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Class-7th

Sub-English

Book-An Alien Hand

Chapter-8

The Bear Story

Prepared by- Krishna Murari Tiwari, TGT-English, JNV Sant Kabir Nagar (U.P.)

There was once a lady who lived in an old manor-house on the border of a big forest.

This lady had a pet bear she was very fond of.

It had been found in the forest, half dead of hunger.

This was several years ago and now it had grown up to a big bear and strong.

He was a most amiable bear who did not dream of harming anybody, man or beast.

The children used to ride on his back.

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The three dogs loved to play all sorts of games with him, pull his ears and his tail and tease him in every way, but he did not mind it in the least.

He had never tasted meat; he ate bread, porridge, potato, cabbage, turnip.

In the autumn he used to sit and look with wistful eyes at the ripening apples in the orchard.

Bears look clumsy and slow in their movements, but try a bear with an apple tree.

You will soon find out that he can easily beat any school boy at that game.

Now he had learnt that it was against the law, but he kept his small eyes wide open for any apples that fell to the ground.

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There had also been some difficulties about the beehives; he had been punished for this by being put on the chain for two days with a bleeding nose.

He had never done it again.

He was also put on the chain on Sundays when his mistress went to spend the afternoon with her married sister.

Now he knew quite well what it meant when his mistress put him on the chain on Sundays, with a friendly tap on his head and the promise of an apple on her return if he had been good during her absence.

One Sunday when the lady had chained him up as usual and was about half-way through the forest, she suddenly thought she heard the cracking of a tree-branch on the winding footpath behind her.

She looked back and was horrified to see the bear coming along full speed.

The lady was very angry, she was already late for lunch, there was no time to take him back home.

It was very naughty of him to have disobeyed her.

She told him in her severest voice to go back at once, menacing him with her parasol

He did not want to go back and kept on sniffing at her.

When the lady saw that he had even lost his new collar, she got still more angry and hit him on the nose with her parasol so hard that it broke in two.

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She went up to him and began to scold him most severely and said he would have to be chained for two more days. The old cook who loved the bear as if he had been her son rushed out from the kitchen very angry.

When the lady came home in the evening, the bear was sitting in his usual place outside his kennel looking very sorry for himself. The lady was still very angry

What are you scolding him for, missus,” said the cook; “he has been as good as gold the whole day, bless him! He has been sitting here quite still on his haunches as meek as an angel, looking the whole time towards the gate for you to come back.”

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AXEL MUNTH

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