In a magical garden at the very edge, far behind the oaks, meadows and hills, there was one special place. A place where an ordinary bear lived. A bear living in the garden? Isn’t this a place for butterflies, ants and ladybugs? Yes, absolutely! And yet, there, in a bear pit, he found his space, his oasis, his home, an old bear. Though, it’s true – he wasn’t always here. Even as a little bear, Sammy lived in a nearby forest in an area that did not belong to the gardener.
It was an ordinary forest, similar to those found in our Bieszczady Mountains. In its nooks and crannies, far from the trails, frequented mountains, shelters and cotteges, a special group of bears once lived. Why special? Because these animals usually live alone, and these animals have chosen to live in a group. Together close to each other.
Little bear Sammy played there with his brothers and cousins, with his parents and other related neighbors. However, because there was a part of him that was a loner, he liked to play on his own in a nearby stream. He liked to roll wet in the dirt on the bank of the stream and feel the mud-glued to his brown fur, and then he took pleasure in rinsing the crust off in the water. He liked the feeling of cold water on his paws and mouth when he tried to catch a fish. He also enjoyed throwing a stone as far as possible into the stream and many other games he invented there. He felt exceptionally calm there. He felt that he was close to nature.
After the fun, he walked calmly towards the house, putting his heavy, bear-like paws over and over again. There he greeted his mother, who prepared him his favorite food. There, with his dad, uncles and cousins, he learned to hunt in the forest. In this place, in the evening, he snuggled into the body of his beloved grandmother and, listening to his grandfather tell him another beautiful legend, he fell asleep. He was happy here. He knew how much good there was in his little bear life and he always appreciated it.
And so his days passed peacefully…
One day something unusual happened. An unknown person came to the stream where he always played. It stood confidently on its two hind legs. It was smooth, hairless, and the color of tree leaves. Only his muzzle and paws were clear. His nose was not black nor did it look wet like Sammy’s. The eyes, however, were the color of a stream.
Sammy looked curiously from behind the bush he was hiding behind when this strange individual crouched at the end of the stream, dipped his paws in it and raised the water to rinse his neck and muzzle. The leaves on the bush slightly obscured Sammy’s view, so he leaned out a little more to see everything clearly. Then he slipped on a stone and rolled a little further, revealing his presence. This strange person turned his head towards him, smiled and said:
– Good morning, little Bear. I didn’t notice you.
Sammy didn’t answer anything. He didn’t even move from his spot. Although he was very curious and wanted to start a conversation, what was stronger about him was that he didn’t know how to behave. So he did nothing. He just sat down and watched silently.
– Do not be afraid. Come! I have something tasty for you.
And a strange person opened the bag and took out a fish wrapped in newspaper. He unwrapped the treat and held it out towards little Bear. However, since Sammy did not move, he placed the fish on the ground in front of him and said:
– I’ll leave it here for you and I’ll go myself. I’ll be back here tomorrow though. I hope we will meet again.
And the strange person left.
Then little bear Sammy approached the fish, swatted it with his paw, smelled it and held back for a moment before tasting it, because his mother told him not to eat anything from strangers. Finally, he couldn’t stand it anymore and bit her. And she was so delicious! Even better than the ones he ate at home.
In the evening, when he returned to his group, he did not tell anyone about his adventure. After all, he had just done something he had always been warned against. He had a great desire to share it all, but the shame of breaking the ban was greater than the willingness to talk about what happened to him. So he left the whole event to himself. After all, he may have some secrets of his own.
The next day, when he was at the stream, this strange person came again and left a fish for him. All this repeated itself for many days and finally little bear Sammy got so used to it that he not only ate the given treat, but also let himself be pet and played with him.
As time passed, the distance disappeared and he completely trusted his friend from the stream, although he knew it was contrary to what they taught him at home. However, he felt good with this person and trusted him more and more. He told him about his family, his favorite games, what he was afraid of and what he dreamed of. He told him everything and was also eager to listen to the individual’s stories.
Finally, completely unconsciously, he also shared what his house looked like. He talked about the beautiful path leading to it, described the trees and their leaves, and dreamily talked about where exactly the bears hunt and where they fish. He explained everything in detail from the heart, said goodbye and returned home safely as always.
Like every day, he ate dinner with his mother, spent some time learning how to hunt with his father, brothers and cousins, and before going to sleep, he cuddled up with his beloved grandmother and listened to his grandfather’s legend.
– How wonderful to have the whole family and a friend from the stream so close. Maybe tomorrow I will tell everyone that I met him? – he thought and fell asleep peacefully.
In the morning, as always, he went to where he always met the individual. But today, for the first time in a long time, he wasn’t at the river.
– Hmmmm, maybe something came up. I hope he didn’t get sick and everything is OK – that day he played alone in the stream like old times. However, he didn’t enjoy it as much as he used to.
– Tomorrow everything will definitely become clear – thought little bear Sammy before he went home.
