We all know bears have a short tail now but as the story goes, there was once a time when bears had long bushy tails. The following story is a Native American folk tale.

Many years ago, there once lived a bear who was very proud of his tail. The tail was thick, black and shiny. It was so long that the bear frequently tripped while walking. Despite this, the tail was his pride and joy. He loved to show off his tail to the other animals in the forest. This attitude of the bear annoyed all the animals so much. Hence, they wanted to teach him a lesson. The fox who was known to be a trickster came up with a plan.

It was winter and water in the lake was frozen. The fox made an ice hole in the lake. He caught a few fishes and sat with it waiting for the bear to turn up. The bear smelling the fish came to the fox.

“The fishes look delicious,” said the bear. “How did you catch so many of them?”

“It is simple,” replied the fox. “Do you see that ice hole? All you need to do is put your tail inside the ice hole. The fishes will bite the tail. When you feel the pain from their bite, you can pull your tail out. The fishes will be attached to the tail. But you need to have patience since it will take a long time.”

Believing the fox, the foolish bear put his tail down and sat. After sitting in the same position for a few hours, the bear felt sleepy and dozed off. Eventually, it became night and cold. It started snowing and continued the entire night.

The next month the fox came to the lake and was amused to see a big lump of snow. Realising the snow had buried the bear underneath, the fox shouted, “Bear!”

With a start, the bear woke up and pulled his tail hard. The next instant, he heard a popping sound. His tail had frozen in the ice and had broken off.

Initially worried, the foz was happy to see the bear alive. But on noticing the short tail, the fox ran away laughing. He was eager to relate the tale of the tail to the other animals.

The bear looked unhappily at the beautiful, long, shiny tail that lay on the ice. He started walking back home when he realised something.

“I am not tripping any more,” he thought. “The short tail is actually a blessing.”

From then on, no animal heard the bear boasting about anything every again. All the other animals praised the fox for his quick thinking and for saving them from the bear’s arrogance.