I proposed that George wrote the song not only as a theme regarding romantic plots between characters, but also like a codex befitting bear-folklore on how to hunt a bear without breaking taboo or risking the bear spirit’s revenge. The bear does not only represent sexual potency of men towards maidens, and the burgeoning of sexual feelings within unwed women. If mistreated, abused and not given its proper bride and not released back to the heavens, then the bear’s spirit can turn violent, destructive and kill off a bloodline to replace it with another. That is what the Wayland the Smith legend basically is about: a bear’s revenge, because his captors abuse him, extort him, deny him his bride and his burrial.
If GRRM wrote the song partly as a hunter codex, then he also should have included examples of such bear revenge. And indeed those are numerous. In fact, in every extremele violent event, death or arc of a character in the books from aCoK and onwards bears appear (real or as human character), and they are all mistreated: Harrenhal, Craster’s, Theon, Astapor, the Red Wedding, the Purple Wedding, … These articles will show and discuss that what we are seeing is a “bear revenge” event: how the bear is abused, how it affects the environment, how it is avenged, and possibly resolved.
I wish to thank Evolett especially for her cooperative insights at the time I first discussed the bear-revenge theme in the book, and wrote my first draft of it at westeros.org. You may have read these first draft essays perhaps, but these are expanded revized ones that go far deeper into the symbolism applied and also take far more out of it.