Civilized Bears Stories!
Watch out!
The Civilized Bears™ are coming!‡
But you’ll love ‘em.
They’re the hope of the world…
“Be such a good soul that all living creatures crave your vibes.” Mama Bearfoot
WELCOME HOME, FRIENDS!
CivilizedBears.com is a Family-Friendly Freestead where all visitors can safely roam! You’ll want to read our Civilized Bears Stories…
Except for the occasional zealous Rant against Human cruelty to each other and our fellow animals — and against the willful, depraved destruction of fundamental treasures like our Sacred Earth and our Traditional Culture and our precious Freedom hard-won for us by the blood of Our Own (Support our Veterans!) — this is a joyful Celebration of our living Green World, the Wild Places and All Creatures who share it.
And of living a life independent and free of the Machine.
We’re just a Down-Home country family enjoying that freedom. We do our best to ensure that the language used here is acceptable to most visitors.
We’re conservative in our life style and values, but make few political or ideological comments (we take for granted that you love Animals and treasure the Wilderness, or you wouldn’t be on this site). Your own views and choices are respected.
Civilized Bears Philosophy…
If you asked us for our personal philosophy, it would be Red Green’s “Remember, I’m pullin’ for ya. We’re all in this together.” Very Canadian, eh?
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HOME – CIVILIZED BEARS STORIES: New Fiction Books 2024, Literature & Spirituality
Live Free, Mon Ami!
– Brian Alan Burhoe (aka Papa Bear)
OK. So we’ve told you that “the Civilized Bears are coming.” Watch for our Civilized Bears Stories! What’s that about? Here’s just a sampling of what we have to offer you…
THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED BY BEARS!
“Muinej The Bear’s Cub” – A Native North American Folk Tale Retold – A Traditional Civilized Bears Legend
In a younger Turtle Island, before the coming of foreign seafarers and clamoring machines and civilized greed, when the forests were greener and the trees were bigger, there lived a Mi’kmaq boy named Mikinawk.
Mikinawk never knew his real father who had been killed during a battle with another tribe. Instead, he was raised by a brutal braggart of a man who believed his new wife loved her son more than him. The mother often had to stop her new husband from beating the boy.
But eventually the man seemed to accept the boy and began to speak kindly to him and she secretly shed tears of thankfulness.
The day came when Mikinawk’s stepfather said, “Woman, this is the day Mikinawk will start on the path to manhood. I will take him hunting with me.”
“But Mikinawk is not yet of age,” she said.
“He will be safe with me. Have I not accepted him as my own? Today, we will only hunt rabbits.”
So she agreed to let them set out in the forest…
To Read the Complete Story MUINEJ THE BEAR’S CUB Now CLICK HERE!
“WOLFBLOOD” A Northwestern Short Story in the Jack London Tradition by Brian Alan Burhoe, Creator of Civilized Bears.
A Wild Wolf, a Half-Wild Husky & a Wily Old Trapper…
“I JUST READ WOLFBLOOD AGAIN FOR GOOD MEASURE. ONE FOR ANY WOLF LOVER. ENJOYED IT BUT WISH IT WAS A FULL LENGTH NOVEL.” – Gina Chronowicz @ginachron
“GREAT SHORT STORY! DOES REMIND ME OF CALL OF THE WILD, WHITE FANG… I WONDER HOW THOSE BEBÉS GREW UP WITH THE DOG MAMA AND WOLF PAPA?” Evelyn @evelyn_m_k
The lone gray wolf padded through the firwoods. He stopped to sniff at a patch of icy snow in the long shadows, or rather the pellets that speckled it. His stomach gurgled. Rabbit! He had eaten well of rabbit since he had entered this valley. Soon he would eat again.
Good hunting and the discovering of new territory hid much of the young wolf’s loneliness. He missed his pack, especially his littermates. It wasn’t that he had been singled out for exile. The many new pups born this spring had made the pack too big. Discord had driven him out — perhaps to create a new pack.
