The Bear and the Gardener
Grizzly dipped another tea bag into hot water for Jay. "Pick your head
up, Jay."
Jay looked to his left, seeing Shep and Fox. "It seems that there is no
reason to believe that things will get better. This Aesop fellow has
proven himself to be
terrible to whomever he sees."
"It's true, Jay, he is terrible sometimes. But there is hope. I am
proof that things will ease up," said Grizzly, as he swept behind the
bar.
Shep, Fox and Jay perked up, listening intently. "What do you mean by
that?" asked Fox. "Did Aesop report on you too?"
"Well yeah, he did," said Grizzly, without making eye contact. He
looked down at his broom as he explained. "It was a while ago, maybe
two years now, I had a friend. You all sort of know, or might have
heard, how friendly I am."
"Of course, Grizzly," Shep said. "That's how we all heard about your
bar. You're friendly and a great listener. And we all know that word
travels fast around here."
"Well, Aesop was new in town. In fact, he had just moved in when all
this happened." Grizzly paused and stopped sweeping, as if deep in
thought. He seemed deeply troubled by the story he was about to
share. "Ugh... well, I made a friend. I called him Gard. Before I
met him, I was sort of lost in my life. I hadn't made good friends
because I was afraid of being feared. But Gard was different... he
approached me and asked if he could be my friend. I was hesitant, but I
loved the idea of having a friend. I went along with him to his home
and we had so much fun together." A smile grew on Grizzly's face. He
put down his broom and sat across the bar from his guests. "He gave me
gourmet food and a perfect shady spot to sleep. All he wanted me to do
for him was to keep the flies of of his face while he slept. He
happened to live near a swamp, so the flies were very hard to avoid. I
had a fly swatter, sticky fly paper, and even venus fly traps! They
were impossible! I still had a hard time keeping up with them."
Shep interrupted as he remembered the area. "Oh, over by the dark
woods," he recalled. I remember venturing over there one day looking
for the wolf and I noticed the fly problem."
"Yeah," Grizzly said. "It was awful... but I tried. Maybe too hard..."
Grizzly lost eye contact with his guests again, looking sad. "One day,
there was this very quick, pesky fly. I tried to hit it but missed
every time. It kept landing on Gard's face. I felt like a failure. I
had one job, but couldn't do it. So, I thought to get something to
smash it because it kept surviving my slaps by avoiding the pads of my
paws. I found a rock nearby and decided I would be able to kill the fly
if I threw it. I became so focused on the fly, and finally threw it."
Grizzly stood up and paced behind the bar.
"Well, did you kill it?" Jay asked. All three guests were on the edge
of their seats.
"Yup..." Grizzly said, "but it was on Gard's face."
Fox, Shep, and Jay all exhaled together in shock. "Oh no," Shep said,
"what did he do?"
"He got really angry. He threw me out. He found a new friend," he said
as he sat back down behind the bar. "His new friend was Aesop. Gard
suggested Aesop alert the town of wrongdoers. And so he started
reporting at that moment. I was his first story."
"Oh wow, Grizzly. I'm sorry to hear that," said Jay.
"I was pretty upset at the time, and it took me a while to adjust to
the people who believed the reports that were skewed. They made me out
to be some stupid bear. I was afraid of being feared for being mean. I
had never thought of how bad it could be to be thought to be dumb...
But I picked myself up and decided to be there for those who are in the
position that I was once in. That's why I'm telling you all, it will
really end up okay."
"Wow, Grizzly," said Jay, "you really are a good guy. I can't believe
that people ever thought differently."
"Fortunately people find out the facts eventually. I came to this run
down shack and fixed it up into a bar. I just changed my path, but I
found my way. All three of you can do the same, just take some down
time and you'll be fine," said Grizzly.
"Maybe you're right," said Fox. He stood up and exclaimed, "C'mon guys,
let's get out
of here, it's a nice day. We may not have them, but we've got each
other."
Shep and Jay stood up to leave, feeling energized through this
new-found hope that Grizzly helped them with. "Wanna come, Grizzly?"
"Nah, I'll hold the fort down here," he said. "You guys have fun
though. Just come back and visit me, I'll be here." He smiled and
watched the new friends leave his bar. "Your stories can't keep us
down. Take that, Aesop."
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Author's Note: I retold the story of The Bear and the Gardener.
I told it in the perspective of the bear, Grizzly. He explained that he
was trying so hard to kill all of the flies that he hurt his friend,
the Gardener. In the fable, they make the bear out to be very dumb.
Grizzly explains that he was not dumb; he was just trying too hard. I
retold it so explain that Grizzly had good intentions, but was
misunderstood just as the other three characters who were in his bar.
It enabled him to relate to the other characters so that they could be
confident in the fact that the bad reputation will eventually fade. In
the original story, the Gardener was killed. I
decided not to have the Gardener killed at the end of the story so that
I could incorporate Aesop into the story. I changed it so that Gardner
shunned Grizzly because he was so mad that he hit him with a rock and
replaced him with Aesop. I made it to where Gardener was the main
reason that Aesop started writing stories. Gardener was so mad at
Grizzly, he encouraged Aesop to write a story about his
foolishness.
Image Source: Guardian.co.uk
"The Bear and the Gardener" by a translator who is not identified.
Aesop's Fables: A New Revised Version From Original Sourcees. (1884)
