Adventures of a Bear, and a Great Bear Too

by Alfred Elwes

  UPON HIS TRAVELS.

  There is no denying that when Bruin had got clear of the old familiarpath, and lost sight of the dwelling where he had hitherto spent hisdays, he felt most particularly uncomfortable; and if he had had thepower of recalling the past, he would, in his present state of feeling,no doubt have done so. For the first time in his life, the sense of hisill-temper struck him in all its ugliness; and as he sat down on a hugetree which was lying across his road, he looked such a picture ofdisconsolateness, that it was evident he would have felt great relief ifhe could have shed some tears. Alas, how much does Bruin's conditionremind us of little scenes among ourselves! We give way to our badtempers and our selfishness; we make ourselves disagreeable, and ourfriends unhappy; we quarrel, if we do not actually fight; and when wemeet the reward of our waywardness, and find ourselves abandoned bythose who would have loved us had we acted differently, we then moanover our fate, and bitterly regret what we might have avoided. Alas,poor human nature! alas, poor bear!

  I am truly sorry to observe that no act of repentance followed Bruin'ssense of desolation. His first feeling of sorrow over, he felt indignantthat he should have been so treated; but, more than that, as he wasstill hungry, he felt regret at being denied a closer search into hisold mother's larder.

  Whilst engaged in his various reflections he happened to cast his eyesup to a neighbouring hollow tree, where, at some height from the ground,a number of bees were flying in and out a great hole, with all thebustle and buzzing usual to those busy people. Now, it is well knownthat bears are mightily fond of honey, and will run great risks in orderto obtain this dainty, and Bruin was very far from being an exception tohis tribe. He was too ignorant to reflect that it was a great deal tooearly in the season to hope for any store, but, consulting only his owninclinations, he lost no time in climbing up the tree; and when he hadreached the spot where the now angry bees were hurrying to and fro morevigorously than ever, he thrust his great paw into a hole with the hopeof drawing forth a famous booty. But the indignant insects now came outin a swarm, and attacked him with the utmost fury; three of them settledon his nose, and pricked him most unmercifully; a dozen or two plantedthemselves on a great patch behind, where his trousers were worn thin;and a whole troop fastened on to the sore place in his head--for it wasnot quite healed up--and so stung him, that, roaring with pain and rage,he threw himself, rather than descended, from the tree, and went flyingthrough the wood to get rid of his determined little enemies: they stuckfast, however, to their points of attack, nor did Bruin get clear of histormentors till he dashed himself into a pool of water and buried hishead for a moment or two under the surface.

  It was with some degree of trepidation that he raised his nose abovewater and peeped about him; the bees were all gone, so he crawled out ofthe mud, and after an angry shake or two, for his coat was quite wet, heresumed his journey.

  Bruin now travelled on till noon; and what with hunger and his longwalk, you may believe his temper was not improved. A rustling noise onthe left, accompanied every now and then with a short, contented kind ofgrunt, attracted his attention, and looking through some brambles, hedescried in an open space a very large boar, with two most formidabletusks protruding from his jaws, busily engaged in rooting up the ground,from which he had extracted a curious variety of roots and otheredibles, the sight of which made Bruin's mouth water. For the first timein his life he felt the necessity of civility; for though he had nevermade any personal acquaintance with the tribe to which the animalbefore him belonged, there were many tales current in his family oftheir ferocity when provoked; and the few reasoning powers he possessedwere sufficient to assure him, that not even his rough paws or burlystrength would secure him from those glistening tusks if directedangrily against him. So Bruin resolved to try and be civil; and withthis determination walked into the stranger's domain, and accosted himin as polite a way as his rude nature would permit him to assume.

  The animal, who was known in his neighbourhood as Wylde Boare, Esquire,on account of the extent of his property, received Bruin's advances withgreat caution, for he was naturally of a suspicious temper, his brightreddish eyes twinkling in a very unpleasant manner; perceiving, however,that his unexpected visitor was but a mere youngster, and that he lookedvery hungry and tired, he grunted out a surly sort of welcome, and,jerking his snout in the direction of the heap of provisions, bade himsquat down and make a meal. Bruin did not wait for a second invitation,but, stretching out his huge legs, picked up the fresh vegetables, whichhe thrust into his capacious jaws with every appearance of relish.

  When his repast came to an end--and this did not happen till there wasan end of the food--he wiped his mouth with the back of his arm, andlooked at the boar; and the boar, who had said nothing during thedisappearance of the fruits of his morning's work, but had contentedhimself with uttering a grunt or two, looked at Bruin. At length heobserved,----

  "Hurgh, you have a famous appetite!"

  "Ah," answered the bear, "and so would you, if you had not eatenanything for the last few weeks!"

  After a pause:----

  "Hurgh, hurgh!" said Mr. Boare, in a guttural voice; "I never tried; buta big fellow like you ought to be able to get through a deal of work."

  "Perhaps so," observed the surly bear; "but I don't intend to make theexperiment."

  After another pause:----

  "Hurgh, an idle fellow, I'm afraid!" said Mr. Boare, half aside; "andnot quite so civil as before his breakfast." Then he exclaimed aloud,"I suppose you will make no objection to help me dig up some more food,seeing that you have made away with my dinner, hurgh?"

