The Bear

Do you know where the bear came from?

Long ago, the bear was just like us, a human. Back then, there were few people, and they lived in the forests. They hunted animals and birds there. In the summer, they gathered mushrooms and berries, dug up plant roots, and stored them for the winter. But most of all, they stored nuts and honey. There were many bees, and they lived in tree hollows and underground burrows.

People would search for bees in the hollows, and whoever found them first would tie a rope around that tree, and no one else had the right to touch them.

But there lived a man at that time—an incredible slacker. He didn’t want to search for bees himself, so he stole others’ hives.

The slacker lived quite well. He grew fat on others’ honey, becoming as thick as a log. But here’s the trouble: it became difficult for him to climb trees for honey.

He began to think about what he could do to make climbing trees easier. But he couldn’t come up with anything.

One day, the slacker heard that beyond seven forests and seven swamps lived a sorcerer who could do anything.

“I’ll go to him,” he thought. “Maybe he can make me light.”

And so he went to the sorcerer. As he walked through the forests, he saw a linden tree tied with a rope. He approached the tree and saw a hollow quite low to the ground, full of honey.

He stole the honey from the hollow, ate his fill, and continued on his way.

He walked a little further and soon saw another linden tree tied with a rope, also with a bee hollow. He stole the honey from that hollow too.

After walking for a long time, he finally reached the hut where the sorcerer lived. He knocked on the door—no one answered. The owner wasn’t home. The slacker sat down and waited. Suddenly, he saw a linden tree with a hollow right in front of his nose. The slacker, used to stealing others’ bees, couldn’t resist.

Just as he began to steal the honey and stuff his cheeks, lo and behold—the owner arrived.

The sorcerer looked at the slacker, shook his head, and said:

“Well, human, for such wicked work, from now on you will do nothing but steal bees.”

And the sorcerer turned the slacker into a bear.

That’s where the bear came from. And whoever doesn’t believe it—let them catch a bear and ask it themselves whether it really happened as the tale says.

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The Bear

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