The Very Lonely Bear
Once upon a time in a huge forest there lived a
big bear! He loved people, but the people of the forest were very scared of
him.
“Don’t go near the cave,” the people would tell
their children, “there is a big bear that will eat you.”
“Don’t go near the cave,” the people would tell
their children. “That big bear will hurt you.”
And the children believed their parents. So they
stayed away from the cave.
The big bear was very lonely, and often would come
and sit at the edge of the village. But the people would get scared. They would
run inside and lock all the doors and windows. Sometimes they wouldn’t come out
for days.
The big bear was very sad. He wanted to be friends
with the people. He wanted to share their honey, and sit around their warm
fires. But the people were so scared of the bear he could never even get close
to them. The people would see the bear and run away.
One day, out of nowhere, a big storm came. The
winds were ripping at the trees. And water came rushing out of the stream. The
people were scared. They all ran to their houses, and prayed the storm would
end soon.
But, one little boy, Little Scotty Bremner was
left outside. He bad been playing warrior and got lost in the woods.
The bear saw that Little Scotty was scared, and
ran to help him. “Get away from me” Scotty said. “You are a bad bear, and you
are going to eat me.”
The bear looked at Scotty and said, “No, I won’t
eat you. I promise. Besides, its cold and wet out here, and I have a warm cave
that is safe. The trees won’t fall on you, and water won’t run away with you.”
So, Scotty went with the bear. And as the storm
passed, the bear told him stories and kept him warm with his fur coat. They
shared the bear’s honey. Finally the storm was over.
The people of the village knew that Little Scotty
was missing, so they got the best hunters, and the best trackers, and made a
search party.
Soon one of the hunters yelled “I have found his
trail.” All the hunters gathered around. The trail led straight to the bears
cave.
“Oh no,” they cried. “Poor little Scotty” they
said. “The bear must’ve eaten him,” they said. The men were very mad. They ran
up to the bear’s cave. They had their arrows drawn, and they went in.
“You ate Little Scotty Bremner” they said to the
bear. “Now we are going to kill you and use you as a rug. You won’t kill any
more of our children.”
“Wait,” cried the bear urgently. “I didn’t kill
him. He is alive and well.”
“Then where is he?” one of the hunters asked.
“Right there in the back of the cave.” The bear
answered.
The hunters and the bear all looked to the back of
the cave. But all that was there was Scotty’s wet jacket, and his back pack.
“You did eat him” one of the men yelled. “Now you
are going to pay for it.”
The man lifted his bow, and placed an arrow, he
was about to let go when he heard a little boy yell.
“Mr. Bear? It’s me Scotty. I’m back!” Then Scotty
noticed the hunters. He ran in front of the bear. “What are you doing?” he
cried. “You can’t hurt Mr. Bear. He’s my friend. He saved my life.”
The men all looked astonished.
“I’m sorry Mr. Bear.” Scotty said. “We ate all your honey. I just went to get some mere. I didn’t know they’d come hunting you.”
“It’s okay Scotty,” the bear said. The he realized
what else Scotty had said. “I never had a friend before. Are we really
friends?”
“Of course we are” Scotty said. “And now you’ll
probably have lots more friends.”
Scotty was right. The bear had many friends. When
all the people heard Little Scotty’s story, they invited the bear to sit by
their fires and share their honey. The bear was never lonely again. And the
people learned a valuable lesson. They learned to never again judge someone
before getting to know him.
The End.