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Author
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Comment
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JoanneMerriam
Unregistered User
(8/25/03 11:23 am)
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Bears
Hey folks. I'm working on a nonfiction piece about seeing polar bears (if any of you are at loose ends at the end of October, you should consider visiting Churchill, Manitoba... anyway...) and I am looking for bears in folk or fairytales.
I'm not really interested in bears that are really people (like The She-Bear), but more in either origin-type stories (like Why Bears Have Stumpy Tails) or, better yet, in bears as companions/helpers (I haven't found any of these but know they must be out there) or just characters (like The Willow-Wren and the Bear or Goldilocks and the Three Bears).
Also, if anybody knows of any constellation stories besides Juno and Callisto and The Three Braves, I'd love to know about them.
Finally, in a lot of illustrations the beast in Beauty and the Beast looks like a bear. Are there any versions where he is a bear?
And, many, many², many³ thanks.
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gormghlaith
Registered User
(8/25/03 7:44 pm)
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Re: Bears
Blurbs on Ursas Major and Minor
216.239.39.104/search?q=c...n&ie=UTF-8
www.csam.montclair.edu/~w...myths.html
Native American bear stories:
www.kitsumkalum.bc.ca/myt...other.html
www.earthbow.com/native/iroquois/boy.htm
www.earthbow.com/native/c...earman.htm
hotcakencyclopedia.com/ho.BlueBear.html
www.ritualwritings.netfir.../sfc10.htm
A little bit about polar bears:
www.tv.cbc.ca/witness/polar/polcus.htm
www.rickwalton.com/authtale/baumft11.htm
Bear fairy tales:
www.pitt.edu/~dash/type1161.html
www.pitt.edu/~dash/type04...bearprince
www.surlalunefairytales.c...index.html
-tra la la, hope that helps!
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Jess
Unregistered User
(8/25/03 8:53 pm)
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On thread, but not fairy tales
My father did some research with Dr. Ralph Nelson on metabolism, thermoregulation and nutrition in polar bears back in the late 70's - early 80's. Ralph is an expert on these bears and nutrition. He is often up there in Churchill this time of year, but if you are doing something nonfiction on polar bears, you should know about him and his work. It might fill in some gaps for you. Oh, and the stories about these bears - the real bears - are fantastic.
Jess
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Jess
Unregistered User
(8/25/03 9:13 pm)
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Maybe of interest
is2.dal.ca/~thiemann/zthi.../home.html
some more "non-fiction" on polar bears with great links.
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tlchang37
Registered User
(8/25/03 11:53 pm)
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bears
A very lovely book with archetypal bear illustrations and discussion is "The Power of the Bear: Paintings by Susan Seddon Boulet", by Michael Babcock, Susan Seddon Boulet (Illustrator).
Are you interested in bears in more contemporary fantasy? Like in Pullman's, His Dark Materials trilogy?
Tara
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janeyolen
Registered User
(8/26/03 1:42 am)
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Re: bears
"East of the Sun, West of the Moon" has a bear.
"Snow White and Rose Red" ditto.
Jane
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JoanneMerriam
Registered User
(8/28/03 12:47 pm)
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This is tremendously helpful - thank you, everyone!
I'll have some fun reading through all of those links and looking up Nelson's work - thanks for the idea.
tlchang37 wrote, "Are you interested in bears in more contemporary fantasy? Like in Pullman's, His Dark Materials trilogy?" I know about that bear but am not really interested in contemporary fiction; I think that would give me too overwhelming an amount of material.
It's a short (like 3000 word) creative non-fiction piece about my own experiences seeing the bears, so I don't have a huge amount of room for non-personal information, but I really wanted it not to be entirely about my own responses, either. As I have an interest in fairy tales, I naturally thought of them as a way to broaden the material. I don't know yet how much I will end up using, but even just thinking about things can help.
Thanks so much, everybody. I'll try to remember to let you all know when it gets published (probably years from now as I'm writing it on spec, but you never know).
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Rosemary
Lake
Registered User
(8/28/03 11:09 pm)
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bears
A girl riding on the back of a white bear to his home where he wants her to live with him, is a motif in several fairy tales, not just Pullman. Your readers will perhaps know Pullman, so they might be interested in history of the motif, and also in real info about bears.
There's an unusual story in Pantheon's RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES titled "Daughter and Stepdaughter" about a girl sent to live alone in the forest. A dangerous bear visits her and makes her play blind man's buff. She wins and is rewarded. I think she and the bear become friends, tho that isn't specified.
R.
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JoanneMerriam
Registered User
(8/30/03 12:01 am)
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Thanks, Rosemary.
I had read someplace about Russian folktale bears but didn't know of any story names. Thanks!
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