The Clever Boy and the Bear,

by J. W. Cassandra

My fairy tale entitled "The Clever Boy and the Bear" is one of the fairy tales in my storybook entitled "Bluebell Pixie's Tales." During her wanderings, the little pixie arrives at a cottage "in the roundest clearing of the round forest," where she scrolls this fairy tale out of the enchanting bag for the children.

The protagonist of the tale is the youngest son of a woodman. The woodman's wife, the mother of three sons, suddenly falls ill, three times in a row. The three sons must find and bring her a special cure so that she can be healed. However, only the youngest is the one who manages to find the three special remedies and endure the tests that arise in their wake, and his cleverness helps him to succeed. He has to track a bear three times and solve tasks that require a wily mind and a brave man. How the clever boy outsmarts the bear and what happens to him, you can find out from the fairy tale!

Have a lot of fun with the story!

Bluebell Pixiecame to the roundest clearing of the round forest with the enchanting bag on her shoulder and found a small cottage there. There was a family living in the cottage, with many children among them: their own children and those who used to walk into the roundest clearing of the round forest day by day to play with their friends. They were still somersaulting and running in the clearing when the little pixie arrived. At first, they did not even notice her, but she grabbed her thin pixie legs so strangely and grimaced at them so amusingly that they stopped running. Then Bluebell Pixie shook the magical Enchanting Bag, and the following tale came out of its mouth:

Once upon a time, there must have been a poor woodman somewhere in the mountains. This poor woodcutter had three sons and a wife.

His wife suddenly fell into bed one day and wailed:

"Oh, alas, my dear! I will die if you do not bring me sweet raspberries at once!"

Oh, the poor woodman was sad. Where was he going to get raspberries, because I forgot to tell you that it was winter, hard, beastly cold. But the youngest of his sons said so:

"Father, do not worry about it, I will bring raspberries for my mother, just lift her spirits until then!"

With that, he sprang up, threw a sack over his shoulder, and set off. He walked along until suddenly he saw bear tracks in the snow on the ridge. Although the bear sleeps a winter sleep, it sometimes looks out into the world to see if it can find some dessert.

Well, the youngest son of the woodman was in ambush, waiting for the bear to come out. He had been waiting for three days, and suddenly something hummed and rattled: the bear was coming! The youngest son of the woodman hid well so that the animal would not notice him, and then he went after it. The bear rattled straight to the raspberry-bushed hillside, where it stood on two legs and blew on the snow-covered bushes. Well, look at the miracle! The snow melted, and in the blink of an eye, the branches were full of ripe, dark red raspberries! The bear feasted on it merrily, and with its huge paw, it was picking the fruit incredibly skillfully. The youngest son of the woodman cried for himself:

"Oh, my God, if you have already led me to this raspberry, help me to let the bear leave me some of it, so that I can help my mother with it!"

Well, as soon as he sighed, as if the animal had heard him, it turned sluggishly and lumbered away.

The youngest son of the woodman, come on!, ran to the bushes and picked the raspberries in his sack! There were barely 3-4 raspberries on the branches when the bear returned: it wanted to junket a little more.

Now, what should the youngest son of the woodman do? The sack was full; he had an idea, and covered half of it on the snow in front of the bear:

"Have it, bear fellow!" With that, he ran like the wind, as far as possible. Fortunately, the gluttonous bear chose raspberries, so the youngest son of the woodman soon came home with half a sack of raspberries and gave them to his mother, who was cured immediately.

Time passed, and suddenly the woodman's wife took to bed again.

"Oh, alas, I shall die if I cannot eat wild honey!" She wailed.

The two older sons of the woodman just looked in perplexity, and so did their father, but the youngest son wove a mesh quite thickly, took a jar, and set off.

He walked on until he found bear footprints on the snow. Then he carefully hid again and waited for the bear. Three days later, it appeared with a great murmur and rattle, and on a narrow trail it passed by into the thick of the forest, noisily. The youngest son of the woodman was in its trail everywhere. The bear was heading to a very old, huge hollow tree. It climbed up and picked honey from the hole with its paws. It sucked it loudly, picked it up again until the bear was fed up. Then it climbed down from the tree and lumbered away, muttering contentedly.

The woodman's youngest son hid in his hiding place for a whole day and a night, and then he saw that the animal would not come back, and he climbed up the tree, too. But before climbing up, he covered himself with the dense mesh, so that he would not be stung by wild bees if he drew honey.

With that, he filled the jar to the brim. But the wild bees did not hurt him: they waited frozen for spring to come.

The woodman's youngest son climbed down and was about to start for home when the bear reappeared.  Suddenly, the boy poured honey on a treetrunk, the bear started licking it, and the boy came on, running! He ran home without his legs touching the ground. At home, his mother ate a spoonful of wild honey and was immediately cured.

They were glad that she was no longer in any trouble. They cut the wood and sold it, when the woodcutter's wife suddenly fell ill again.

"Oh, alas, if you do not bring me trout, I will not live until spring!" She lamented.

The woodcutter and his two older sons looked at each other again, but they did not know where to get trout. Once again, it had been the turn of the youngest son to help his mother.

The boy took a fishing mesh and a bucket and set off. Now he was aiming straight for the bear's hillside. Getting there, he hid and waited. The bear had arrived: now it was clomping to a fast-flowing, clear-water mountain stream. There, at the upper reaches of it, the bear made a hole in the ice with his paw, under which the water of the stream trickled, and had been watching it for hours. The woodman's youngest son followed it in hiding and watched it. Suddenly, the bear quickly struck down with its paw and ate the trout. Then again, until it was well fed. Then it walked away with a great clatter and rattle, and growling.

The boy waited: he spent a whole night in his hiding place by the stream, in case the furry trout fisherman would come back. But it did not come. Then the boy ventured out, went to the hole, and dipped his mesh into the transparently clear water. The trout were already frolicking in it. He put them in the bucket and was about to leave when suddenly the bear appeared in front of him. He had seen it so many times that he knew at once that it was his bear.

And then the bear shook, and a beautiful fairy girl stood before the astonished boy.

"An evil wizard enchanted me to live as a bear until a boy watches me three times in one winter, when I am picking raspberries, eating wild honey, and fishing for trout," the beautiful fairy girl told her sad fate. "You have now freed me, and I will be your wife out of gratitude!" She concluded.

With that, she flew the woodcutter's youngest son to his father's cottage, where they prepared a good fish soup for the woodcutter's wife, who was finally cured with a spoonful of fish soup. She did not get sick again for the rest of her life!

And the fairy girl conjured up a beautiful stone house in the place of the hut, with a garden, animals, and everything that was needed, and then she went up to a cloud with the woodman's youngest son and took him to her fairy palace. They got married there and live happily ever after, if they have not died.

"Well, it is time for me to go on!" Bluebell Pixie said, and with that, she put the tale back into the bag and set off. And in the roundest clearing of the round forest, the children waved after her for a long time. She has been far away since then, perhaps slowly getting toward you with the enchanting bag on her shoulder.

Tomorrow, let her be your guest!

Written: 29 /12. 2005, by J. W. Cassandra
Translated: 30 / 12. 2025, by J. W. Cassandra

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