The King of the Polar Bears

by L. Frank Baum

　　The King of the Polar Bears lived among the icebergs in the farnorth country. He was old and monstrous big; he was wise andfriendly to all who knew him. His body was thickly covered withlong, white hair that glistened like silver under the rays of themidnight sun. His claws were strong and sharp, that he might walksafely over the smooth ice or grasp and tear the fishes and sealsupon which he fed.

　　The seals were afraid when he drew near, and tried to avoid him; butthe gulls, both white and gray, loved him because he left theremnants of his feasts for them to devour.

　　Often his subjects, the polar bears, came to him for advice when illor in trouble; but they wisely kept away from his hunting grounds,lest they might interfere with his sport and arouse his anger.

　　The wolves, who sometimes came as far north as the icebergs,whispered among themselves that the King of the Polar Bears waseither a magician or under the protection of a powerful fairy. Forno earthly thing seemed able to harm him; he never failed to secureplenty of food, and he grew bigger and stronger day by day and yearby year.

　　Yet the time came when this monarch of the north met man, and hiswisdom failed him.

　　He came out of his cave among the icebergs one day and saw a boatmoving through the strip of water which had been uncovered by theshifting of the summer ice. In the boat were men.

　　The great bear had never seen such creatures before, and thereforeadvanced toward the boat, sniffing the strange scent with arousedcuriosity and wondering whether he might take them for friends orfoes, food or carrion.

　　When the king came near the water's edge a man stood up in the boatand with a queer instrument made a loud "bang!" The polar bear felta shock; his brain became numb; his thoughts deserted him; his greatlimbs shook and gave way beneath him and his body fell heavily uponthe hard ice.

　　That was all he remembered for a time.

　　When he awoke he was smarting with pain on every inch of his hugebulk, for the men had cut away his hide with its glorious white hairand carried it with them to a distant ship.

　　Above him circled thousands of his friends the gulls, wondering iftheir benefactor were really dead and it was proper to eat him. Butwhen they saw him raise his head and groan and tremble they knew hestill lived, and one of them said to his comrades:

　　"The wolves were right. The king is a great magician, for even mencannot kill him. But he suffers for lack of covering. Let us repayhis kindness to us by each giving him as many feathers as we canspare."

　　This idea pleased the gulls. One after another they plucked withtheir beaks the softest feathers from under their wings, and, flyingdown, dropped then gently upon the body of the King of the PolarBears.

　　Then they called to him in a chorus:

　　"Courage, friend! Our feathers are as soft and beautiful as your ownshaggy hair. They will guard you from the cold winds and warm youwhile you sleep. Have courage, then, and live!"

　　And the King of the Polar Bears had courage to bear his pain andlived and was strong again.

　　The feathers grew as they had grown upon the bodies of the birds andcovered him as his own hair had done. Mostly they were pure white incolor, but some from the gray gulls gave his majesty a slightmottled appearance.

　　The rest of that summer and all through the six months of night theking left his icy cavern only to fish or catch seals for food. Hefelt no shame at his feathery covering, but it was still strange tohim, and he avoided meeting any of his brother bears.

　　During this period of retirement he thought much of the men who hadharmed him, and remembered the way they had made the great "bang!"And he decided it was best to keep away from such fierce creatures.Thus he added to his store of wisdom.

　　When the moon fell away from the sky and the sun came to make theicebergs glitter with the gorgeous tintings of the rainbow, two ofthe polar bears arrived at the king's cavern to ask his advice aboutthe hunting season. But when they saw his great body covered withfeathers instead of hair they began to laugh, and one said:

　　"Our mighty king has become a bird! Who ever before heard of afeathered polar bear?"

　　Then the king gave way to wrath. He advanced upon them with deepgrowls and stately tread and with one blow of his monstrous pawstretched the mocker lifeless at his feet.

　　The other ran away to his fellows and carried the news of the king'sstrange appearance. The result was a meeting of all the polar bearsupon a broad field of ice, where they talked gravely of theremarkable change that had come upon their monarch.

