The Bear and the Snails

        Once upon a time there was a very old and very lonely bear. All of the bear’s

friends and brothers and sisters had long passed, and its children, as children are

wont to do, had moved away to far away places. And this wasn’t the only thing about

the bear’s life that was bad. A long time ago, when the bear was in his prime, a

hunter had shot him in the leg. Though the bear was able to get away, he was left

with a loathsome limp. The only real positive aspect of the bear’s life was his home,

which was a small cave on the top of a hillside overlooking a beautiful river valley.

One day, after the bear had spent the day at the river feeding on salmon, he

came home to find a family of snails in his cave. At first, the bear was confused. He

approached the snails and sniffed them. They seemed to be asleep. Then he licked

them up off the ground and began to chew them in his mouth, but they were slimy

and disgusting so he spit them out! “What are you?” said the bear. “Where did you

come from and why do you taste so disgusting?”

“We are the snail family,” said the father snail. “We come from the forest

where we only ate plants. As for your last question, I can only reply by saying that

we taste disgusting so that predators like you won’t eat us.”

The beer peered at the snail for a long time. “So you aren’t afraid of me?” he

asked.

“On the contrary,” said the father snail. “We would like to live here with you

in your cave. It is a lovely home.”

The bear thought to himself, and decided that he was very lonely and the

company might do him some good. So he allowed the snails to stay.

However, the snails began to multiply, and the cave was rather small. It

became difficult for the bear because, when he slept, he had to be careful not to roll

over so as not to crush the snails. Also, he had to work extra hard to avoid stepping

on the snails when he wanted to leave the cave, which was extra hard because of the

bear’s impediment.

One day, the bear was leaving his cave to get a drink of water when by

accident he stepped on several snails, squashing them. The snails became

uproarious. They decided that the bear must be executed for his crime, so they

jumped on top of him and began to eat him.

“Please!” cried the bear. “Don’t eat me! I didn’t mean to step on your

compatriots. It was because I have this limp from when a hunter shot me many

years ago!”

The head snail decided that he would let the bear live. However, he must

leave the cave and never come back. The bear lumbered dejectedly toward the exit

of the cave. Just as he was leaving, a baby snail perked up and said: “Wait! Don’t

leave quite yet.” The baby snail approached the bear and began climbing up its leg. It

burrowed its way under the bear’s skin. The bear was in agony but he trusted the

baby snail. Finally, the baby snail came out of the bear’s leg carrying the hunter’s

bullet on its back. The bear began to flex its leg. For the first time in years, there was

no pain.

“Oh, thank you, little snail! How can I ever repay you?”

The baby snail said: “You can repay me by staying.” Then, the baby snail

turned to its father and said, “Isn’t that right, father?”

The father smiled and said to the bear, “Well, it seems you have a guardian

angel. You can stay, bear. All is forgiven.”

And so the bear stayed, and he and the snails shared the cave for many years.