One day in June, my mother was passing by the school yard. She saw a bear with his keeper standing with a chain and a bar. He also had a whistle pipe on which he played a wonderful tune. Then the bear lifted up his head and dusty feet.

It danced about in the heat on the tune which was played by the keeper. All the children laughed when they saw this sight. Then it acted as if it was digging before the Queen after which the huge animal started marching. After a while it stood motionless. Suddenly the keeper ordered it to do a somersault.

Then my mother said that the keeper went around with a begging bowl and the bear followed him. His fur was almost burning with the heat. Seeing this, the children felt ashamed and stopped laughing.

Everyone paid a penny for the dance. But the thing they saw was not the show. They could only see the bear’s aching eyes which were saying that the bear wanted to go to his house which was far-distant forests and the snow.