Samba Bear

                                      Samba Bear
  The bear brothers wandered through the middle of Samba Dens Bear Lodge, they heard Great Bear telling again, the tale of Samba, the same tale he tells every year at this time.
    Autumn, it was the time of the celebration of Samba. Great Bears deep voice boomed out in the Main Square “And the Lady of the Forest will give the gift of the crystal claws to the bear that proves to be brave, loyal and honest.
      Samba receives through the crystal claws, the power to protect the forest and the animals within; there has always been a Samba at the death of the current one the Lady of the forest will chose another. This Samba has been around longer than anyone can remember”.
  The Brothers looked at each other and smiled. They each had their own memories of racing to get to the middle of Bear Lodge before everyone else, to get the best seat for the tales of Samba.
  Berry, the youngest bear brother had met Samba once many years ago. He had never told anyone about the incident, not even his brothers Bramble and Winder, the whole thing seemed like a dream.
  While Barry was still a cub he was playing near the creek and fell into the water. He tried desperately to reach the bank but the water was running so fast he just tumbled down the creek. When he was out of breath and he was getting dizzy with the pain of holding it, he knew the end was near.                                                 
  Suddenly he saw a flash in the water, shining like all the stars in the nigh sky; carefully he was lifted up and set on the bank. Looking up he saw a huge bear with soft brown eyes that shone with loving-kindness. Gasping in air he said, “Thank you Large Bear for saving me”
    The bear held out his paws and his claws were beautiful and shone with every color of the rainbow. It could be no one but Samba. Barry’s’ mouth flew open and with all the questions running through his mind the only thing he could manage to mumble was “ your real”!
    “I should hope so” the huge bear replied grinning. “I am Samba young bear and you should not be by the water alone until you know how to swim”.  “Yes sir”, Barry replied, staring with his eyes wide and his mouth open. “Young bear I want you to be brave loyal and truthful so you may be an example to others”. With that, he lumbered up the hill leaving Berry staring and amazed. Samba Bear reached the top of the hill and smiled back at Barry before disappearing over the top.
  That was many years ago and Barry had always tried to be the kind of bear Samba had asked him to be. He felt he had pretty much accomplished the task, except for the Peoples’ Den incident.
  A few years after the Samba incident Great Bear promised to take the bear brothers to on a trip to the tall peak. The peak had snow all year and there were caves up there which young bears loved to explore. The grown up bears said Samba had been seen up there. Before they could go they had to promise to appear at Great Aunt Sage’s dinner party to celebrate their cousins coming of age. They also had to promise to be clean and presentable.                                                         
    Berry and his brothers knew this meant a trip to the hot springs, to be as clean as possible.
  The forest was green and wonderful in summer months with clearings of wild flowers. After their baths they would walk through a few so they would smell good for Great Aunt Sage.
  They all knew the way to the hot springs but Bramble said, “I know a short cut”. Berry just cut his eyes at Bramble and didn’t say anything. “You do”? Wilder asked curiously. Bramble replied “I sure do it will cut a lot off this hike”. Winder looked at Berry and raised his brows questioningly Berry just shrugged and looked at Bramble.            Bramble was known to get lost and he wondered if Bramble really did know a short cut.
    “Ok lead on” said Winder. After hiking a long way nothing looked familiar. Berry asked Bramble, “Do really know where you are”? “Oh sure I do, don’t you trust me runt”? Bramble grumbled. Berry answered him as diplomatically as possible, “I do trust you but we could have been at the hot springs already, and this is the last year you and winder can make the trip to tall peak and it’s my first, I don’t want to be late”. Berry knew since they were coming of age soon this would be their last learning trip to the peak and they so loved to go.
  Suddenly there was a loud roar and the bears ducked down and looked at each other, wide eyed. They peeked out of the bushes and saw a huge people den. Berry couldn’t believe his eyes, there was a shiny metal thing sitting on very white hard ground and people were getting inside. There were big people, little people and very noisy people.
  Berry whispered, “Wow it’s a machine, they are leaving” Berry said. “And just how do you know that”? Wilder asked. “Stump told me,” Berry said.
    “Stump” They whispered, awed.  “Yeah Stump” Berry said smiling as he thought of his friend. Stump was a wanderer he liked to study people. He had the uncanny ability to slump into a stump. He would be so still if you didn’t know he was there you would think he was a stump. He didn’t like cubs as a rule, “Always under your feet”, he would growl. He had taken a liking to Berry though and they had long talks. They rarely talked about people but Stump had told him about the machines people rolled around in, long ago. Stump had tried to teach Berry to slump but he roared with laughter and told Berry he looked like a giant mushroom when he slumped, but Barry was determined to learn.
