Brown Bear Finds A Rock

The warmth of the sun woke me from my slumber underneath my favorite pine tree. I stretched out my front paws first, then my hind legs, letting out a gigantic yawn. A few small sparrows were startled by the ferocious sound and fled from their perch on the branch above. I slowly rolled onto my feet and did a little shake starting from my ears down to my stub of a tail. Sleepily, I looked around the forest, not a creature in sight. Life as a bear is lonely, everyone is afraid of you. Aside from when I get hungry, I’m usually a pretty pleasant guy, but no one would dare get close to a scary brown bear.

I lumbered down the familiar path to the river where I catch my breakfast. It’s almost too easy, catching fish. I wait until I see the bright, pink scales of a salmon swimming by and SNATCH! I pluck it right out of the water with my sharp claws, and breakfast is served! On this particular day, however, I was still half asleep from the delightful nap I took. Right when I was about to make my move, I slipped on a wet rock and plunged into the river head-first! I needed a bath anyway, so I decided to continue my hunt for salmon underwater. I could see the fish I had been watching, a humongous, fat salmon big enough for two bears! I swam in its direction like a stealthy orca whale…or, so I’ve been told. I was as close as I could possibly get to the salmon, about to sink my teeth into its back, when something bright and shiny caught my eye. I lurched back in shock, letting mega-fish escape. “Oh, crickets!” I thought to myself. I never let my pray get away. I resurfaced and took a big gulp of fresh air before diving back down to investigate the mysterious object that had cost me my meal.

As I got closer and closer to it, I could tell that the shiny object was indeed, some kind of rock, but it was unlike any rock I’d ever seen. The stone was a strange greenish color, not like the pine trees or the grass in the meadows. This green rock was bright, like the little balls of light that take the sun’s place in the sky at night. Under further investigation, I noticed that there were strange lines all over it, kind of like the ones the humans made on the cave walls. I hesitantly reached out, and scooped up the little stone in my paw. It felt strange, almost as if it were vibrating. I swam up to the surface with the rock still in my grasp and hoisted my water-logged body up onto the shore. I held the stone out in front of me and sniffed it. Nothing. No smell. I stuck my tongue out and gave it a small lick. Still, nothing. I couldn’t identify this strange object.

“What in the world is this thing?!” I yelled, frustrated. That’s when I realized that the words didn’t come from my head…they came from my mouth! “Ah!” I screamed, tossing the rock up in the air. The second it left my hand, the noises coming out of my mouth went back to my regular grunts. I tried to make those same words come out of my mouth again, but I couldn’t do anything except my normal bear noises. Had I imagined it? “Oh, crickets! Where’d the rock go?” I thought, scrambling around on the ground to find it. A couple of paces away I could see the bright glow of the greenish rock on top of some sticks. I walked over and plopped my rear end down on the ground next to the rock, and picked it up again, dusting it off with my paws. “I’m not losing this!” I said aloud. I immediately threw my paw over my snout, “I did it again…while I was holding the rock!” I held up the strange little stone so that it reflected the bright light of the sun. “This is a magic rock!” I shouted, sending more sparrows flying from their branches. “Sorry!” I called after them.

I thought for a minute, thinking about my new found talent. What should I do with this power? My mother had told me when I was just a cub that the life of a bear was lonely, and that we were meant to wander alone. Maybe now, I didn’t have to be alone, maybe now, other creatures could understand me! Perhaps I could even live amongst the humans in a house made of logs with a warm fire and lots of human food to eat. There was a house about a half a day’s walk from the river, maybe there I would find my first friend! I shoved the magic stone in my mouth and made my way in the direction of the human’s dwelling. Life as a bear was about to get a whole lot more exciting!