BEAR - BEARS - STORIES
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

1) Riley's Bear story full text
THE BEAR STORY
That Alex "ist maked up his-own-se'f"
W'y, wunst they wuz a Little Boy went out
In the woods to shoot a Bear.1 So, he went out
'Way in the grea'-big woods - he did, - An' he
Wuz goin' along -an' goin' along, you know,
An' purty soon he heerd somepin' go "Wooh!"
Ist thataway - "Woo-ooh!" An' he wuz skeered,
He wuz. An' so he runned an' clumbed a tree -
A grea'-big tree, he did, - a sicka-more2 tree.
An' nen he heerd it ag'in: an' he looked round,
An' 't'uz a Bear - a grea'big shore-'nuff Bear!-
No: 't'uz two Bears, it wuz -two grea'big Bears-
One of 'em wuz -lst one's a grea'-big Bear. -
But they ist boff went "Wooh!" -An' here they come
To climb the tree an' git the Little Boy
An' eat him up!
An' nen the Little Boy
He 'uz skeered worse'n ever! An' here come
The grea'big Bear a-climin' th' tree to git
The Little Boy an' eat him up- Oh, no! -
It 'uzn't the Big Bear 'at clumb the tree-
It 'uz the Little Bear. So here he come
Climbin' the tree - an' climbin' the tree! Nen when
He git wite clos't to the Little Boy, w'y, nen
The Little Boy he ist pulled up his gun
An' shot the Bear, he did, an' killed him dead!
An' nen the Bear he falled clean on down out
The tree - away clean to the ground, he did -
Spling-splung! he falled plum down, an' killed him, too!
An' lit wite side o' where the Big Bear's at.
An' nen the Big Bear's awful mad, you bet! -
'Cause - 'cause the Little Boy he shot his gun
An' killed the Little Bear. - 'Cause the Big Bear
He - he 'uz the Little Bear's Papa. - An' so here
He come to climb the big old tree an' git
The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' when
The Little Boy he saw the grea'-big Bear
A-comin', he 'uz badder skeered, he wuz,
Than any time! An' so he think he'll climb
Up higher - 'way up higher in the tree
Than the old Bear kin climb, you know. - But he -
He can't climb higher 'an old Bears kin climb, -
'Cause Bears kin climb up higher in the trees
Than any little Boys in all the Wo-r-r-ld!
An' so here come the grea'-big Bear, he did, -
A'climbin' up - an' up the tree, to git
The Little Boy an' eat him up! An' so
The Little Boy he clumbed on higher, an' higher,
An' higher up the tree - an' higher - an' higher -
An' higher'n iss-here house is! - An' here come
The old Bear -clos'ter to him all the time! -
An' nen - first thing you know, - when th' old Big Bear
Wuz wite clos't to him - nen the Little Boy
Ist jabbed his gun wite in the old Bear's mouf
An' shot an' killed him dead! - No; I fergot, -
He didn't shoot the grea'-big Bear at all -
'Cause when he shot the Little Bear, w'y, nen
No load 'uz any more nen in the gun!
But th' Little Boy clumbed higher up, he did -
He clumbed lots higher - an' on up higher - an' higher
An' higher - tel he ist can't climb no higher,
'Cause nen the limbs 'uz all so little, 'way
Up in the teeny-weeny tip-top of
The tree, they'd break down wiv him ef he don't
Be keerful! So he stop an' think: An' nen
He look around -An' here come the old Bear!
An' so the Little Boy make up his mind
He's got to ist git out o' there someway! -
'Cause here come the old Bear! - so clos't, his bref's
Purt' nigh so's he kin feel how hot it is
Ag'inst his bare feet - ist like old "Ring's" bref
When he's be'n out a-huntin' an' 's all tired.
So when th' old Bear's so clos't - the Little Boy
Ist gives a grea'-big jump fer 'nother tree -
No! - no, he don't do that! - I tell you what
The Little Boy does: - W'y, nen - w'y, he- Oh, yes! -
The Little Boy he finds a hole up there
'At's in the tree - an' climbs in there an' hides -
An' nen th' old Bear can't find the Little Boy
At all! - but purty soon the old Bear finds
The Little Boy's gun 'at's up there - 'cause the gun
It's too tall to tooked wiv him in the hole.
So, when the old Bear find' the gun, he knows
The Little Boy's ist hid round somers there, -
An' th' old Bear 'gins to snuff and sniff around,
An' sniff an' snuff around - so's he kin find
Out where the Little Boy's hid at. - An' nen - nen -
Oh, yes! - W'y, purty soon the old Bear climbs
'Way out on a big limb - a grea'-long limb, -
An' nen the Little Boy climbs out the hole
An' takes his ax an' chops the limb off!...Nen
The old Bear falls k-splunge! clean to the ground,
An' bu'st an' kill hisse'f plum dead, he did!
An' nen the Little Boy he git his gun
An' 'menced a-climbin' down the tree ag'in -
No! no, he didn't git his gun - 'cause when
The Bear falled, nen the gun falled, too -
An' broked It all to pieces, too! - An' nicest gun! -
His Pa ist buyed it!- An' the Little Boy
Ist cried, he did; an' went on climbin' down
The tree - an' climbin' down - an' climbin' down! -
An' sir! when he 'uz purt' nigh down, - w'y, nen
The old Bear he jumped up ag'in - an' he
Ain't dead at all -ist 'tendin' thataway,
So he kin git the Little Boy an' eat
Him up! But the Little Boy he 'uz too smart
To climb clean down the tree. - An' the old Bear
He can't climb up the tree no more - 'cause when
He fell, he broke one of his - He broke all
His legs! - an' nen he couldn't climb! But he
Ist won't go 'way an' let the Little Boy
Come down out of the tree. An' the old Bear
Ist growls round there, he does - ist growls an' goes
"Wooh! -woo-ooh!" all the time! An' Little Boy
He haf to stay up in the tree - all night -
An' 'thout no supper neever!- Only they
Wuz apples on the tree! - An' Little Boy
Et apples - ist all night - an' cried - an' cried!
Nen when 't'uz morning the old Bear went "Wooh!"
Ag'in, an' try to climb up in the tree
An' git the Little Boy - But he can't
Climb t' save his soul, he can't! - An' oh! he's mad! -
He ist tear up the ground! an' go "Woo-ooh!"
An'- Oh, yes! - purty soon, when morning's come
All light - so's you kin see, you know, w'y, nen
The old Bear finds the Little Boy's gun, you know,
'At's on the ground. - (An' it ain't broke at all -
I ist said that!) An' so the old Bear think
He'll take the gun an' shoot the Little Boy: -
But Bears they don't know much 'bout shootin' guns:
So when he go to shoot the Little Boy,
The old Bear got the other end the gun
Ag'in' his shoulder, 'stid o' th' other end -
So when he try to shoot the Little Boy,
It shot the Bear, it did - an' killed him dead!
An' nen the Little Boy clumb down the tree
An' chopped his old woolly head off. - Yes, an' killed
The other Bear ag'in, he did - an' killed
All boff the bears, he did - an' tuk 'em home
An' cooked 'em, too, an' et 'em!
--- An' that's all.