At times he yearned to go back. To howl his feelings to his distant pack. To hear their welcoming chorus. But he knew better. They were gone.
Marking the patch with a squirt of urine, he searched about for fresher spoor. The only sounds were the patter of his paws on the leafmould, the whisper of a faint wind in the evergreens, the slowly moving river off to his side. He sniffed the air then dipped his head to muzzle the moist ground. He cast about through the rich aromas of rotting vegetation, mushrooms, sprouting greenery. Foosh! He had caught the hot scent of bigger game — deer!
The wolf scurried about, snuffing noisily.
He stopped and stood rock-still, ears cocked for deer-sound, eyes searching the darkening forest, sensitive foot pads feeling the ground for the solid thump of hoof. Deer! He was shaking with excitement. He dropped a scat, sniffed its rabbity odor. Deer! His mouth watered.
And then a new scent struck him. He almost fell back on his haunches. A new scent — a strange scent that made the savage wolf whimper…
To Read the Complete Free Online Short Fiction CLICK HERE NOW!
Famous Bears – From Gentle Ben to Brutus Bear
Before there were Civilized Bears…
From ferocious and dangerous attackers — to loving and carefree friends — real life bears have appeared in Hollywood productions since the first silent movies. Most famously in Canada, movies like Nell Shipman’s silver screen classic of 1924, Trail of the Northwind, filmed with animals from Nell’s own wildlife rescue sanctuary, included Brownie, a brown bear she had raised from a cub.
Here are a few of the most famous real-life bears:
1. Bruno, aka Ben. Along with his brother Smoky, Bruno was rescued as an orphaned black bear and appeared in a number of Ivan Tors features, including Zebra in the Kitchen and Daktari.
Bruno’s career blossomed when he was cast as the title character in the televised version of Walt Morey’s novel GENTLE BEN. Author Morey was raised in the Pacific Northwest and set his novels in the cold Northcountry of Alaska and Canada, including his best selling KAVIC THE WOLF DOG.
When Tors adapted GENTLE BEN for the screen, he changed the locale from Alaska to the Florida Everglades, where the producer had a wildlife sanctuary.
Bruno quickly learned to respond to the name “Ben.” And probably became the most famous bear of them all…
To Read the Complete Posting FAMOUS BEARS IN FACT & FICTION Now CLICK HERE!
“BACK AT MY EASEL!” See Mary Lee’s ATLANTIC COAST FOLK ART – LIGHTHOUSES, SEAGULLS, FISHING VILLAGES, OLD BUILDINGS, SAILING SHIPS & SEASCAPES!
Well, we ‘re settled into our new digs, retired and concentrating on our creative lives, thank God.
And my Mary Lee is able to say, “Ragged Island Studio is my own Online Folk Art Market for my hand crafted works. Right now it’s Local Nova Scotia Seascape paintings. And limited edition prints on glossy photo paper. Free Shipping & Postage.”
Bouy gear, coastal wall art, painting landscape, sailboat, sea on canvas.
Outsider art, for sure. Mary Lee paints what she sees around her. Growing up in the fishing community of Little Harbour, she knows the ships, the sea, the constant cry of seagulls, the rushing sound of surf on the grassy shores, the smell and feel of the North Atlantic in the air. A self-taught painter, copying nobody…
She’s been happily painting and here’s some more of her works!
To See More of Mary’ Lee’s Fantastic Whimsical Seaside Folk Art CLICK HERE NOW!
And Mary Lee was invited to display some of her Folk Art at this year’s Folk Art Festival in Lunenburg. I’ve always loved her colourful paintings, whimsical images of place and memory. She showed all-new artwork…
NOVA SCOTIA FOLK ART FESTIVAL Memories: Outsider Art & Seascapes by Mary Lee Burhoe
And Go To…
Happy Birthday, Farley Mowat! A Tribute to a Canadian Hero
When Farley Mowat first announced that he had written his last book, I was mad at him. “How dare you, Farley?!”
