How The Bear Lost His Tail

The bear use to have a magnificent tail, not the little bobbed one you see on a bear today. The bear was very proud of his magnificent long tail and how majestic it made him look, how the fur looked rich and shining. He was always boasting to anyone who would listen and also to those who did not want to listen about how beautiful his tail was and how it made him stand out from others. One day when out hunting for food, he cornered a fox and was just about to kill him for his lunch when the fox said that if the bear would spare his life, he would show the bear how he could capture as much fish as he could eat. In fact, he would capture more fish than he could eat. The bear looked at the fox. The fox was older, had a scrawny tail, was quite thin and would not really satisfy the bear’s hunger, and the bear was very partial to fish. The thought that this scrawny fox could show him how to capture all the fish he could eat was very appealing so, although the fox had a reputation of being wily, the bear agreed to spare the fox’s life in return for this knowledge. The fox told the bear that all he would need is lots of patience. The bear roared, “I have all the patience in the world, so let’s get on with how to capture all the fish I can eat.” The fox lead the bear to the middle of a huge frozen lake and dug a small hole through the ice with his paws. “That’s where you can capture all the fish you can eat,” the fox told the bear. The bear looked at the hole and said “I cannot get my paw through that hole, How can I capture fish?” The fox explained that all the bear had to do was put his magnificent tail in the hole. The fish from all over the lake would see it and come to admire it. Then the fish would start to nibble on the bear’s tail at which time the bear could pull his tail up and, with it, all the fish. This sounded reasonable to the bear, as how could anyone ignore his magnificent tail. He turned around and slowly lowered his tail through the hole and into the icy water. The fox stood close by watching. After a short time, the bear suddenly pulled his tail out of the water expecting a tasty meal to be attached to it. There was nothing. He turned to the fox and said “You tricked me.” The fox replied that he had not. Had the bear forgotten that he needed to be patient? The bear once again plunged his tail into the icy water and sat down on the ice and waited. As it got dark, he grew tired and eventually fell asleep. When he awoke in the morning he could see the fox playing and dancing on the lakeshore. The bear stretched and yawned and decided he must have many fish on his tail by now so he tried to pull up his tail. It would not move. His tail was frozen into the icy covering on the lake. He pulled and tugged and with a last final mighty effort, freed himself from the ice, now to enjoy all the fish he had caught. To the bear’s dismay, not only had he not caught any fish, he had pulled his tail right off leaving only a little stump. This is why all bears today only have a little stumpy tail.