THE BEAR’S SON
by Unknown · from Serbian Fairy Tales
Adapted Version
Once upon a time, in a big, dark cave, lived a strong boy and his papa bear. Bear Boy lived there. He was big and strong. He loved Papa Bear. But Bear Boy wanted to see the world. "Papa, I want to go," he said. Papa Bear said, "No, not yet."
Papa Bear had an idea. "Pull this tree, my son," he said. It was a big tree. Bear Boy pulled and pulled. He pulled with all his might. The tree did not move. Bear Boy was sad. He was not strong enough.
Time passed. Bear Boy grew big. He grew very strong. He pulled the tree again. Pop! The tree came out. Papa Bear was proud. Bear Boy took a big stick. It was from the tree.
Bear Boy walked. He met many farmers. They had much food. Bear Boy was very hungry. He ate all the food. The farmers shared. They gave him old metal tools. Bear Boy needed strong metal. He wanted a strong staff.
Bear Boy found a metal worker. "Make me a staff," he said. The worker made a small staff. It was not strong. Bear Boy tried it. Crash! The staff broke. Bear Boy was sad. The worker ran away. Bear Boy took the metal.
Bear Boy found another worker. "Make a strong staff," he asked. This worker was kind. He put all the metal in fire. He made a perfect, big staff. It was very strong. Bear Boy was happy now. He had a good staff.
Bear Boy saw a strong girl. She brought food. Bear Boy liked her. He liked her very much. He wanted to be with her. But she had a promise. She must marry Big Moustache Man.
Big Moustache Man came. He was very, very big. His moustache was huge. Birds lived in his moustache. Bear Boy tapped him. He used his strong staff. Tap, tap, tap! Big Moustache Man did not feel it.
Big Moustache Man felt the taps. He got very angry. He saw Bear Boy. He ran after Bear Boy. Bear Boy ran very fast.
Bear Boy ran to a river. Some men helped him. They pushed him over. Big Moustache Man came. He jumped over the river. He still chased Bear Boy.
Bear Boy ran up a hill. He saw Farmer Sower. Farmer Sower had seeds. Bear Boy asked for help. Farmer Sower hid him. He put him in his seed bag.
Farmer Sower ate seeds. He put them in his mouth. Oops! Bear Boy was in there too. Bear Boy was very small now. He found a big tooth. It was hollow inside. Bear Boy hid in the tooth. It was a funny place.
Farmer Sower went home. He told a big story. "My tooth broke," he said. "It broke in a giant's head!" He was inside. It was a big adventure. Bear Boy listened. His eyes were wide. The world was full of wonders.
Original Story
THE BEAR’S SON
Once upon a time a bear married a woman, and they had one son. When the boy was yet a little fellow he begged very hard to be allowed to leave the bear’s cave, and to go out into the world to see what was in it. His father, the Bear, however, would not consent to this, saying, “You are too young yet, and not strong enough. In the world there are multitudes of wicked beasts called men, who will kill you.” So the boy was quieted for a while, and remained in the cave.
But, after some time, the boy prayed so earnestly that the Bear, his father, would let him go into the world, that the Bear brought him into the wood, and showed him a beech-tree, saying, “If you can pull up that beech by the roots, I will let you go; but if you cannot, then this is a proof that you are still too weak, and must remain with me.” The boy tried to pull up the tree, but, after long trying, had to give it up, and go home again to the cave.
Again some time passed, and he then begged again to be allowed to go into the world, and his father told him, as before, if he could pull up the beech-tree he might go out into the world. This time the boy pulled up the tree, so the Bear consented to let him go, first, however, making him cut away the branches from the beech, so that he might use the trunk for a club. The boy now started on his journey, carrying the trunk of the beech over his shoulder.
One day as the Bear’s son was journeying he came to a field, where he found hundreds of ploughmen working for their master. He asked them to give him something to eat, and they told him to wait a bit till their dinner was brought them, when he should have some—for, they said, “Where so many are dining one mouth more or less matters but little.” Whilst they were speaking there came carts, horses, mules, and asses, all carrying the dinner. But when the meats were spread out the Bear’s son declared he could eat all that up himself. The workmen wondered greatly at his words, not believing it possible that one man could consume as great a quantity of victuals as would satisfy several hundred men. This, however, the Bear’s son persisted in affirming he could do, and offered to bet with them that he would do this. He proposed that the stakes should be all the iron of their ploughshares and other agricultural implements. To this they assented. No sooner had they made the wager than he fell upon the provisions, and in a short time consumed the whole. Not a fragment was left. Hereupon the labourers, in accordance with their wager, gave him all the iron which they possessed.