　　"He is, in reality, no longer a bear," said one; "nor can he justlybe called a bird. But he is half bird and half bear, and so unfittedto remain our king."

　　"Then who shall take his place?" asked another.

　　"He who can fight the bird-bear and overcome him," answered an agedmember of the group. "Only the strongest is fit to rule our race."

　　There was silence for a time, but at length a great bear moved tothe front and said:

　　"I will fight him; I--Woof--the strongest of our race! And I will beKing of the Polar Bears."

　　The others nodded assent, and dispatched a messenger to the king tosay he must fight the great Woof and master him or resign hissovereignty.

　　"For a bear with feathers," added the messenger, "is no bear at all,and the king we obey must resemble the rest of us."

　　"I wear feathers because it pleases me," growled the king. "Am I nota great magician? But I will fight, nevertheless, and if Woofmasters me he shall be king in my stead."

　　Then he visited his friends, the gulls, who were even then feastingupon the dead bear, and told them of the coming battle.

　　"I shall conquer," he said, proudly. "Yet my people are in theright, for only a hairy one like themselves can hope to commandtheir obedience."

　　The queen gull said:

　　"I met an eagle yesterday, which had made its escape from a big cityof men. And the eagle told me he had seen a monstrous polar bearskin thrown over the back of a carriage that rolled along thestreet. That skin must have been yours, oh king, and if you wish Iwill sent an hundred of my gulls to the city to bring it back toyou."

　　"Let them go!" said the king, gruffly. And the hundred gulls weresoon flying rapidly southward.

　　For three days they flew straight as an arrow, until they came toscattered houses, to villages, and to cities. Then their searchbegan.

　　The gulls were brave, and cunning, and wise. Upon the fourth daythey reached the great metropolis, and hovered over the streetsuntil a carriage rolled along with a great white bear robe thrownover the back seat. Then the birds swooped down--the whole hundredof them--and seizing the skin in their beaks flew quickly away.

　　They were late. The king's great battle was upon the seventh day,and they must fly swiftly to reach the Polar regions by that time.

　　Meanwhile the bird-bear was preparing for his fight. He sharpenedhis claws in the small crevasses of the ice. He caught a seal andtested his big yellow teeth by crunching its bones between them. Andthe queen gull set her band to pluming the king bear's feathersuntil they lay smoothly upon his body.

　　But every day they cast anxious glances into the southern sky,watching for the hundred gulls to bring back the king's own skin.

　　The seventh day came, and all the Polar bears in that regiongathered around the king's cavern. Among them was Woof, strong andconfident of his success.

　　"The bird-bear's feathers will fly fast enough when I get my clawsupon him!" he boasted; and the others laughed and encouraged him.

　　The king was disappointed at not having recovered his skin, but heresolved to fight bravely without it. He advanced from the openingof his cavern with a proud and kingly bearing, and when he faced hisenemy he gave so terrible a growl that Woof's heart stopped beatingfor a moment, and he began to realize that a fight with the wise andmighty king of his race was no laughing matter.

　　After exchanging one or two heavy blows with his foe Woof's couragereturned, and he determined to dishearten his adversary by bluster.

　　"Come nearer, bird-bear!" he cried. "Come nearer, that I may pluckyour plumage!"

　　The defiance filled the king with rage. He ruffled his feathers as abird does, till he appeared to be twice his actual size, and then hestrode forward and struck Woof so powerful a blow that his skullcrackled like an egg-shell and he fell prone upon the ground.

　　While the assembled bears stood looking with fear and wonder attheir fallen champion the sky became darkened.

　　An hundred gulls flew down from above and dripped upon the king'sbody a skin covered with pure white hair that glittered in the sunlike silver.

　　And behold! the bears saw before them the well-known form of theirwise and respected master, and with one accord they bowed theirshaggy heads in homage to the mighty King of the Polar Bears.

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　　This story teaches us that true dignity and courage depend not uponoutward appearance, but come rather from within; also that brag andbluster are poor weapons to carry into battle.