Asger, the wooden love bear

Many years ago there was a boy called David, who so much wanted to be a teddy bears best friend. He just loved teddy bears, and he had about one hundred different teddy bears. But he never felt that he was the best friend of any of them. They played with him, but only for a while. Then they joined their own world of teddy bears, where they had a lot of fun. They used to have birthday parties every day, not always because one of them had birthday, but merely because they LOVED birthday parties. They could hardly wait until David got tired and went to sleep, before they started the party. They would dress up nicely and walk around to talk with everybody. And they would have music, lots of wonderful teddy bear music. Most teddy bears play an instrument, and they are particularly good with drums and trumpets. When the music started the others just had to dance. I can’t think of anything more fun and amusing than teddy bear dance. They all dance together following the rhythms, and they have so much fun. The only thing they really lived for was the birthday parties. They loved David very much, and yet they never invited him to come to their parties. Even though he was a very nice and loving little boy, they could not ask him to come, because every one who joins a teddy bear birthday party will turn into a teddy bear. And all the teddy bears knew how sorry his mum and dad would be, if he suddenly would have become a teddy bear. But as it was now, David was sad, because he couldn’t get close enough into the teddy bear world. One night when the birthday party was about to start, one of the old teddy bears jumped up onto a chair, and started to talk to all the teddy bears.

“David is such a nice boy,” he said, “and he takes so good care of us all. You all know we can’t invite him to come to our parties, because he would turn into a teddy bear himself. But we have to find a way to help him, so he can be a happy little boy again. So I think we should sit down and find a solution for how to make David happy again, instead of having our birthday party tonight.” Wauvvv, this was extraordinary. Canceling a birthday party for a boy!! None of the teddy bears had ever heard anything like it! And some of them mumbled a bit. But they all knew that the old one was right. David really deserved a special care. So they all bowed their heads in agreement, and the old teddy bear was very pleased. The meeting began, and a lot of ideas came up. Teddy bears are actually very creative when they have to. One of the youngest suggested that they made a contract with the wizard in the purple mountains. He could transform David back to a little boy again. In that way they could invite David to a birthday party once. All the young ones thought it was a splendid idea, and they applauded loudly. “Yes, we could do that”, the old teddy bear said. “I know the wizard, and I agree that he could do it. The only thing is his payment. His price for a job like that would be 5 young teddy bears for his annual wizard dinner in May. So 5 of us, or rather of you young guys have to volunteer to be eaten. Are you ready for that?”  Oh, dear – all the teddy bears looked away. No, they couldn’t do that! They talked and talked, but found no solution. The old bear finally got up again, and he said, “It seems that we can’t find a way ourselves. I suggest that we get some help from our friends.” Everybody agreed, and most of them thought there still would be time left for a small birthday party. “5 volunteers are needed to go to our friends. The rest of us will have a small birthday party now, and when the volunteers return we shall have another meeting.” This was not only unusual, it was unheard. TWO meetings on the same day!! They all knew that David had to be a very special boy. Five young adventurous teddy bears went to the oldest and told him they were willing to go. He gave them all clear instructions and sent one to the Forest, one to the Sea, one to the Mountains, one to the Sun and one to the Wind. The days went by. David was more and more sad. He looked at all his teddy bears, and he said to them, “Why are you hiding things from me? I know you are. Why can’t you let me in and be your best friend? I love you so much.” They felt sorry for the little sad boy, and hoped that their young volunteers would come back soon. After five days they were all back again, and the old teddy bear called for a meeting. When they were all gathered, he asked the 5 volunteers to enter the speaking chair, and tell them about the messages they had got. The first one stepped onto the chair and said, “I come from the Wind. And the Wind said that he will blow all the sad emotions out of David. That he will teach David how to dance with the Wind to feel the joy”. They all applauded. The next teddy bear on the chair was the one who had been to the Sun. He said, “The Sun promised to shine on David to warm up his little sad heart.  The Sun said she would give him sunshine because humans always seem to forget their worries when the sun is shining.” Another big applause! The third teddy bear entered the chair, “I have visited the Mountains, and they gave me this little piece of rock to bring home to David.” The teddy bear lifted up a piece of rock in the most brilliant colours. It was shining in pink, green and purple colours, and it radiated love and peace to every heart in the room. “The Mountains told me to put this piece of rock close to David’s bed to fill his heart with love and peace, and to protect him from all negative thoughts.” All the teddy bears just let go of a tiny tear, because it was so beautiful. The fourth bear got on the chair, wiped away the little tear and said, “I have been to the Sea, and the Sea gave me this drop of magic water to wash David’s chest in his sleep. The Sea told me, that the magic water will cleanse his heart for all sadness, and connect him to the Sea forever. Every time sadness will try to enter his heart, the water connection will be activated, and he will feel a strong urge to go to the Sea and bathe away the sadness.” This was awesome. The teddy bears bowed their heads in silence. Finally the last of the 5 volunteers entered the chair. They all listened to his words, “I have seen the Forest”, and they all sighed. The Forest is the greatest ancestor of the teddy bears, and they are all deep connected to the Forest. “I have been in the Forest,” he repeated, “and the Forest told me that he would give David the best gift of all the gifts in the world, a piece of wood – and here it is!”  They all started to mumble a little. A piece of wood! They had expected more from their great ancestor. The bear who had visited the Forest said no more. He just stood on the chair and looked around. “But didn’t you get a message of what to do with this piece of wood?” It was one of the older teddy bears that asked. “No”, he answered, “I have given you the whole message. There is nothing more!” A slight blow of disappointment went through their hearts, and they didn’t really know what to say. The oldest teddy bear spoke up, “I suggest that we cancel our birthday party for tonight. I guess we are all a bit puzzled right now, but we have got David some fantastic gifts. The Sun and the Wind will come to him by themselves. So let us instead go to David and put the rock close to his bed, wash him with the water, and lay the piece of wood on his pillow. Thereafter I suggest we all go to sleep, and tomorrow we will see if our gifts will help David.” For once they all agreed. No one of them felt like partying right now. This had never happened before! And so they all went to David’s bed, where he was fast asleep. They put the piece of rock under his bed. They looked at him and saw how he was embraced by beautiful pink, green and purple light. They took the drop of water and washed his chest. And they saw how his sadness became smaller. They felt a bit uncertain of how to treat the wood, but finally the old teddy bear took the piece and laid it on his pillow. They all kept the breath, waiting for something to happen. For a while nothing happened, and all the teddy bears were even more puzzled. Had the Forest really let them down? And while all the doubt started to crawl into their hearts, they saw that David started to smile in his sleep. His smile grew bigger and bigger, until he looked like the most happy boy on Earth. The old teddy bear suddenly understood. “We will know in time,” he said, “now we all go to sleep. This speaks of wonderful times ahead for us all.” They all honoured his age and wisdom, and they went to sleep.