However, when he got there, there was no one there. Only the ground was broken by paws and claw marks were visible on the bark of nearby trees. Branches on a nearby bush were also broken. It was as if someone was defending themselves against being taken away. Terrified by the sight, he ran around, screaming and calling for his loved ones, but nothing answered him except his own echoes and the birdsong. He returned to his bed, covered his eyes with his paw and cried.
– Tomorrow I will tell everything to my friend by the stream. Maybe he will have some idea what I can do – he thought and fell asleep exhausted
The next few days passed and his friend was still not at the stream. The family didn’t come back either. He kept hoping that everything would be explained, that he would find out the reason why they all disappeared at the same time and everything would go back to the way it was before.
However, the more days passed, the more pain he felt, the greater anger, the greater disbelief, the greater helplessness and such great, enormous regret. And all these feelings came to him in turns. He realized that he had been betrayed by the person from the stream, who was the cause of the disappearance of his family. And all because little bear Sammy trusted him and told him what the habitat looked like and what route led to it.
The weight he felt in his heart was beyond his strength. He despaired so much that he couldn’t eat or sleep. He just lay there and turned all the images, the whole story, from beginning to end in his bear’s head.
– Why did I go play alone by the stream instead of staying here with everyone else like the others? Why did I eat this treat when I was always told not to? What if I told my family about my friend? Oh, if only I wasn’t so curious and never revealed that I was behind that bush! Why did I tell a stranger what our habitat looks like?! How could I not have noticed that he couldn’t be trusted?! How could I allow myself to be deceived and taken advantage of like that?! – little bear Sammy kept telling himself over and over again.
He was losing weight and losing strength, thinking about it more and more, and finally he didn’t even have the strength to stand up. He dreamed of staying where he was lying. Just close your eyes here and feel nothing. With these thoughts he fell asleep and then his beloved grandmother came to him in his dream. She patted his head, hugged him like before, and with tears in her eyes asked him to go to the magical gardener. She begged him not to stay in the place where so much misery had befallen the bears. She said that everyone makes mistakes and many bears once trusted someone who later betrayed them and took advantage of their innocence. She emphasized that we need to learn a lesson from this, but we cannot let it destroy us. Then she begged him again to go and ask the magical gardener for help. After all, he had been their friend for a long time. Finally, she added that everyone forgave him and repeated “get up and go.” And she left, and he woke up.
The dream was so real that he almost felt his grandmother’s warmth at his side. He sobbed loudly because even though the words were soft and warm and comforting, he couldn’t shake them off. “Everyone forgave you” was echoing in his head. He kept thinking “but have I forgiven myself?”
However, he lifted with difficulty the first one and then the next paws. Shaking on them and falling from time to time, he went to the magical gardener. When he reached the door of his house, he knocked and collapsed, exhausted by hunger, grief and remorse.
The gardener was very surprised when he saw him. He called the magic rabbits and together they all carried the bear inside the house. The gardener cleaned him all up, combed his fur, gave him food and only gently asked what happened.
Bear Samuel (as little Sammy thought of himself from that moment on) didn’t want to say anything. He closed himself off like a rock. The gardener, however, did not press. He realized that something terrible must have happened. So he surrounded his friend with love, tenderness and care. From time to time he just repeated that he was safe here, that he was among friends.
When the bear had recovered a bit, they and the gardener built a pit for him at the edge of the garden under an old walnut tree. There, the bear Samuel led a lonely life for a long time. Sometimes the braver animal which lived in the garden wanted to meet the new colleague and would come there to greet the bear in a friendly and joyful way. The bear Samuel then only exposed his dangerous fangs, opened his mouth and roared as loudly as possible to scare away the unwanted guest. So everyone learned not to come there and only the gardener visited him.
Over time, bear Samuel felt very lonely, but in this loneliness he also found security. He alienated everyone except the gardener (which all believed for generations). He believed that thanks to this, no one could hurt him, take advantage of him, or deceive him. He promised himself that he would never trust anyone again.
Months passed like this until his beloved grandmother appeared in his dream again. With the same tender and concerned face, she told him that he couldn’t live like this any longer. She begged, cried and begged him to tell the gardener about his pain. She said that this was the only thing that could help him and explained that otherwise he would remain unhappy for the rest of his life and his remorse would never leave him.
Although not immediately, over time, bear Samuel began to open up to the magical gardener. Piece by piece he told what happened. Not one day. It took many months to tell the whole story. During this time, the gardener listened to him carefully, hugged him when necessary, sometimes explained something, and on still other occasions asked questions. And when everything was said and heard, the pain seemed to begin to lessen.
Slowly, bear Samuel began to come out of his pit. Although at the beginning everyone had a lot of distance towards him. They remembered the roar and its fierce fangs. However, they slowly began to get used to him and eventually became friends.
The bear still felt regret and longing for other bears at times, but he eventually forgave himself and decided to trust others again, although not as quickly as before.
And so, the bear Samuel became a permanent resident of the garden and a friend of all the creatures living there. There came a moment when he felt at home in the magical garden and the more time passed, the happier he was there.
Eventually, the bear Samuel returned to introducing himself as bear Sammy. He started doing this just when he felt again inside his heart that pleasant peace that he had once felt while playing alone by the stream.
