Grumpy Bear's big lesson

A parable

Grumpy Bear woke in a horrible mood. His back ached, his head was sore and his belly was itchy.

”I went to sleep without any of these problems, he grouched. ”Someone must have given me all these pains while I slept.”

He rubbed his tired eyelids and ambled out of his cave. The bright sun hurt his eyes and caused his headache to stab even more sharply into his brain.

”It’s the sun who has made me so miserable,” said the bear.

And, picking up a rough stone, hurled it toward the sun. The stone, missed, of course, as the sun is far beyond the throwing range of bears, even grumpy ones.

”That’s for my headache!” shouted Bear.

He ambled on, his head just as sore as ever.

Bear walked into the cool, shady forest, away from the sun’s painful brightness. Soon, he came upon Ben Bumblebee flitting happily through the flowers, collecting nectar to bring back to his queen.

”Good morning, Mister Bear!” Ben called out cheerfully.

”Bah,” blurted out Grumpy Bear. “Was it you?”

”Was it me what?” asked Ben, perplexed by the question.

And at that moment, Grumpy Bear raised his clenched paw and flattened Ben into the soft soil of the flower bed. Grumpy Bear continued as Ben tugged himself out of the dirt and brushed himself off.

”What was that all about?” he asked himself, more confused than hurt. ”I will tell my hive mates to watch out for him today!”

The bear continued along a charming rill full of splashing fish.

”That dratted noise is making my belly itch,” he thought nonsensically.

And soon, he was slapping at the water, scaring the fish and even heaving some onto the bank. They flopped back into the water as Grumpy Bear strode off.

”That wasn’t very nice!” they bubbled to each other under the surface. And they swam off to safer spaces downstream.

Grumpy Bear was still angry. His head, belly and back still ached. He came into a thick copse of crab apple trees where delightful blue birds and red cardinals
Pecked at the fruit with delight. As they ate, they cheeped gaily, flitting from branch to branch.

”So much noise and bother!” complained Grumpy Bear.

He roared loudly and the birds scattered in terror. But, Grumpy Bear did not find relief in chasing off the birds. His head and back still ached and his belly still itched.

And so he went through the day. Grumpy would come across a creature feeding or enjoying the sunny day and the bear would smack it, scare it or drive it off. Owls, badgers, grasshoppers and squirrels — all felt Grumpy’s wrath in one way our another.

Soon, Grumpy emerged from the forest into a long, green meadow and a steep cliffside. A lovely stream burbled as it made its way across the meadow from the cliff. The meadow was quiet. All the birds, insects and animals had been warned about Grumpy’s rampage and had made themselves scarce as the bear approached. Grumpy massaged his head, then scratched his poor belly and placed a paw on his sore lower back.

”What a bother!” he cried out in distress.

After a few moments, a voice cried out from the cliff. ”What a bother!”

Grumpy was puzzled. No other creature was in sight, and yet this one, too cowardly to show itself, was complaining about him!

”Leave me alone!” Grumpy roared.
The voice called back, ”Leave me alone!”

This made Grumpy angry. “No, you leave me alone!”

The voice insisted, “No, you leave me alone!”

Grumpy sat in silence a few moments. Maybe this strange being was the one responsible for his aches and pains. He sat heavily on his haunches.

”You gave me a headache!” he cried. The voice responded in kind.

”You made my belly itch!” The voice repeated his words

”You hurt my back!” And the voice replied “You hurt my back!”

Now Grumpy was perturbed. Was this unseen creature mocking his pain? Grumpy’s fury almost made him forget his own aches.

”Don’t make fun of me” he roared. And the voice roared back the same demand.

Grumpy huffed to himself, “I’ve had enough of this. I’m going to find that irksome creature and teach it a thing or two!”

He stormed off toward the cliffs to where the voice was coming and called out, “I’m coming after you!”

This time, much more quickly than before the voice replied, “I’m coming after you!”

Grumpy Bear felt a jot of fear. What if the creature behind the voice was
bigger or stronger than he? What if he, Grumpy Bear, got thumped on the head? Suddenly feeling more conciliatory, he called out, “Maybe we can talk this out.” The voice repeated his calmer words and tone.

”Phew!” thought Grumpy Bear. “Maybe I won’t get thumped after all.”

Grumpy Bear thought its would wise to extend an olive branch to the voice. Maybe if he offered a sympathetic ear….

”Why do you think your head hurts?” he cried out into the empty air.

”Why do you think your head hurts?”asked the voice.

”Hmm. I haven’t given that much thought,” pondered Grumpy Bear. He thought about his cave and of things that had happened to his head recently. He didn’t recall any bumps or knocks. But he did remember waking up in the night because the rock he had laid his head on was so hard. He had turned over and lay the other side of his head on the rock.

”Maybe your rock pillow is too hard” he yelled into the void.

”Maybe your rock pillow is too hard,” replied the voice.

“Just what I was thinking” thought Grumpy Bear.

”Maybe you can find something softer to lay your head on,” said Grumpy Bear, and the voice replied with the same advice.

”Well, I could lay my head on a soft mossy log instead of a rock,” thought the bear.

”Why does your back hurt?” contimued Grumpy.

”Why does your back hurt?” replied the voice.

”Good question” thought the bear. ”I used to sleep on soft pines boughs when I was a cub,” recalled Grumpy. “I’ve been sleeping on the hard cave floor for years. Maybe now I’m too old for that.”

”How about sleeping on a soft bed of pine boughs?” he shouted. And the same advice came back.

”It’s worth a try,” thought Grumpy Bear.

That made him think about his itchy belly. ”Before I ask the voice, let me think.” He pondered for many minutes as the voice held its tongue. ”I can’t recall walking through itchy brambles,” he thought. ”And I know where all the itchy poison ivy grows around my cave.” He thought some more and scratched at his furry temple. “But I haven’t swum in the lake since last summer. Maybe I need a good wash?”

”How about a long swim in the lake?” asked Grumpy Bear.

”How about a long swim in the lake?” the voice suggested.

”I think I will try that today,” Bear said to himself.

He turned to return to his cave. “Thank you!” he called back over his shoulder.

”Thank you!” the voice replied.

As Grumpy neared home, he found a mossy log and dragged it to his sleeping spot in the cave. Then he broke some soft pine branches and laid them near the log. Next, he padded to the lake and took a nice, long swim in the warm afternoon sun. The brown-colored water around him made him realize just how dirty he was.

The next morning, Grumpy Bear woke without a headaches or sore back, and his belly was much less itchy. His mood was better than it had been in a long time.

“I have been terrible to my woodland friends,” he thought. And so all that day, he walked from the flower bed to the rill to the copse of crab apples to the meadow to apologize to the animals he had wounded or hurt.

What Grumpy Bear, now known as Merry Bear, did not realize was that the voice in the forest was his own, rebounding from the cliff face near the refreshing waterfall that fed the stream. The advice he took from the voice was his own.

Sometimes, when we have a problem, we can pretend to give advice to another creature with the same problem. We might find we had answers inside us all along!

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