Not as mad as I was when Kurt Vonnegut made the same declaration. Because I believed Kurt.
I didn’t know if to believe Farley.
And with reason. Farley has written several last books since. He can’t stop writing, God bless him. According to Greg Quill, he’s working on another Memoir, in which Farley says he finds himself “on the shores of Sicily in 10,000 B.C., heading north as the glacier retreats. It’s not entirely based on fact.” Great!
Not that Farley Mowat hasn’t earned the right to retire…
To read the complete Birthday Tribute to Farley Mowat, CLICK HERE NOW!
The GREATEST WRITERS OF NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE FICTION
Canadian Mounties: The Story of our North-West Mounted Police is an epic one.
And it led to one of the iconic worldwide cultural heroes of the 20th Century — the Mythic Mountie…
From their beginning, fictional stories have been told of our Mounties….
YOU’VE GOT TO SEE “THE WRITERS OF THE NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE” — MY MOST POPULAR LITERARY HISTORY POST:
“Thanks for a wonderful in-depth article on Mountie fiction. I’m a big fan of the Mounties and I really enjoyed the amount of details you provided and found many, many more books to put on my wish list.” – Jack Wagner
“I would like to thank you Brian for this remarkable history of our RCMP in story and legend. Your dedication is impressive. Every Canadian Patriot should read this post.” – Noah Harper
“I just discovered your blog and need to dig deeper into it. I’m all for anything that increases people’s knowledge about these older, mostly forgotten authors. That post on Mountie fiction is great!” – Western writer James Reasoner
A sweeping survey of the writers who created the magnificent Mythology of our North-West Mounted Police. My Top 10 Mountie Fiction Writers in some detail. And a look at many other authors. Amply illustrated with marvelous magazine and book covers.
See The GREATEST AUTHORS OF NORTH-WEST MOUNTED POLICE FICTION
A Tribute To Charles Livingston Bull – “America’s Premier Wildlife Artist!”
I first saw the fierce, exhilarating drawings of American wildlife artist Charles Livingston Bull in an old hardcover copy of HAUNTERS OF THE SILENCES, by Canadian author Charles G D Roberts.
I had discovered the animal stories of Roberts in our elementary readers And was amazed that such realistic (and violent) tales of wild creatures were mixed with otherwise child-centered stories…
An entranced Brian raided the libraries for more of Roberts’ books. THE KINDRED OF THE WILD. And THE WATCHERS OF THE TRAILS. And in those thrilling books were also fantastic line drawings by an artist named Charles Livingston Bull.
There was a kind of vitality in those lines of black ink: those animals, whether in lazy repose or savage action, lived and breathed right there on the page. And his wilderness settings — with their trees, rocks, bushes — I knew those landscapes: I had walked there.
And I began to wonder, “Who is this Bull guy?”
To See the Life and Wildlife Artwork of Charles Livingston Bull, CLICK HERE NOW!
In Remembrance of War Vets I’ve Known — Including Those Who Fought in the Hochwald Forest on the Road to Germany…
(War Art “Brewed Up, Battle for Hochwald Forest 1945” by Fred Savard, Canadian War Museum)
“OUT OF MY FATHER’S SHAVING BOX: Dad’s War, Algonquin Regiment & the Liberation of Holland”
“This is yours now, Brian. He wanted you to have it.”
And my mother handed me an old wooden shaving kit Dad had made some thirty years earlier. The wood smelled of shaving cream (it still does) but now held articles of his soldiering years. It was 1967 and Dad had died from medical problems that had plagued him all the years I knew him. He was only 54, and it took me some time to realize how young that was.
The box held his few military items. His discharge papers, showing that Pte. Albert Chester Burhoe, known to his friends as “Chester”, was demobbed from the Canadian Army (Active) in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Aug 20, 1945. Old Paybooks. Medals, including a France-Germany Campaign Star. Assorted pins such as his Army Active Service badge and well-worn Legion pin.
And three items that he had shown me years before. Each had a story.