  "Who do you take me for?" said the ungrateful beast, springing to hislegs, and eyeing his entertainer with one of his furious looks.

  "Who do I take you for, hurgh, you graceless cub?" exclaimed Mr. Boare,in a rage, for he was rather hasty in his manner, and his red eyestwinkled, and his back began to get up in a way which showed hisagitation; "who do I take you for? Why, I did take you for one who wouldbe at least thankful for food given you when almost starving: but I nowperceive you are only an ugly lump of a bear. Out of my sight thisinstant, or, from want of my own dinner, which you have devoured, Ishall, perchance, make a meal of you!--hurgh, hurgh!"

  As he said these words the bristles on his back started up so furiously,and his tusks glistened so horridly in a little ray of sunlight, whichwas peeping in to see what was the matter, that Master Bruin feltthoroughly frightened, and made a precipitate retreat, turning round atevery few steps to observe whether he were followed, and if it would benecessary to take refuge in one of the trees; but Wylde Boare, Esq. onlygrunted out his favourite expression, which, in this case, was mixedwith a great deal of contempt, and recommenced digging for his dinner asif nothing had occurred to disturb his usual contented state of mind.

  Bruin now travelled on till he reached a stream, which came boundingthrough this part of the wood at a very rapid pace, and making aterrible fuss because sundry large stones in the middle of its courserather impeded its progress. The noise it made, and the anger it showed,seemed to please our sulky bear mightily, so he sat down on the bankwith his toes in the water to enjoy the spectacle. The scene was a verystriking one, and was fitted to charm the most indifferent eye; andBruin, bear as he was, could not help being attracted by it. Whateverhis meditations, however, it was not destined that he should pursue themlong without interruption; for his quick ear soon detected the sharp,quick bark of several dogs--a sound that was carried along by a breezewhich swept by him at intervals. He raised his head with his huge nosein the air to sniff out any possible danger, and did not seem at allpleased with the result of his observations; for he drew first one footand then the other out of the water, and raised himself to his fullheight. As he did so, a more than usual commotion in the stream drew hisattention, when he perceived the round head of a large otter appearabove the surface, whilst two bright eyes gave a hasty look all round.On observing Bruin, the head immediately disappeared, and at the sa
memoment a whole pack of terriers, in hot haste, came sweeping round abank hard by, but stopped short on finding themselves in presence ofsuch a formidable creature.

  Bruin perceived that he had made an impression, and his usual insolencereturned; for he had at first been startled, and he attributed the pauseof the terriers to fear, when, in fact, it was only the result ofsurprise. If he had been a little better physiognomist, he would haveobserved a certain air of determination about the little fellows, whichsufficiently showed that it was prudence or a sense of duty which stayedthem, and not a lack of courage: they had been sent out to procure anotter, and they were now deliberating among themselves whether itwould be wise to spend their time in quarrelling with a bear.

  A CLOSE EMBRACE.]

  After a short consultation, one who appeared to have the guidance of thepack uttered a decided little bark, and turning a little aside,endeavoured to pass between Bruin and the stream, but sufficiently nearto show that he was not afraid to come into contact with him, followedby his companions. This evidently contemptuous mode of treating him,aroused all our ill-tempered hero's bad humour; so, without consideringthe consequences of the action, he raised his big paw and knocked theleader down. The sturdy little fellows wanted no further provocation; asif influenced by a single will, they turned upon him, and attacked himin front, flank, and rear, with an impetuosity which was at firstirresistible, because unexpected. Finding that those behind him were hisgreatest and most successful tormentors, he very prudently sat himselfdown, crushing one or two of them in his descent; then springing to hislegs, and as he did so catching several more in his arms, he hugged themtill they had no more breath in their bodies, when he dropped them, andtook up a fresh supply. One of the pack, however, more alert than hisfellows, sprang up and seized him by the nose, making his teeth meet inthat prominent feature, and caused Bruin such intense pain, that,forgetting all his strategy, he tried to beat down his determined littlefoe with his paws, and ran off howling in a most terrific manner,pursued by the remainder of the pack, who bit at his hind legs, tore hisalready ragged coat till it hung in ribbons; and when Bruin, who, havingat length got rid of the bold little fellow that had fastened to hisnose, climbed up a tree, they stood yelping at the foot of it, tillevening had completely set in, when they slowly retired.

  And what were our ill-natured hero's thoughts, as he sat upon anelevated branch, and gently rubbed his wounded snout? Why, unfortunatelyfor his own happiness, he laid the blame of his mishap on any one or anything, rather than the right being or circumstance. It was the otter'sfault, or the dogs' fault--those dogs were always so quarrelsome; or itwas his father's fault in driving him away from home: in fact, every onewas in error rather than himself and his own disagreeable disposition.And here we may observe, that they are such characters as Bruin whobring disrepute on a whole tribe; for we are too apt to form ouropinions of a nation by the few individuals we may happen to fall inwith, although, probably, no conclusions can be falser. Let us,therefore, be careful ere we form our judgments, and let us not believethat all Bruin's kindred and compatriots were sulky and ill-temperedbecause he himself was such a disagreeable lump of a bear.