When the Bear’s son had collected all the iron, he tore up a young birch-tree, twisted it into a band and tied up the iron into a bundle, which he hung at the end of his staff, and, throwing it across his shoulder, trudged off from the astonished and affrighted labourers.
Going on a short distance, he arrived at a forge in which a smith was employed making a ploughshare. This man he requested to make him a mace with the iron which he was carrying. This the smith undertook to do; but, putting aside half the iron, he made of the rest a small, coarsely-finished mace.
The Bear’s son saw at a glance that he had been cheated by the smith. Moreover, he was disgusted at the roughness of the workmanship. He however took it, and declared his intention of testing it. Then, fastening it to the end of his club and throwing it into the air high above the clouds, he stood still and allowed it to fall on his shoulder. It had no sooner struck him than the mace shivered into fragments, some of which fell on and destroyed the forge. Taking up his staff, the Bear’s son reproached the smith for his dishonesty, and killed him on the spot.
Having collected the whole of the iron, the Bear’s son went to another smithy, and desired the smith whom he found there to make him a mace, saying to him, “Please play no tricks on me. I bring you these fragments of iron for you to use in making a mace. Beware that you do not attempt to cheat me as I was cheated before!” As the smith had heard what had happened to the other one, he collected his workpeople, threw all the iron on his fire, and welded the whole together and made a large mace of perfect workmanship.
“Tied up the iron into a bundle, which he hung at the end of his staff.”
When it was fastened on the head of his club the Bear’s son, to prove it, threw it up high, and caught it on his back. This time the mace did not break, but rebounded. Then the Bear’s son got up and said: “This work is well done!” and, putting it on his shoulder, walked away. A little farther on he came to a field wherein a man was ploughing with two oxen, and he went up to him and asked for something to eat. The man said, “I expect every moment my daughter to come with my dinner, then we shall see what God has given us!” The Bear’s son told him how he had eaten up all the dinner prepared for many hundreds of ploughmen, and asked, “From a dinner prepared for one person how much can come to me or to you?” Meanwhile the girl brought the dinner. The moment she put it down, the Bear’s son stretched out his hand to begin to eat, but the man stopped him. “No” said he, “you must first say grace, as I do!” The Bear’s son, hungry as he was, obeyed, and, having said grace, they both began to eat. The Bear’s son, looking at the girl who brought the dinner (she was a tall, strong, beautiful girl), became very fond of her, and said to the father, “Will you give me your daughter for a wife?” The man answered, “I would give her to you very gladly, but I have promised her already to the Moustached.” The Bear’s son exclaimed, “What do I care for Moustachio? I have my mace for him!” But the man answered, “Hush! hush! Moustachio is also somebody! You will see him here soon.” Shortly after a noise was heard afar off, and lo! behind a hill a moustache showed itself, and in it were three hundred and sixty-five birds’ nests. Shortly after appeared the other moustache, and then came Moustachio himself. Having reached them, he lay down on the ground immediately to rest. He put his head on the girl’s knee, and told her to scratch his head a little. The girl obeyed him, and the Bear’s son, getting up, struck him with his club over the head. Whereupon Moustachio, pointing to the place with his finger, said, “Something bit me here.” The Bear’s son struck him with his mace on another spot, and Moustachio again pointed to the place, saying to the girl, “Something has bitten me here!” When he was struck a third time he said to the girl angrily, “Look you! something bites me here!” Then the girl said, “Nothing has bitten you; a man struck you.”
When Moustachio heard that he jumped up, but the Bear’s son had thrown away his mace and run away. Moustachio pursued him, and though the Bear’s son was lighter than he, and had gained the start of him a considerable distance, he would not give up pursuing him.
At length the Bear’s son, in the course of his flight, came to a wide river, and found, near it, some men threshing corn. “Help me, my brothers, help—for God’s sake!” he cried; “Help! Moustachio is pursuing me! What shall I do? How can I get across the river?” One of the men stretched out his shovel, saying, “Here, sit down on it, and I will throw you over the river.” The Bear’s son sat on the shovel, and the man threw him over the water to the other shore. Soon after, Moustachio came up, and asked, “Has any one passed here?” The threshers replied that a man had passed. Moustachio demanded, “How did he cross the river?” They answered, “He sprang over.” Then Moustachio went back a little to take a start, and with a hop he sprang to the other side, and continued to pursue the Bear’s son. Meanwhile this last, running hastily up a hill, got very tired. At the top of the hill he found a man sowing, and the sack with seeds was hanging on his neck. After every handful of seed sown in the ground, the man put a handful in his mouth and ate them. The Bear’s son shouted to him, “Help, brother, help!—for God’s sake! Moustachio is following me, and will soon catch me! Hide me somewhere!” Then the man said, “Indeed, it is no joke to have Moustachio pursuing you. But I have nowhere to hide you, unless in this sack among the seeds.” So he put him in the sack. When Moustachio came up to the sower he asked him if he had seen the Bear’s son anywhere. The man replied, “Yes, he passed by long ago, and God knows where he has got to before this!”