Every Remembrance Day I take out that shaving box and replace last year’s poppy with a new one, the one I’d just been wearing.
And I look at those three items.
First, his REGIMENTAL BADGE. Which I shine every November. Dad belonged to the Algonquin Regiment and never hid his pride in it…
To Read the Complete Post “Dad’s War, Algonquin Regiment & the Liberation of Holland” CLICK HERE!
What Is Canada’s National Animal? The Polar Bear!
“The polar bear, with its strength, courage, resourcefulness, and dignity is perfect for the part,” Nicole Eaton said in her speech to the Canadian Senate, when suggesting a rebranding of Canada’s national animal from “our furry friend, the beaver.”
Referring to the polar bear’s “strength, courage, resourcefulness and dignity,” she called it “Canada’s most majestic and splendid mammal, holding reign over the Arctic for thousands of years. The polar bear has been and continues to be a powerful figure in the material, spiritual and cultural life of the indigenous people of the Arctic.”
I’m with Nicole on this one….
To Read the Complete Polar Bear Article, CLICK HERE NOW!
“MAY YOU HAVE A COZY, PLAYFUL, SPIRITUAL & INSPIRED 2024!” – Civilized Bears
See Mary Lee’s wonderful, whimsical MARITIME FOLK ART at her Ragged Island Studio! CLICK HERE!
And See Our Whole Family…
*** Mary Lee: Mary Lee’s Maritime Folk Art from Ragged Island Studio on the Wild Atlantic Shore – see “MARY LEE’S ATLANTIC COAST FOLK ART – LIGHTHOUSES, FISHING VILLAGES, SHIPS & SEASCAPES…” And You Have Gotta See Mary Lee’s Homecrafted Crochet Sloth Plant Hangers!
You’ve gotta read Mary Lee’s Memories of a Rural Mail Driver: From Kitchen Post Offices & Steam Trains to Personal Data Terminals
*** Jennifer: See a portfolio of some of our daughter’s earlier artwork on Pinterest LESS THAN PURRFECT ILLUSTRATIONS – Cat Art & Others – Original Paintings, Prints, Wearable Art, and More. Jen is currently working on commissioned art for clients. “The Civilized Bears” & “Mama Bearfoot” illustrations on this page by Jen Burhoe and you can see her LATEST ART at ETSY – Kota & Khloe – Art, Collectibles & Gifts.
*** Gregory: Our son Greg is finding time for his creative writing, first publishing his SciFi novel SECTOR STORM. His latest published book is VENDETTA RIDE: The True Story Of Wyatt Earp, artwork by the Author. CLICK HERE NOW To Read VENDETTA RIDE: The True Story of Wyatt Earp! And See Greg’s latest work and Coming Attractions in progress CLICK HERE NOW To See All of Greg’s AMAZON Appearances. And see his latest artwork at Gregory Alan Burhoe | Experimental characterization. 🔻🔻🔻 ❤️ ….
*** To Read More of My Fiction, Stories or Articles, THE LIFE AND WORKS OF BRIAN ALAN BURHOE, Click Right Here, Mon Ami!
==>> See Us on Our CELL PHONE FRIENDLY Formats: BrianAlanBurhoe.com and Ragged Island Studio.
NATIVE AMERICAN LEGEND: Wild Woman of the Woods – Woman of the Mask
UNTIL THE LAST DOG: Champion Alaska Dog Sled Racer Robert Downey Memoir – Book Review
SAVE OUR WOLVES! How to Save the Wolves – Endangered Species Act
THANK YOU FOR VISITING OUR CIVILIZED BEARS DEN! WE APPRECIATE IT, EH? C’MON BACK!
HOME – CIVILIZED BEARS STORIES: New Fiction Books 2024, Literature & Spirituality. Bear story, circus bear, pa bear.
‡ CIVILIZED BEARS is a protected Trademark of Brian Alan Burhoe
Copyright © 2012 to 2024 by Brian Alan Burhoe and Mary Lee Burhoe for original content.