  Suddenly the sound was louder, the bears stared as the shiny machine rolled away, it was very fast and the sound went away with them, eventually.
    “Do you think it will bring them back”? Winder asked. “Of course it will” Bramble growled rolling his eyes, “It is their den”.
    “What a huge den it is too”, Berry said.
      The forest had grown quiet again after the terribly noisy machine had gone. Except, what was that sound? “Listen”, Bramble said, “do you hear something”? The brothers grew quiet. Out of the stillness came a beautiful voice singing.                                 
    Why would anyone be singing? And it was coming from the house! Bramble started down to the den with Winder following. “Wait” Berry cried. “You don’t know what’s down there”!
    “Come on wimp just be quiet and everything will be fine” grumbled Bramble. “Yeah wimp”, Winder snickered. The brothers snuck up to the den and saw a clear space in the wall with a hole in the bottom. This was where the singing was coming from, with an eerie echo.
    Bramble whispered to Winder “Peek inside”. Winder replied, “Not me, you do it”. Both brothers turned to Barry and with wide eyes he said “oh no don’t even look at me, this was not my idea remember”?
    “Let’s do it together Bramble”, Winder said.
    Barry watched his brothers slowly raise their heads to peek into the hole in the den.
    “Wow”!! They said, “Can you believe that?” Berry was slowly rising to see what as so fascinating and what he saw was so unbelievable there was no possible way it could happen, but it was. Sitting on a chair in a very colorful small place was a beaver! A big furry beaver with a large paddle like tail and he was singing, with a high shrill voice.
    The walls were covered with flowers and there were plants on the ledge of the hole. “Why do they bring the forest inside when all they have to do is walk outside“? Berry mumbled to himself.
    Then the beavers head turned toward the bears and the singing stopped the forest never sounded as silent as it had right then. The beaver asked the bears “So what are you looking at”?
    The brothers looked at each other with wide wondering eyes.
    Barry broke their silence and said “I don’t know who you are, why don’t you tell us”? “Don’t know?” “DON”T KNOW?” he huffed “why I’m THE Beaver!! What else”? Shaking his large furred body he asked “why are you here”? Winder told the duck “we were trying to find the hot springs with a short cut that wasn’t so short”, While cutting his eyes sideways to look at Bramble. “Hot springs are very over rated I always say, look at the peoples bath tub”! The beaver told them. Suddenly steamy water started to pour into the big container that stood on legs. Bubbles were forming on the top of the water! Bramble and Winder tried to reach down to touch the bubbles and tumbled right into the water knocking the odds and ends on the side of the tub onto the floor along with a lot of water and bubbles. “You better get out of there”, Berry cried, “The people are going to know”!  “How will they know? We will be long gone before they get back”, Bramble said besides this is better than the hot springs, but it does smell a little too flowery.
    Berry was climbing in so he could talk his brothers out of the tub when he lost his balance and tumbled in also. Berry knocked the plant off the ledge into the floor, it crashed and dirt and plant went everywhere. Bramble yelled, “Now look what you did wimp they will know we‘ve been here now”! Berry pointed out the water on the floor and the fur floating on top of the water and raised eyebrows at his brother.                                                       
    Suddenly there was a roar from outside “Bears! Get out here now”! “It’s the Samba Bear” Winder whined “oh no the trip will be off for us“. Bramble and Winder climbed out the window and Berry was right behind them. When he was hanging onto the ledge he looked down before he dropped and when he looked back into the window, the beaver was gone and the plant and odds and ends were back where they belonged and the floor and the tub was dry.
  The Samba Bear was very angry with the brothers. He told them the people Dens were to stay off limits till wiser minds than theirs finished studying them and learned their truths and habits. “I will not mention this to your parents this time but hear me well and remember, stay where you belong and your safety is assured”. “Yes sir” the brothers replied. “It’s nice to see you again Berry” Samba ended before he turned and walked into the forest.
    “And I you sir” whispered Barry as he watched him leave.
  Bramble and Winder were ecstatic they could not believe what had just happened.
    “You know him!”?
    Barry didn’t answer; he just smiled as he watched the spot the Samba had entered the forest, hoping someday he would get the chance to really talk to and learn from the Samba. His heart longed to follow but he knew he would have to wait till he was a full grown bear. It suddenly dawned on him that Stump was one of the wiser minds and in the mean time he would master being a stump, if he had to walk around with branches in his ears to do it!