Then Moustachio went back again. By-and-by the sower forgot that Bear’s son was in the sack, and he took him out with a handful of seeds, and put him in his mouth. Then Bear’s son was afraid of being swallowed, so he looked round the mouth quickly, and, seeing a hollow tooth, hid himself in it.
When the sower returned home in the evening, he called to his sisters-in-law, “Children, give me my toothpick! There is something in my broken tooth.” The sisters-in-law brought him two iron picks, and, standing one on each side, they poked about with the two picks in his tooth till the Bear’s son jumped out. Then the man remembered him, and said, “What bad luck you have! I had nearly swallowed you.”
After they had taken supper they talked about many different things, till at last the Bear’s son asked what had happened to break that one tooth, whilst the others were all strong and healthy. Then the man told him in these words: “Once upon a time ten of us started with thirty horses to the sea-shore to buy some salt. We found a girl in a field watching sheep, and she asked us where we were going. We said we were going to the sea-shore to buy salt. She said, ‘Why go so far? I have in the bag in my hand here some salt which remained over after feeding the sheep. I think it will be enough for you.’ So we settled about the price, and then she took the salt from her bag, whilst we took the sacks from the thirty horses, and we weighed the salt and filled the sacks with it till all the thirty sacks were full. We then paid the girl, and returned home. It was a very fine autumn day, but as we were crossing a high mountain, the sky became very cloudy and it began to snow, and there was a cold north wind, so that we could not see our path, and wandered about here and there. At last, by good luck, one of us shouted, ‘Here, brothers! Here is a dry place!’ So we went in one after the other till we were all, with the thirty horses, under shelter. Then we took the sacks from the horses, made a good fire, and passed the night there as if it were a house. Next morning, just think what we saw! We were all in one man’s head, which lay in the midst of some vineyards; and whilst we were yet wondering and loading our horses, the keeper of the vineyards came and picked the head up. He put it in a sling and, slinging it about several times, threw it over his head, and cast it far away over the vines to frighten the starlings away from his grapes. So we rolled down a hill, and it was then that I broke my tooth.”
Story DNA
Plot Summary
The Bear's son, a human-bear hybrid, leaves his cave after proving his immense strength. He acquires a powerful mace by outwitting ploughmen and punishing a dishonest smith. His journey leads him to seek a wife, but he faces the monstrous Moustachio, leading to a chase where he narrowly escapes being swallowed by a giant sower. The story concludes with the sower recounting a fantastical tale of how his tooth was broken, revealing a world of even greater wonders and dangers.
Themes
Emotional Arc
challenge to triumph
Writing Style
Narrative Elements
Cultural Context
The story reflects a pre-industrial, agrarian society where physical strength and resourcefulness were highly valued. The 'Bear's Son' archetype is common in various folk traditions.
Plot Beats (14)
- The Bear's son, living in a cave with his bear father, repeatedly asks to go into the world.
- His father tests his strength by having him try to uproot a beech tree; he fails the first time.
- After more time, he successfully uproots the beech tree and is allowed to leave, taking the trunk as a club.
- He encounters ploughmen, bets he can eat all their dinner, wins, and collects all their iron.
- He takes the iron to a smith who cheats him, making a small, poor mace; the Bear's son tests it, it shatters, and he kills the smith.
- He finds a second smith, warns him against cheating, and this smith crafts a perfect, large mace.
- He encounters a man ploughing and his strong daughter, and asks for her hand in marriage, but she is promised to Moustachio.
- Moustachio arrives, a giant with birds' nests in his moustache; the Bear's son strikes him three times with his mace.
- Moustachio realizes he's been struck and pursues the Bear's son, who flees.
- The Bear's son is helped across a river by threshers, but Moustachio leaps across after him.
- He seeks help from a sower, who hides him in his seed sack.
- The sower accidentally puts the Bear's son in his mouth with seeds, and the Bear's son hides in a hollow tooth.
- The sower's sisters-in-law use iron picks to dislodge the Bear's son from the tooth.
- The sower then tells a story of how his tooth was broken when he and others were inside a giant's head used as a sling stone.
Characters
The Bear's Son
Extremely tall and powerfully built, with immense strength. His physique suggests a blend of human and ursine robustness, capable of uprooting trees and carrying massive weights. He is likely broad-shouldered and muscular, with a sturdy frame.
Attire: Simple, practical clothing suitable for a traveler and fighter. Perhaps a tunic and trousers made of coarse, durable fabric like linen or wool, possibly in earthy tones, showing signs of wear from his journey. No elaborate adornments.
