English 3-2
Mrs. Pshigoda
4.
September
2009
Mama’s boy
Everything began in the winter, when Mama Bear
protected her children from freezing to death in her dark and stony cave. She
prepared the long hibernation by storing food and making the cave warm and
comfortable.
Her two children were absolutely unlike. The boy
loved his mother more than everything else, so he fought against his sister to
sleep as close to his mother as possible.
She, the girl, instead was curious and adventurous,
she loves her mother too, but she did not have any problems with being without
her and she could care for herself.
When the winter was over Mother Bear wanted her
children to become independent, which was a great idea for her daughter. She
left her home as the snow began to melt.
But the boy, who loved his mother so much had no
intentions to leave.
“I want to stay with you, mommy, forever! I want to
live with you and care for you, FOREVER!!!”
Of course Mother Bear loved her son, but she knew
that she had to leave as she always did before.
She also knew that her son would not go on his own,
so she decided to plant a berry bush in front of the cave. “So that he has
something to remember me…”
When he came home from fishing, he caught two big
fish, his
mother was gone. Only the berry bush was there, as
a good-bye letter.
He was not sure, what to do next, s he wanted to
wait for his mother as long as she would be gone, even if it was forever.
The first 2 years he took care of his berry bush as
he had for his mother, but he became tired and his movements became slower and
slower.
More years passed by and the bear boy became a bear
man, still waiting for his mother.
He was weak, old and lonely instead of strong and a
wise father, he could have become. So he sat down and became stone. The
sculpture of this bear looked as if it was the symbol of strength, what he
could have been, if had not waited for his mother.
Years and years later Winnetou and his son went
hunting. Both of them were strong native American men, who had no fear of
fighting a bear. Winnetou’s son was hungry and he discovered a berry bush in
front of a cave, he asked his father if he might eat them and Winnetou knew
this kind of berries, so he allowed him to eat.
While he was eating something caught his eyes, he saw
a huge bear of stone sitting in the cave.
Winnetou explained to his son: “That, my son, is a
bear, strong and wise at the same time, as every man wants to be and as you may
will become.”
So they went back to their tribe told them the story
of a great, manly and strong bear and they came back to the cave and took this
bear with them together to their home. It became the symbol for strength and
masculinity.
But nobody knew that this new symbol actually was a
weak bear who could not live without his mother.