2) I have never told it, but it was recommended to me by an old couple in upstate new york, when I was staying at their house to do some shows. It had been a party piece in their family-- a father or uncle used to do it-- and they still remembered the cumulative fun of the many-times-repeated "Here come the big ol bear!"s, and of the number of times he managed to kill it.

There was a children's book out in the sixties, illustrated by Maurice Sendak, of stories from the mouths of young children. This little boy narrator is much like a Sendak little boy and his Bear tale may be the only "from the mouths of babes" story" to be set by a writer who was also a professional performer, which Riley was from age 15, when he ran away with a medicine show.

The story has some difficulties due to the way times have changed. BUT-- if you can get through the dialect, much of which is only odd spellings (wuz, for example), and find the little boy-- and if you can somehow keep the killing of the little bear and his pa from spoiling the fun, which I think again is just a matter of finding that little boy-- and you tell it in front of the right audience-- it certainly looks like a winner

3) I did a holiday Teddy Bear tea party a few years ago. While I did tell holiday stories I also told tales about... you guessed it, bears!
The Jazzy Three Bears - funny jazzy sing along version The Three Bears
http://dragon.sleepdeprived.ca/songbook/songs4/S4_36.htm
Why Bear Sleeps All Winter Long - folktale
Why Bear Has A Stumpy Tale - folktale
The Legend of the Teddy Bear
Background story: Teddy Bear History - Invention of the Teddy Bear
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/teddybear.htm
Book form:
Amazon.com: Books: The Legend of the Teddy Bear
Karen C. 10/2/05
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4) The Bear & Ant Story as told by Johnny Moses
Story:
Long ago, the animal people lived. Long ago, the animal people lived. Long ago, the animal people lived. Now you know the animal people lived a long, long time ago

They had two leaders. One was Bear Man and one was Ant Lady. And they used to talk to themselves. When Bear Man used to talk to himself, he used to say, "I'm tired. I'll get my work done tomorrow."

And Kla-Kla, the Ant Lady, when she used to talk to herself, she used to say, "Oh, my goodness. I've got to go here, go there, do this, do that. Oh, my goodness. I don't have enough time." That Ant Lady, she was always in a hurry, always busy. All the animal people used to call the Ant Lady kokoladi.. That means "hyperactive."

