Backstory: When I was in 4th grade, every student at Spring Hill Elementary was required to write a bear-themed story. The teachers then compiled all of the entries and picked their favorites to be published in "A 'Beary' Special Book" for the entire school. Out of the 400+ plus submissions, only 27 were picked for the spiral-bound book. I was the sole student to have more than one story chosen. Both stories follow in their entirety and unaltered from their original form:
How the First Plant Came to the World
Once upon a time there was a boy and a bear that lived with their grandparents because their parents drowned in the ocean. The year was 25,000 BC. At that time there wasn't a single tree or plant in the whole world. The boy and his bear thought the world was dull. So the boy said to his bear, "I'm going to find a way to make the world even more beautiful, even if it takes the rest of my life!" Even though his bear didn't talk, it had a feeling about what the boy had said.
So the boy and his companion set out to find something to give the world beauty and flavor. Then without knowing, a wolf came out of nowhere onto the path. The boy threw some rocks at it. Then he remembered his knife and drew it. But the wolf attacked him. The boy wasn't strong enough to defend himself, so he yelled "help!"
The boy's bear companion jumped on the wolf, driving his claws into him and killing the wolf. The boy, with his sore hands, thanked his bear with a hug. White hugging the bear, he noticed a little round thing in the bear's fur. The boy went home and dropped the little round thing on the ground. Then a few months later, a red fern grew right by the door.
(Author's present-day postscript: I'm pretty sure I had just finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows, which inspired certain elements of this story. It's also apparent that I hadn't paid very much attention yet to the Genesis portion of my Sunday School class.)
The Mad Bear
Once I was hiking in the woods. I bent down because there were strange prints in the ground. I knew footprints when I saw them, so these weren't prints of a foot or a paw. It was just a shape in the mud, so who or what made it must have moved around. When I turned around, off in the distance I saw a big, old Kodiak bear. A hunter couldn't have gotten him because there would have been boot tracks. I got a good enough look at him that I didn't see a trap. But I still had some doubts. I asked myself, "How do I know that this print is yours?"
Then I saw some fresh blood on some fallen leaves, leading straight to the bear's side. I stepped in the large print when something went directly in the heel of my boot. I looked under my boot. There was a thorn branch with 6-inch thorns in it.
As soon as I figured out what happened to the bear, I rushed to the nearest ranger. He went to the bear, and as soon as he calmed the bear down, the ranger patched him up.
(Although this entry lacked any type of character development, I remember being proud of myself for having crafted a story entirely in the first person, which I had just learned about in English class.)
How the First Plant Came to the World
Once upon a time there was a boy and a bear that lived with their grandparents because their parents drowned in the ocean. The year was 25,000 BC. At that time there wasn't a single tree or plant in the whole world. The boy and his bear thought the world was dull. So the boy said to his bear, "I'm going to find a way to make the world even more beautiful, even if it takes the rest of my life!" Even though his bear didn't talk, it had a feeling about what the boy had said.
So the boy and his companion set out to find something to give the world beauty and flavor. Then without knowing, a wolf came out of nowhere onto the path. The boy threw some rocks at it. Then he remembered his knife and drew it. But the wolf attacked him. The boy wasn't strong enough to defend himself, so he yelled "help!"
The boy's bear companion jumped on the wolf, driving his claws into him and killing the wolf. The boy, with his sore hands, thanked his bear with a hug. White hugging the bear, he noticed a little round thing in the bear's fur. The boy went home and dropped the little round thing on the ground. Then a few months later, a red fern grew right by the door.
(Author's present-day postscript: I'm pretty sure I had just finished reading Where the Red Fern Grows, which inspired certain elements of this story. It's also apparent that I hadn't paid very much attention yet to the Genesis portion of my Sunday School class.)
The Mad Bear
Once I was hiking in the woods. I bent down because there were strange prints in the ground. I knew footprints when I saw them, so these weren't prints of a foot or a paw. It was just a shape in the mud, so who or what made it must have moved around. When I turned around, off in the distance I saw a big, old Kodiak bear. A hunter couldn't have gotten him because there would have been boot tracks. I got a good enough look at him that I didn't see a trap. But I still had some doubts. I asked myself, "How do I know that this print is yours?"
Then I saw some fresh blood on some fallen leaves, leading straight to the bear's side. I stepped in the large print when something went directly in the heel of my boot. I looked under my boot. There was a thorn branch with 6-inch thorns in it.
As soon as I figured out what happened to the bear, I rushed to the nearest ranger. He went to the bear, and as soon as he calmed the bear down, the ranger patched him up.
(Although this entry lacked any type of character development, I remember being proud of myself for having crafted a story entirely in the first person, which I had just learned about in English class.)
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