PHILOMENA AND THE BEAR

PHILOMENA AND THE BEAR 

Once upon a time, there lived a young girl as beautiful as an angel with blonde curls and the face of a cherub. Her name was Philomena, which means “loved one” in the classical Greek..Philomena, however, was not Greek. She was an orphan. Her parents, Ethel and Edmond, had been eaten by a bear when she was barely more than a babe. Since then, Philomena had been forced to live with her cruel aunt Amelia in a tiny cottage that was cold and old because her aunt was too miserly to put more than a coal or two in the fireplace or repair the sagging thatched roof. It was whispered in the village that Amelia, in a past life, had been a wicked witch with a crooked nose and a cross-eyed black cat named Poison. The rumor was also that Amelia had roasted and eaten Poison one night in a fit of temper. Philamena wished that the bear had eaten Aunt Amelia and not her parents.

But there was one consolation: the cottage they lived in was tucked into the side of the Golden Hills. And the hills indeed shone like the purest gold both night and day. People came from miles around to sit in the golden glow of the hills and only left after filling their pockets with clumps of the shiny earth.

The golden hills were Philomena’s happy place. The only place she could briefly escape her aunt.

Amelia treated poor Philomena like a pack animal, making her carry heavy bushels of laundry and vegetables back and forth, making her cook and clean until her hands were scraped and sore and her feet bruised. Meanwhile, her aunt reclined in the golden chair she had made for herself from the golden rocks which Philomena had carried to the cottage, rock by rock, and she drank from the golden cup which she had forced Philomena to make for her from the golden earth.

Each night, poor Philomena collapsed onto her bed of straw and cried herself to sleep until one day, on her way to the well with her buckets, a stranger stepped into her path.

“Greetings, young maiden, your burden looks heavy. Let me carry your buckets.”

Philomena was stuck for words. But she put the buckets down and the stranger picked them up as though they were weightless.

“Your life must be filled with such joy to set your eyes on these golden hills each morning and each night”, he said. “But where are your parents?” The stranger smiled nodding toward the hills they were passing.

“Oh, my parents are no more . They were eaten by a bear.”

Philomena couldn't help it. At the stranger's words, she began to cry loudly. Big, very wet tears rolled down her cherubic face, spilling onto her ill-fitting pinafore that was all she had to wear. She was embarrassed to be poor and to be crying in front of a stranger.

“A maiden as beautiful as yourself should never have cause to cry. My name is Adolpo. I am on a long journey. I am just passing through, but perhaps I can do something to make your life brighter, as bright as the hills here”

The stranger pulled a small cloth from his knapsack and handed it to Philomena to wipe her tears.

“My name is Philomena,” she said, making a small bow.

Something to make my life as bright as the golden hills? thought Philomena as she dabbed at her tears. Could anyone do that, least of all a stranger who was just passing through?

Then she noticed something else.

 Adolpho was tall with wide shoulders and strong hands and a nice smile, a warm smile. Surely not one of the King’s own knights was more handsome. 

The sun would be setting soon and there were chores to be done, but Philomena didn't want their talk to end. They had reached the bottom of the path that led to the cottage.

“Is there something you want more than anything in the world, Philomena? Perhaps I can get it for. I will be passing this way again shortly.”

Philomena frowned and thought. There were so many things she wanted—besides a bear to eat her aunt— how could she pick just one?

Adolpho could see her confusion.

“Here, Philomena”. He reached into his knapsack again and took her hand and placed a silver coin in her palm, and folded her fingers over the coin.

“When you think of that thing, you kiss the coin.”

“And I will get that thing?”

“If it is that thing you most want in the world, Philomena.”

The stranger gave her a small bow and set back on the path away from her, away from the golden hills. “I’ll be back to hear your wish, Philomena”

Philomena walked back to the cottage in her worn slippers, feeling every stone on the path cutting into her feet. Aunt Amelia was asleep in her chair by the fire where the last coals were smoldering. She had used the last coals in the bucket to keep herself warm while Philomena was fetching the water and the vegetables from the garden. The cottage was cold again. After her chores, she wrapped a burlap potato sack around her shoulders for some small warmth and thought about her wish, staring at the coin. 

The next morning Philomena went to the golden hills to speak her wish into the winds. 

“I wish for a bear to eat…”. Philomena had meant to say “her” (meaning Aunt Amelia, but instead had said “him. The only “him” she knew was Adolpho.

Oh no,. 

When a large black bear with black, glossy eyes, not Adolpho, showed up at the golden hills, Philomena wanted to hang a rock around her neck and throw herself into the well for what she had done.

“Philomena, it is I, Adolpho,” said the bear in a low growl, , Don’t weep.. You can rub the coin on the other side, and I will be returned to myself.”

Just then, another bear appeared, rearing up on its hind legs, showing its claws and giving the Adopho bear a terrifying roar, so terrifying that Adolpho the bear hurried off into the woods, pursued by the threatening bear

Philomena was too frightened to move. She huddled close to the ground, wrapped her arms around herself, shivering, and waited., Either Adolpho would remain a bear now or be slaughtered by another bear. And Aunt Amelia would live on. It was all her fault.

Then suddenly the woods were quiet except for the sound of the sparrows.

One of the bears appeared and approached her,

“Which bear are you?” She asked.

“Rub the coin, Philomena, and I will tell you my secret”

.

Philomena rubbed the coin, and like magic (which is exactly what it was) the bear was gone, and Adolpho was there before her, just as she remembered him. 

“That bear-was the bear that killed your parents, and that bear was someone you know.”

“Oh, that cannot be. I know no one else here in the village.” 

“That someone is someone who had a secret all these years . Your aunt was not a witch at all in another life but an evil shape-changing bear.”

Philomena wrapped her arms around her Adolpho.

“I am back,” he said. “And you are safe, and your aunt is gone.”

And they lived happily ever after, Adolpho and Philomena, in the small cottage which they repaired and heated. She was never cold or hungry again, and their love shone brighter than the Golden Hills.. 

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