The Bear didn't like the way things were a long time ago, because a long time ago they had day and night, day and night. He could never get any work done because he was always tired.

So, the Bear had a new plan. He was going to change time. And his new idea was that he wanted one whole year to be nighttime and the next year to be daylight. That way, he could sleep for one whole year and be awake the next year--of course, with a few naps in between.

He went visiting all his relatives, the animal people--Frog Woman, Elk Man, Deer Woman, and Mosquito Man--and he told them all about his new idea about how he was going to change time. All the animal people loved the Bear's idea. They all said, "Gee, it would sure be nice to sleep for one whole year and be awake the next year."

But when the Bear went to visit the Ant Lady, Kla-Kla, and he told her about his new plan, she didn't like the Bear's idea. The Ant Lady said, "No! No way!"

The Bear said, "Well, let's have a contest then." And the contest was that whoever could sing and dance the longest, four times, would be the winner of time--because four is a magic number.

And so, the Bear got his big stick out--it was like a magic wand--and he was going to hit that stick on the ground while he sang and danced. That's how he was going to use his special powers to change time.

And Kla-Kla, the Ant Lady, got her big, magical belt out. Everything was big a long time ago. And the belt had 250 notches. She was going to tighten her belt as she sang and danced. That's how she was going to use her special powers to keep time the way it was.

The contest began....
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The rest of this story may be found at:
http://www.migrations.com/storytelling2.html
More info about Johnny Moses may be found at:
http://www.clippingdale.com/jm/
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5) Why Bear Has a Stumpy Tail - a puppet play by Batsy
http://www.pjtss.net/library/batsy/bats04.htm

Why Bear is Stumpy-Tailed by Tim Jennings
http://www.folktale.net/beartail.html
You are going to read a folktale from Norway. It tells about a hungry bear and a fox with a string of fish. Read it and then answer the questions that follow. Why the Bear Has a Stumpy Tail by P.C. Asbjornsen and J. Moe One winter day, the Bear met the Fox, who was slinking along with a string of fish he had stolen. "Hi, stop a minute, Mr. Fox! Where did you get those fish?" demanded the Bear. Now the Fox, as you know, is a sly one indeed. He didn't want the Bear to know that he had stolen the fish. So he said, "Oh, my Lord Bruin, I've been out fishing and caught them." Well, the Bear was hungry and thought he would enjoy some fish. So he asked the Fox to tell him how to go about catching fish. "Oh, it is quite easy," answered the Fox, "and soon learned. You have only to go down to the river and cut a hole in the ice. Then you put your tail in the hole and keep it there as long as you can. Don't mind if it hurts a little. That will be the fish biting. The longer you keep your tail in the hole, the more fish you will catch. Then, all at once, pull out your tail. But be sure to give a good hard pull." Well, the Bear did as the Fox said. Before long, he was very cold, and his tail really hurt. But he kept his tail in the hole until he was sure that he must have caught a great many fish. Then, remembering what the Fox had said, he gave a really hard pull. But what he didn't know was that his tail was frozen in the ice. So when he pulled, his tail snapped off short. And that is why, to this day, the Bear has a stumpy tail.
"Why the Bear Has a Stumpy Tail" a Norwegian folk tale by P.C. Asbjornsen and J. Moe, adapted from the translation by G. W. Dasent. From ONCE UPON A TIME, Volume 1 of CHILDCRAFT-THE HOW AND WHY LIBRARY. © 1996 World Book, Inc. By permission of the publisher.

WHY THE BEAR IS STUMPY-TAILED [330]
ONE day the Bear met the Fox, who came slinking along with a string of fish he had stolen.
"Whence did you get those?" asked the Bear.
"Oh! my Lord Bruin, I've been out fishing and caught them," said the Fox.
So the Bear had a mind to learn to fish, too, and bade the Fox tell him how to set about it.
"Oh! it's an easy thing for you," answered the Fox, "and soon learned. You've only got to go upon the ice, and cut a hole and stick your tail down into it; and so you must go on holding it there as long as you can. You're not to mind if your tail smarts a little; that's when the fish bite. The longer you hold it there the more fish you'll get; and then all at once out with it, with a cross pull sideways, and with a strong pull, too."
Yes; the Bear did as the Fox had said, and held his tail a long, long time down in the hole, till it was fast frozen in. Then he pulled it out with a cross pull, and it snapped off short. That's why Bruin goes about with a stumpy tail to this very day.
The Baldwin Project
http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=coussens&book=stories&story=bear&PHPSESSID=
b324cd474f0836294eb26d9c5bf13882
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(This web page updated 12/21/05; 1/4/06; 2/13/06)