Wants: To explore the world and prove his strength; later, to find a wife and overcome obstacles.
Flaw: Naivety about human deception (initially), prone to impulsive violence when angered, overconfidence in his physical strength without considering strategy.
Starts as a naive but powerful youth eager to see the world. He learns about human deceit and the importance of a well-made weapon. He faces challenges, finds love, and learns to outwit powerful adversaries, demonstrating growing cunning alongside his strength.
Determined, incredibly strong, naive, persistent, quick to anger when cheated, curious, resourceful.
The Bear
A large, powerful adult bear, likely a brown bear, with thick fur and formidable claws. His size would be impressive, reflecting his strength and wisdom.
Attire: None, as he is an animal.
Wants: To protect his son from the dangers of the world, to ensure his son is strong enough to survive independently.
Flaw: His love for his son makes him eventually give in to his son's wishes, despite his own reservations.
Serves as a mentor figure, setting challenges for his son to prove his readiness for the world. He remains a static character, representing the protective, wild upbringing.
Protective, wise, cautious, loving (towards his son), firm but eventually yielding.
Moustachio
An incredibly large and strong man, implied to be of monstrous proportions given his moustache alone can house 365 birds' nests. His body would be equally massive and imposing, reflecting his immense strength and intimidating presence.
Attire: Likely simple, durable clothing that can withstand his rough lifestyle, perhaps a coarse tunic and trousers, but overshadowed by the sheer scale of his moustache. No specific colors or fabrics are mentioned, but they would be practical for a powerful, outdoor-dwelling individual.
Wants: To claim his promised bride (The Girl) and to punish anyone who interferes with his desires.
Flaw: His immense size and strength make him somewhat slow to perceive direct attacks, initially mistaking them for insect bites. His pride makes him relentless in pursuit.
Introduced as a formidable rival, he is initially outwitted by the Bear's Son but proves to be a relentless pursuer. He remains a static antagonist, representing a major obstacle.
Possessive, powerful, easily angered when disturbed, somewhat oblivious to direct attacks (initially), persistent, formidable.
The Girl
Tall, strong, and beautiful. Her physique suggests a healthy, capable young woman accustomed to rural life and physical work.
Attire: Simple, practical peasant attire. A long, sturdy dress or skirt and blouse made of linen or wool, possibly with an apron, in muted colors like earthy browns, greens, or blues. Her clothing would be clean but functional.
Wants: To fulfill her duties and obligations, particularly her promise to Moustachio.
Flaw: Bound by a promise to Moustachio, which limits her agency.
Serves as a catalyst for the conflict between the Bear's Son and Moustachio. She remains largely static, representing the prize or object of desire.
Obedient, dutiful (to her father and Moustachio), observant, beautiful, strong.
The Sower
A man of considerable size and strength, implied by his ability to carry a large sack of seeds and his past adventures. He has a distinctive broken tooth.
Attire: Practical peasant clothing suitable for field work. A coarse linen shirt, sturdy trousers, and possibly a wide-brimmed hat to protect from the sun. His clothes would be functional and possibly patched.
Wants: To help those in need (Bear's Son), to perform his work (sowing), to share his experiences.
Flaw: Momentary forgetfulness, which almost leads to the Bear's Son's demise.
Serves as a temporary refuge and then a source of a fantastic story for the Bear's Son. He remains a static character, a wise and experienced helper.
Helpful, resourceful, forgetful (momentarily), adventurous (from his backstory), a good storyteller.
Locations
Bear's Cave
A dark, enclosed space, the home of the Bear and his son.
Mood: Confining, safe but restrictive, a place of childhood and early strength tests.
The Bear's son grows up here and repeatedly begs to leave; he returns after failing his first strength test.
Beech Forest
A dense wood dominated by beech trees, where the Bear's son performs his strength tests.
Mood: Challenging, natural, a testing ground for physical prowess.
The Bear's son attempts and eventually succeeds in uprooting a beech tree, proving his strength and earning his freedom.
Ploughmen's Field
A vast agricultural field where hundreds of ploughmen work, with carts, horses, mules, and asses bringing dinner.
Mood: Busy, industrious, later astonished and fearful.
The Bear's son consumes an enormous meal meant for hundreds and wins all their iron implements.
First Smithy
A forge where a smith works, later destroyed by the Bear's son's mace.
Mood: Gritty, industrial, later tense and violent.
The Bear's son is cheated by the smith, tests the poorly made mace, and destroys the forge and kills the smith.
Hilltop with Sower
The top of a hill where a man is sowing seeds, with a sack of seeds around his neck.
Mood: Exposed, desperate, later surprising and strange.
The Bear's son hides in the sower's sack to escape Moustachio, and is nearly swallowed by the sower.