from doing my duty.

Now, this is no time to be arguing with no lizard.

Jack!

Come on!

Look for the ones who are down!

They're hiding!

We gotta get them out of here quick. The wind's coming up strong.

Look here.

Easy, Doc.

Now, you get under there. Where you're going to be safe.

Come back here.

That's the way. Now, watch it.

We tried beating out the flames as best we could, but it worked next to impossible.

That fire were spread that fast.

There I'll be griddle-frying brown.

If you're trying to get on my good side, you're coming the wrong way around.

Now, I put you under that rock so you'd be safe there.

Now, I'm gonna put you back and you stay there.

Puts the smoke and the noise that fire was making.

It was hard to see or hear anything.

But that sharp ears of Nicole had told him a good recovery.

Who'd recovered? Got himself trapped.

All right, little ferret, you stay up here. Don't be frightened.

Now, Coma had saved the couple.

But that fall he took not to be unconscious.

And he was surrounded by a wall of flames.

Now, you stay put this time and don't you come and follow her, B.

There you go. That's the way.

Now, you stay up here, too.

You all right in there? All right.

You're safe up here.

Pip!

Now, you stay up here in these high rocks. That's good.

And you, seven you keep.

Both eyes on this gritter this time.

He's a sly one. I've been putting him under this rock all day long and he just keeps following me around.

Now, you stay there this time.

You've seen Nicole. I ain't seen her for a long time.

I ain't seen him in longer than that.

Why don't you go back down looking to draw and I'll go up here and walk top the ridge before.

All right. The coma was still unconscious and then flames was a closing in fast.

When Adam seemed to call me, he didn't know if you were alive or dead, but he knew for sure them trees was about to come tumbling down.

My lungs was so full of smoke I could barely breathe to let alone move.

I figured that I was about done for.

Number seven.

Am I glad? You didn't do what you're supposed to do this one time.

Now let's get out of here. Come on.

Don't get burled.

Keep moving.

I am tired.

Now this here is the last time I'm going to bring you up here.

Follow me down there once more and I'm just going to leave you there.

Now just stay in.

Jumping captive.

Stay six-seven.

They all twin.

I thought it was the same one following me all the time.

Adam, I just got me a quick and my range shoulder.

I'm tired.

It's raining, Jack.

It's raining.

You feel that? Number seven.

Well, all fine that is fine.

The rain put out before us fire.

The animal is on the way home and Adam's going to make us a big batch of stir around.

Mabeth carrots and onions and turnips.

And you know what you ought to do. Put some garlic in it. I like garlic.

I could eat a big hunger garlic just wrong.

Oh, good.

We know. Well, what do you mean you know?

It's a little hard to keep tickets like that out here.

Oh, bon tées pon coe.

Yeah, in a coma. I hope we never seen other drought like this again out here.

Me neither.

But you know something?

This ain't the worst drought that I ever was hit.

Why we had droughts up here in the old days,

that the water on my knee would just plumb evaporate.

In a halo, halo, chaf, houga.

We're all grateful for the rain, the coma.

It's just a shame we never appreciate the worth of things until they're gone.

It's a shame to waste water.

I hope this is a lesson we'll never forget.

I ain't never gonna forget it.

You know, I'm so happy about this rain. I might just take myself a plumb,

tea, toadling, all over bad.

Well, no, I...

Knock, knock. No. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Hold it. I... I was...

I was...

Maybe there's a world where we don't have to run.

Maybe there's a time when Carl our own living free in harmony and majesty.

Take me home.

Take me home.