Early next morning when David woke up, he felt so happy. He couldn’t stay in bed for one minute longer. He had to get up! He jumped out of bed and ran out into the sun. What a beautiful morning. The sun shined right upon him and a gentle wind stroke his cheeks. He went in again, looked under his bed and saw the stone. “Good morning’” he said to the stone,  “I knew you were there.” The stone saluted him with a rainbow of light. He then turned to the piece of wood on his pillow. “And good morning to you,” he said and gave it a beautiful smile. Then he took up the wood, and went to his fathers shed. He knew that it would be another couple of hours before his mum and dad would wake up. He found the knife he was looking for, and went down to his favourite place at the river. He closed his eyes, and started to cut the piece of wood. He didn’t need to see. With his eyes closed he remembered the wonderful dream he had in his sleep. A huge and beautiful tree came to him and said, “I am here to tell you, that because of your gentleness and your love, we all want to embrace you. You will never feel alone again, we will all be here with you, the Sea, the Sun, the Mountains, the Wind and the Forest. We bless you, and welcome you to our family. We have all given you a gift of eternal friendship and we know you will treasure them. I represent the Forest and I am the first ancestor of the teddy bears. Because of your love for teddy bears, my gift is a very special gift. A gift which has never before been given to any human. I know how you have longed to be even closer to the teddy bears, and the only reason why I have not allowed this is that you would have turned into a teddy bear yourself. It would have broken your mums and dads hearts. But as the first ancestor of the teddy bears I have found a solution to fulfill your wish. I gift you this blessed piece of wood, and I will now imprint in you the picture of the very first bear in the world. His name was Asger, and he is a forefather to the teddy bears you know today. He was the most loving creature. I gift to you today with love the tool to make Asger real again. In your fathers shed you will find a knife tomorrow. It’s a magic knife, and when you hold it against this piece of wood, it will cut you an ancestor of the teddy bears – the love bear Asger. And when you give Asger your love, he will take you safely into the teddy bear world. His power is Love and his strength is the Forest.” And David saw in his mind the little love bear Asger, and he felt the knife in his hand cutting the piece of wood. He opened his eyes and he saw the most beautiful wooden love bear. “Oh, Asger, I love you so much”. Asger just looked at him and told him without words that if only he knew just half of all the blessings of this gift, he would be overwhelmed. But he didn’t say it loud, because David would find out himself in time. A wonderful time was ahead for David and Asger.