We will not sin against the truth if we say that the biggest bear in the world was Old Thunder from Heaven.
The biggest, yes, but not the smartest. We met in California at the time when the front range was held there, grizzly bears are so brainy that their brains were cramped in their heads. Maybe because the sun was hot there every single day? If it's not raining, it's sunny and sunny. And in the sun, you know, everything ripens alive.
Suppose a bear cub was born to a mother bear. The sun warmed him up, and, you see, his little mind quickly matured. One way or another, the IQ (intelligence quotient, as experts now say) of these bears was surprisingly high. And there were a lot of them then, apparently and invisibly - one might say, more than cattle with horns.
In any case, this is how it was on the Russian River at the time when a farmer settled on its banks. He grew succulent corn and raised pigs.
In the very first autumn, as soon as the corn began to ripen, bears wandered into his field and cleaned up every single cob.
And the farmer was figuring out: he would sell part of the corn, the rest would be fattened for pigs, also for sale, of course.
Oh, he got angry! He just lost his temper. And every time he goes into the field and sees bare stalks without plump, yellow ears, he loses his temper and can’t come to his senses. He knew for sure that these were bears, because their tracks were clearly visible on the ground. But here’s a mystery: the bears didn’t eat the corn, but took it with them.
Further - more, the pigs themselves began to disappear behind the corn. The farmer literally searched - here and there, hoping to at least find their bones in the place where the clubfooted people were feasting on hams. But I didn’t find a single one. Not even a pathetic little tail. One day he thought he heard someone screaming under a tree. He came up, and it didn’t squeal at all, but meowed; Apparently, some cat mumbled his “meow” and forgot it here.
The poor farmer almost went crazy, although five was nothing special. And suddenly he came upon a trail leading away from his cornfield. This trail zigzagged, first between the corn stripes, then climbed a hill and finally descended to a small forest about three miles from the field. The trail was a bear's, not anyone else's, because only clubfooted animals clubfoot like that.
The farmer grabbed his gun, threw it over his shoulder and walked towards that forest. He comes up and hears something like bears grumbling and puffing. I crept closer. Here you go! There are a hundred bears, no less, and everyone is at work. Yes for what! They build a pig stable from fallen trunks and thick branches and drive his own prize pigs into it! Some bears build, others carry armfuls of corn cobs, and feed the boars.
Needless to say, the clubfoot is no mistake; it means he’s preparing a reserve for the winter! What smart beasts, these bears! How can he compete with them!
The farmer turned and went home, without firing a single shot. He harnessed the horses, threw some things into the van and moved on to other places. They say that he started a farm in the mountains, began to grow boulders from pebbles in order to improve the local landscape in the Rocky Mountains or in Colorado, we don’t know for sure.
And the bears began to manage his old farm. And they succeeded at first, but then they became painfully overfed, became lazy, and almost fell into hibernation. Bears, as is well known, sleep without waking up throughout the winter months of the year. And these bears slept in winter, spring, and autumn. It got to such a point that even in the summer they fell asleep until they fell asleep forever. Maybe that’s why you can’t find such smart bears anymore in California?
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru