And he was turning you with snout and clutch?”
“He told me to look after other wares,
Nor deal in skins of uncaught living bears.”
Jean de la Fontaine, “The Bear and the Two Companions”
Do you remember, dear reader, the fairy tale of Snow White and Rose Red who lived in the deep forest alone with their mother? No need to look for the dusty volumes of Grimms’ Fairy Tales; we will retell the story here because it reveals another secret about the bear.
Once upon a time, a poor widow lived alone in a cottage and in front two rose bushes grew—one of them had white blossoms and the other one had red blossoms. The widow had two daughters who were like the rose bushes—one was called Snow White and the other was called Rose Red.
One evening when the cold autumn wind was already blowing over the pines and a merry fire was burning in the hearth, they heard a knocking at the door. The mother said, “Rose Red, open the door. It is probably a wayfarer looking for a place to stay the night.” Rose Red went and unbolted the door thinking it was probably a poor wayfarer who had knocked. But it was no wayfarer—it was a bear that poked its big black head into the door as soon as it was opened enough! Rose Red screamed and jumped back. The lamb bleated, the dove fluttered, and Snow White hid behind her mother’s bed.
But the bear began to speak, saying, “Do not be afraid. I will not hurt you. I am half frozen and only wish to warm up a bit.”
“You poor bear,” said the mother, “lie down near the fire and be careful not to burn your fur!” Then she called out to her daughters, “Snow White, Rose Red, come out of hiding. The bear will not hurt you. He means it honestly.” Both girls came back out and the lamb and dove also came closer and lost their fear.
The bear spoke, “Children, come closer and brush the snow out of my fur.” They got a broom and brushed his fur and the bear stretched out near the fire and grumbled in a happy and satisfied manner. It did not take them long to become good friends and play happily with each other. The girls would tousle his fur with their hands, put their feet on his back and push him back and forth mischievously, or they grabbed a hazel switch and playfully hit him, laughing when their clumsy guest grumbled. The bear put up with it all but when they got too rambunctious, he would say, “Let me keep on living, children. Snow White, Rose Red, do not slay your suitor!”
Evenings, when the others went to bed, the mother said to the bear, “You can stay here near the hearth. Here you are protected from the cold and the bad weather.” As soon as the morning began to break the children let him out and he wandered off to spend the whole day in the forest. The bear came back the same time each evening to spend the night near the hearth and let the children play with him as much as they wished. The children became so used to having him there that the door was not bolted in the evening until their furry guest was back.
When spring came and everything began to turn green outside, the bear said to the two girls, “Now I must leave and cannot come back for the whole summer.”
“Where will you go, dear bear?” Snow White asked.
“I have to go into the forest and protect my treasures from the wicked dwarves. In the winter when the earth was frozen, they had to stay below the ground and could not reach the surface. But now that the sun warms the surface of the earth, they climb up to search for and steal treasures. Whatever they get their hands on and hide in their caves is not easy to find again.” Snow White was very sad to see him go. When she unbolted the door and he pushed through, he got stuck. A piece of skin was scratched open on the door hinge and Snow White thought she saw gold shimmer through the torn skin, but she was not completely sure about it. The bear hurried on out and was soon out of sight.
Sometime later, the mother sent the girls out to gather some brushwood for fire. They found a big tree on the forest floor that had been felled. Something was jumping up and down between the tree trunk and the grass, but they couldn’t tell what it was. When they got closer, they saw it was a dwarf with an old wrinkled face and a long white beard. The end of his beard was stuck under the tree trunk and the dwarf jumped this way and that like a puppy on a leash, not knowing how to get out of the predicament. The children tugged and tugged, but they could not get his beard out from under the tree.
“I will go get some other people to help!” Rose Red said.
“Crazy blockheads!” the dwarf snarled. “Why would you go get more people? You two are already two too many! Can’t you think of anything better?”
“Don’t be impatient,” said Snow White, “I will think of something.” With that, she took a pair of scissors out of her apron pocket and cut off the end of his beard.
As soon as the dwarf noticed he was free, he grabbed a bag of gold that was between the roots of the tree and grumbled, “Uncouth girls, cutting my fine beard! Go to blazes!” With that he swung the bag over his shoulder and went off without once looking back.
On another occasion, Snow White and Rose Red went to the stream to catch some fish for supper. As they approached, they saw something that looked like a big grasshopper hopping toward the water as if it wanted to jump in. They came closer and realized that it was the dwarf. “Where do you want to go?” asked Rose Red. “You surely do not want to go into the water!”
“Do I look like such a fool,” the dwarf yelled, “don’t you see that accursed fish wants to pull me in?” He had been sitting there fishing and the wind had tangled up his beard with the fishing line. A big fish had taken the bait and was stronger than the dwarf, so it was pulling the dwarf toward the water. The dwarf grabbed onto the rushes and stalks, but the fish was getting the upper hand just as the girls arrived. They held on to him and tried to loosen his beard from the fishing line, but it was too entwined. There was again no other choice than to cut the beard free from the line, resulting in a very scraggy-looking beard.
When the dwarf saw his reflection in the water, he yelled at the girls, “You dumbbells, what kind of manners do you have—how do I look now? As if it wasn’t enough you cut the bottom off. Now I can’t show myself in front of my people! I wish the two of you have to walk and have no soles on your shoes!” Then he grabbed a bag of pearls he had in the rushes, and without another word he disappeared behind a rock.
It was not much longer after this last incident that the girls had been sent to town by their mother to buy thread and needles and colorful ribbons. The pathway to town went through a big patch of heather that had huge rocks strewn here and there. They saw a big bird circling slowly in the sky and then it dived near one of the rocks. Right afterward, they heard a piercing, pitiful scream. They ran up to the rock and saw that the eagle had grabbed their old acquaintance the dwarf and was preparing to fly off with him. The girls had pity on the dwarf and pulled at him so long until the eagle finally let him go.
As soon as the dwarf got over his shock he yelled with his screechy voice, “Couldn’t you have been more gentle with me? My elegant gown is torn and full of holes. Clumsy and awkward riffraff, you are!” Then he grabbed a sack full of jewels and slipped off into his cave. The girls had become used to his thanklessness and continued on their way. After taking care of their business in town as they were on their way home they happened upon the dwarf again, who had emptied his bag of jewels in a clearing and was admiring them. He did not think someone would come by so late in the day. The setting sun shone on the jewels, and they shone so brightly that the girls had to stop and admire them.
“What are you two gaping at?” the dwarf yelled at them, his otherwise ashen face turning bright red and looking furious. He wanted to continue ranting at them when a loud grumbling was heard and a big black bear appeared out of the forest. The dwarf jumped up in shock, but he couldn’t reach his bolt hole as the bear was already on top of him. Terrified, he called out, “Dear bear, spare me. I will give you all of my treasures. Look, the beautiful jewels there. Spare my life. What could you want with a small fry like myself? You would not even feel me between your teeth.
Take those two godless girls there, such delicate tidbits, eat them, in God’s name!” The bear did not listen to the dwarf but gave him an ear cuff with his paw and the dwarf did not budge again.
The girls had run off, but the bear caught up with them. “Snow White, Rose Red, do not be afraid. Wait, I want to walk with you.” They recognized his voice and stood still. As soon as the bear was near them, the bearskin fell off and a handsome young man dressed in gold stood in front of them. “I am a king’s son,” he spoke, “and that godless dwarf that had stolen all of my treasures cursed me to be a wild bear in the forest until I would be redeemed by his death. Now he has gotten his well-deserved punishment!”
Snow White married him and Rose Red married his brother. They shared the huge treasure that they found in the dwarf’s cave. The old mother lived happily for many years with her children. She took the two rose bushes with her and planted them near her window where they flowered every year, one white and the other red.
Snow White and Rose Red riding the bear
The bear kills the wicked dwarf
The Croesus of the Animal Realm
In the tale of Snow White and Rose Red, it becomes evident that the bear, despite its wild appearance, is not only noble, but also rich—tremendously rich. How else could it be? Do we not know him as the companion of the earth goddess who pours her cornucopia over the fields and meadows, causing crates, barrels, and warehouses to overflow? We meet the king of the animals here as a guardian of immeasurable treasures, as the owner of precious jewels, pearls, and piles of gold. Because the inner earth is not closed off from him, he has access to secret chambers where jewels grow, buried gold lies, and veins of silver crisscross the rock substrata. This story seems to relate to another legend in which a bear shows Saint Mang the gold and silver veins in the mountains, which made affluent the monastery in southern Germany, Saint Mang’s Abbey, Fuessen. It is also surely not by chance that, according to legend, the cellar underneath the city hall in Berne, Switzerland, was once a bear’s cave. The oldest silver coin (from the thirteenth century, called a Batzen; see illustration) of the city shows a striding bear and, on top of it, the crowned head of the king.
Bernese coin, “Der Batzen,” thirteenth century
The word Batzen spread far and wide in German-speaking areas, and etymologists believe it goes back to the words Betz or Petz, which is the German equivalent to the affectionate Bruin (bear) (Roehrich 2001, 1:158).
Even in the nerve centers of the modern financial world, on Wall Street, in Frankfurt, or Zurich, one can hear the bear grumbling in bear markets, bear operations, and bear sales. This term used by stock exchange speculators goes back to a pan-European adage that one should not sell a bear’s fur before having skinned one.1
Bruin is fabulously rich without having to work hard and without having to be stingy and miserly. Wealth simply falls to him. It is part of his being. Even when he is lazy, lying around, and taking it easy, his wealth never becomes less. After all, he is a king. Astrologists attribute a Jupiter nature to the bear. Jupiter, the gold-crowned king of the planets, ruler over thunder and lightning, is the giver of fullness, wealth, and joy that can also turn into their opposites: gluttony, sloth, and obesity. Hardly any other animal is so Jupiter-like. A tale from Lapland tries to tell how Bruin became so blessed:
Once, when the Lord was still with us here on earth, he came to a raging river that he could not cross. He asked a horse that was grazing on the riverbank if it would take him on its back and bring him across. The horse whinnied proudly and turned away. Not long afterward the Lord met a bear that was catching fish in the stream. He also asked him if he would carry him across. The bear did not hesitate and, as if he were Saint Christopher himself, he carried the Lord over to the other side.
The Lord said to the horse: “Because you refused to render me even only this small service, you will have to spend your life with hard work, pulling coaches and plows and carrying heavy loads on your back—and that with only meager fare!”
Turning toward the bear he announced: “And you, dear bear, you will be granted a pleasant life without work. You may sleep the whole winter and in the summer the best tidbits, berries, honey, and other treasures will be yours!”
Krishna Humbles the Bear King
The wealth of bears is also well-known in India. They know that Jambavat2 (the king of the bears) has a never-ending treasure of gold and precious jewels, but he also has wisdom. Because he is wise, he has always honored Vishnu, the Preserver of the Universe. Whenever meanness and injustice get the upper hand, Vishnu appears as an earthly being to save the world with Jambavat right there at his side.
When Vishnu appeared incarnated as a dwarf, took three strides across the world, and so saved it from the despotic rule of the demon king, Bali, it was the bear who blew into the big horn announcing the victory to the entire world at once. When Vishnu incarnated another time as Rama to slay the demon king of Sri Lanka, Ravanna, the bear king marched alongside the monkey army with an entire army of bears, helping the mission to succeed.
Only once has Jambavat been blinded by possessiveness and crossed the great god. A fabulous jewel, Syamantaka, shone as bright as the sun and generated a wagon full of gold every day; those near it lost all fear of bad omens, wild animals, dangerous fires, robbers, and famine. This miracle jewel belonged to the sun god who once gave it to his most loyal worshiper in recognition of his devotion. His devotee accepted the gift with gratitude; however, soon doubt crept into his mind. He felt unsure that he could measure up to such a jewel. In addition, the sun devotee was afraid that Vishnu, who was at that time incarnated as the cowherd Krishna on earth, might take the jewel away from him because he loved jewels as much as he loved women. So, he decided to give the jewel to his brother, Prasena, who was stronger than he was.
But the jewel had another characteristic: It brought luck to the good, but the bad could only expect misfortune. Prasena had a bad core, and no sooner had he received the jewel than great misfortune befell him. A lion attacked and ate him, and then took off carrying the brilliant sun jewel in its mouth.
Jambavat happened along, and he wanted to show the lion who was really the king of the animals. He swiped the lion with his paw and the lion staggered. Then the bear grabbed the lion in a bear hug and squeezed so hard that the lion quit breathing for good. Grumbling in a satisfied manner, the bear took the jewel in his mouth and trotted off to his palace down under the ground. No one except God himself would be able to take his prize away from him.
In the meantime, the sun worshiper began to worry about his brother who had disappeared without a trace, just as the jewel had. He wondered if cowherd Krishna had snatched the jewel and maybe even killed his brother to get it. Krishna assured him he was innocent and even promised to help find the magical jewel. He immediately took off following the tracks of unlucky Prasena. After some time, he saw Prasena’s tracks seemed to disappear into a heap of dust and turn into lion tracks. Soon enough these tracks turned into bear tracks and Krishna followed them to the mouth of a cave. He entered and demanded the jewel. Jambavat had given it to his son and he was playing with it. A terrible battle ensued. After seven days Krishna’s friends and devotees thought the divine human would never return alive from the bear’s cave. Crying and lamenting, they cut off their hair in mourning and put on white mourning clothes.
It was not until the twenty-first day that the bear surrendered to the divine supremacy and handed over the loot. As an extra gesture of conciliation, the bear also gave Krishna his daughter in marriage. After all, not only all treasures but also each woman’s heart (each soul) belong to the blue god—who symbolizes the higher being in each of us.
Krishna’s fight with the bear king
Zalmoxis and Immortality
The Getae and Datians, who once ruled over southeastern Europe (the Balkans), worshiped a bear god they called Zalmoxis—the name allegedly means “bearskin.” This god, who occasionally disquieted the people with roaring
thunder and lightning, was seen as the giver of all goods. Every five years, a messenger presented the humans’ concerns to the bear god. To send the messenger on his way, the priests grabbed him by his hands and feet, swung him for momentum, and then threw him up as high as possible. Three upright spears caught him when he came back down, and his immediate death was considered a good omen and guarantee that Zalmoxis would continue to be benevolent (Eliade 1981, 4:57).
Herodot, the Hellenistic historian, has this bear god as a human being. In ethnocentric self-aggrandizement, he claims that Zalmoxis was a slave belonging to the great Greek philosopher Pythagoras from whom Zalmoxis learned about immortality. How else could such a primitive barbarian have ever come upon such a lofty idea? Zalmoxis, though a slave, is supposed to have been outrageously rich. When he returned to the barbarian Datians, he is said to have built a giant festival hall where he hosted his fellow tribesmen with fine wines and opulent meals. During the feasts, he instructed them, telling them that their souls were immortal and would go to a place where they would live forever and have precious possessions. One day, Zalmoxis is said to have disappeared into a subterranean chamber. Since he did not come back, the barbarians believed he must have died and they mourned him with great lamentation. But after three whole years, he came back up—like a bear out of hibernation—looking healthy and lively. Since then, reports Herodot, these people believed in eternal life.
The Greeks were the first to practice anthropocentrism and were the founders of humanism. They humanized their gods and put the human being in the midst of all that took place. In this respect, we have taken over their inheritance. However, it is probable that this Zalmoxis, the god of the ancient Getae and Datians, is the very bear that goes in and out of the realm of the goddess of death and that is so immeasurably rich because all the riches of the depths are available to him. The feasts described by Herodot and Zalmoxis’s three-year residence beneath the earth were probably part of an ancient initiation ritual. It was also said that Zalmoxis gained great wisdom under the earth as well as the ability to predict the weather.
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