I saw doing research on legends and folk tales not too long ago when I found that there are many such stories featuring my favourite animal of all time.
Here's a story with similar versions from Germany and North America -- How the Bear Lost its Tail. In this story, the bear is not a pleasant character. In fact, he's a downright obnoxious show off! The story goes that the bear once had a beautiful long tail which he is really proud of. He would stretch it out behind him and proudly say to the other animals, "Don't you think my tail is beautiful?" The other animals took one look at his claws and agreed whole-heartedly that his tail looked fabulous. It's no wonder that he didn't have many friends.
One winter's day, bear made his way down to the lake and saw that fox was feasting on some fishes he had caught from the frozen lake. Drooling slightly, he asked fox, "Say, fox, old buddy, how did you managed to catch all those fish?" Well, cunning fox had never liked bear very much and so he decided to trick bear. "Oh, I used my tail!" He showed bear how he dug a hole in the ice and dropped his tail in the water. "Once you feel the fish bite, pull up your tail and lunch would be served!" Bear eagerly sat on the ice and dropped his tail down the hole. After several minutes, much to the amusement of fox, bear felt so sleepy he dozed off.
Fox promptly returned to his lunch. Two hours later, fox returned, "Bear, bear! You caught some fish!" Bear woke with a snort and jerked his tail from the water. CRACK! He tail had frozen solid while he napped and the tug snapped it clean off! "Oh no!" Bear wailed as he stared in dismay at the stump he had left on his ample behind. "My tail!" The fox, seeing what had happened, quickly made himself scarce.
So 'til this day, the fox and the bear remained enemies and, sometimes, we still hear the bear groaning about his tail.
Here's a myth from Korea where the bear played an instrumental role in the founding of the country. The myth begins in heaven where the god Hwanin resided. His son, Hwanung, had the habit of peering over the clouds and looking at the chaos that was Earth below. Hwanung saw the terrible plight of the people below and would feel sad and shed tears for them. When Hwanin found out why his son was so upset, he allowed Hwanung to descend to Earth to rule so as to bring about peace.
And that's what Hwanung did. He ruled over 360 human affairs (such as good, evil, life and illness) and was a great success. At this time, two animals, a tiger and a bear, approached him, wishing to become humans. Hwanung brought them to a dark cave in which they were to remain for a hundred days with only a handful of mugwort and twenty cloves of garlic for food. The tiger was very impatient and ran off after a while. The bear was made of sterner stuff and on the twenty-first day, much to the bear's delight, was transformed into a woman called Ungnyeo.
However, no one wanted Ungnyeo as a wife as she had once been an animal. Sadly, she sat under a holy tree and prayed for a child. It was then that Hwanung pitied her. He transformed himself to human form and through him, Ungnyeo gave birth to a son, Dangun. Dangun later became the founder of the Korean people.
Here's an Aesop tale in which the bear is wise. I enjoyed the fable as a child but forgot about until I re-encountered it the other day. Two Travelers and a Bear tells of two travelers who were going on a journey together. While trekking through a forest, a ferocious bear crashed through the trees, straight into their path. The travelers raced to a tree and started climbing it. One was sprier than the other and managed to scramble onto a high branch in record time. He refused to give his friend a hand for fear of his own safety. The other traveler had no choice but to lie at the bottom of the tree and play possum.
The bear lumbered over and sniffed at the 'dead' man for a few seconds before heading back into the trees. After several minutes, sensing that the coast was clear, the man stood up while his friend climbed down the tree. "The bear looked like it was whispering to you. What did it say?" The other man looked at his friend and candidly replied, "Oh, he told me not to travel with anyone who would desert me in order to save his own skin." With that, he picked up his knapsack and walked off, leaving his friend standing there dumbfounded.
Now, Isn't that a nice note to end with? :)
Author Joan C is a bear collector and host a website for bear lovers to share pictures. For more information visit [http://www.picmybear.com]
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