Classic Bear Folktale…
How the Bear Lost its Tail – A Traditional Bear Folk Tale Retold
A Traditional Bear Folk Tale.
Bear stories have long been told around our world, drifting across continents and oceans. From early China, across Northern Europe and into the deep Canadian forests of the First Nations. Here’s perhaps the oldest bruin story of them all, telling how the fox fooled the bear. Listen!
HOW THE BEAR LOST ITS TAIL
Long ago — when our Sacred Green Earth was young and much more alive — Bear, like his cousins the Wolf and the Fox, had a long beautiful tail.
One chilled winter day, Bear shuffled down to the lake and saw that Fox was feasting on some fish he had caught in the frozen lake. Licking his chops, Bear asked him, “Fox, ol’ friend, how did you manage to catch all those fish?”
The cunning fox saw his chance to make a fool of Bear. “Oh, I used my tail! Follow me over here.” He showed Bear how he had clawed a hole in the ice and dropped his tail in the water.
“Once you feel the fish bite, pull up your tail and you will have fish for lunch!”
So Bear eagerly sat on the ice and dropped his tail into the cold water.
At first, the excited bear swayed his broad backside in big circles, stirring his tail in the water, wanting to catch a fish. Then he tried being more patient, lifting his tail out to check it and dropping it back again. Eventually he just sat still and waited for the first fish bite.
But after a while, much to the amusement of Fox, Bear began to look sleepy. His brown eyes would close, pop wide open, then close again. Finally, head dropping, the bear dozed off.
Chuckling, Fox hungrily went back to his lunch.
Fox got back a couple hours later.
The red fox laughed. The sleeping bear’s tail was now surrounded by white ice. It was frozen in place. The fox laughed louder at the thought of the big bear struggling in a wild panic to pull his tail out of that lake ice.
“Gotta see the look on his face. Bear. Bear! You caught some fish!”
Bear woke with a snort and jumped up quickly with all his great strength. SNAP!
“Yow!” Bear turned wide-eyed to look at his own backside. “Oh no!” he wailed. “My tail! My beautiful tail!”
That beautiful tail stood alone in the ice. While Bear danced around and around it. The tug had pulled it clean off!
Fox, seeing what had happened, remembered that he had an urgent errand far away in the deep woods.
So, to this day, the fox avoids the bear. And sometimes you might hear the bear in the wildwood still grumbling and growling about his lost tail. On such days, you should be like the fox and quietly leave the bear to himself.
Live Free, Mon Ami! – Brian Alan Burhoe
Did You Like This Bear Story?
If so, you’ve got to read my popular short story “THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED BY BEARS.” A Traditional Native American Animal Story & Folktale Retold.
Talking bears and human children adopted and raised by loving mama bears are common story themes in both Old and New World oral traditions. Even J R R Tolkien wrote about Beowulf and Bear’s Son Tales in European folklore.
“I loved this beautiful Animal Tale. Perfect!” Free to Read ==> CLICK HERE THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED BY BEARS
Note: “Who was the author and in what year was the folktale written?” This animal story goes back thousands of years. The oldest known written version is from the rich literature of China. Variations are commonly told in the Celtic, Nordic and Germanic cultures of Northern Europe and Northern Indigenous peoples of Canada. The Bear is a beloved figure in Northern Folklore. Furthermore, the Mischievous Character of folklore — the Trickster — varies by culture: commonly it’s the Fox in Asian and European nations and the Raven or Coyote in North American First Nations.
How the Bear Lost its Tail – A Classic Bear FolkTale.
Finally, Forest Folklore, Traditional Folktale, 中国民间故事
