The Cave with the Bear

Before there were years or days or bombs in planes there was just a bear and a cave. They were friends but didn't do much. The cave was extremely dark and only led to more dark. You couldn't see outside the cave-everything was terribly boring.

"What are we going to do?" the cave asked one day.
"I don't know," said the bear, "this is terribly boring."
He picked up a rock and threw it.
The rock skipped along and finally fell down a big, black hole.
"I never noticed that hole before," said the cave.

The bear was already peering down into the black. He could hear the rock falling, hitting the sides of the hole. Finally, he answered the cave. "I noticed it yesterday," he said, "but I don't know about the day before."

The bear went back to listening, but there was no more noise. Then…came terrifying crash!

"Oh my!" said the cave.
The bear jumped back in panic.
Bright lines of sunlight broke into the cave. The bear scampered back to the edge and peered into the now illuminated hole.

"It must go down a hundred miles," he said.
"You should investigate." the cave suggested.
"I don't see why it should be me. I investigated that strange smell."
"Well, I can't very well do it," the cave replied.

The bear stepped back, summed up all his courage, and dove into the hole.
He didn't fall for miles, he fell for months. A few times he got lost but always managed to find his way. He had many adventures and met many interesting people, but finally he reached the bottom of the hole.

It was really quite amazing.
There were miles of rolling hills with big trees and rivers filled with all sorts of fish that a bear could eat…back in the cave he had to eat rocks. He ran through the hills. It was great. Quite amazing.
Then, suddenly…

"Why hello bear," said someone.
"You came just in time for our dance," said another.
Three men with bright orange hats were standing only a few feet away. They must've snuck up-or at least the bear hadn't noticed them. He was naturally suspicious but as he thought about it…"Why I have never been to a dance!" he remarked.
"Never been to dance!" exclaimed the third. "Well just follow us. We brought you this hat."
The bear accepted the hat. "Well, where is the dance?"

The second man pointed off into the distance. A makeshift stage had been set up between two rivers and a rainbow.

"The sunshine factory's about six miles past the rainbow…that's where we work," said one.
The bear danced all night. Wonderful sounds poured from the stage.
"I hope I never go back to the cave," he said.
"Oh, I wouldn't hope that!" said a woman in an orange robe. "The cave is quite spectacular."
"It's quite dark."
"No, no…there are wonderful places just outside."
"There are a lot of mountains for a bear to climb and there are a lot of fish for a bear to eat," said a man who was walking by.
"Well, I wouldn't be able to see any of it," said the bear, "everything there is terribly boring."

But of course it wasn't at all boring-as many people were quick to point out throughout the evening-and the next day all the people in orange robes and orange hats gave the bear six heaping bags of sunshine.

He left the hills and music, but it was very hard to do. It took him several more months and many more lost ways. The people had given him plenty of sunshine but no food. Rocks are not at all nutritious and the bear was nothing but bones as he crawled back to the security of the cave.

"Oh my!" said the cave, "I'm so glad you're back!"

The weary bear set down his bags, and beams of sunshine began to fall about. They bounced on the floor and darted around the cave, filling every corner with the brightest light, and soaring out the front of the cave-revealing mountains with streams and a sky with clouds. The bear could see huge salmon jumping in rivers.

"This is wonderful," said the cave.
"Yes," said the bear. He stopped and then decided to be introspective. "Even though they are hard to see there are always wonderful things."

Then they both smiled, well the bear did anyway.

Written by Adam Leroy

Back