The Four Little Bears, a folktale

Once upon a time in the land of West Roxbury a baby was to be born. A very kind lady thought it would be so nice to give the baby a cute blanket bear before she was born. The baby's mother kindly accepted this gift to bestow to the baby after she was born. For four months the mother waited for the baby to be ready for this gift then finally she was ready. She began to swaddle the baby and cuddle her next to the Bear for sleeping time. Soon, the precious baby began to associated the Bear with sleeping and would sleep quite well with her lovey.

Not long later the mother realized how attached the baby was getting to her Bear and she began to wonder how she would keep the Bear clean. The Bear's tag warned only to hand wash very gently, however, the new mother realized that hand washing was not enough to really clean the Bear and was very unrealistic for a new mom anyway as she often did not have enough time for sleep let alone hand washing of a Bear. So the mother debated what to do. She decided to go on a Bear hunt and try to catch a brand new pink blanket Bear so if the original Bear didn't make it through the washing machine she would have a substitute for her precious baby. Thankfully she found a new Bear AND the original Bear was saved. Thus arrived to the family a second Bear.

The mother thought baby's Bear was such a great gift that she decided to bestow a Bear on another little girl to be born. However, this time the Bear hunt was more stressful for the Bear's maker had decided to change its design and she knew the new design would not be satisfactory to her baby. She needed to act quickly and she was able to catch 3 more Bears, but that was the end of the blanket Bear - no more would ever be made. She gave one Bear to the other baby girl yet to be born and put the 2 other Bears in hibernation until they were needed by her own child.

The baby loved her 2 Bears so well that the mother decided to introduce a new Bear. She figured it would be a replacement and she could put the two tired and well loved Bears into hibernation. However, the baby decided she wanted to have three. So, a Bear family was born. Each Bear was named - Daddy bear to the original Bear who subsequently lost his bow and looked more manly, Mama Bear to be a mate to the Daddy, and finally Girl Bear. Each Bear was also loved and at certain time preferred over the others. The baby was quite content with her three Bears and her mother knew there would always be one more just in case on of the Bears didn't make it.

One sunny day not that long ago the mother was doing household tasks while the baby, now grown into a toddler was at her side. The mother unknowingly lead the toddler to the Bear's hibernation cave and the toddler discovered the smooth, brand new Bear. The toddler was unable to resist the new Bear and she just HAD to have it join the family. Thus, 'Smooth Bear' arrived. The toddler loved Smooth Bear the best of all. The mother quietly placed Daddy Bear, Mama Bear and Girl Bear back in the hibernation cave and Smooth Bear became the girl's beloved.

Smooth Bear stuck by the toddler as she grew into a little girl. Bear continues to be there at night, when the girl gets hurt or sick, and travels with the girl in the car. Bear is a good and loyal friend.

The other Bears do come out of their cave every now and then, especially to fill-in for Smooth if she has to go through the laundry. But, Smooth continues to be the girl's most beloved and together they will live happily ever after.

Pictured Left to Right: Daddy Bear, Mama Bear, Girl Bear, and Smooth Bear.

The girl and her beloved, Smooth Bear