Among the animal-people of the Distant Time the brown or grizzly bear holds the most formidable spiritual power, and its yega, the pervasive spirit that animates living things, is held to be especially strong and easily offended. Koyukon custom surrounds the killing and handling of a bear with elaborate care and restriction under the hutlaanee system, and the animal is often spoken of only by indirect or respectful terms rather than its ordinary name. Stories of the Distant Time, when the bear was a person, underlie these observances.