Week 9 Storytelling: Mr. Piddles Comes to Life

Mr. Piddles! from stuffedark

“Grammy!!!” Jonathon called from his room.

Grammy Ronni was babysitting Jonathon once again while her son was traveling for work. 

“Yes, dear?” Grammy Ronni stood up from the living room chair and walked to Jonathon’s room.

“Can you tell Mr. Piddles a bedtime story? He had a nightmare and can’t fall asleep.” Jonathon waved Mr. Piddles, a stuffed polar bear, at Grammy Ronni. Mr. Piddles had been a gift from Jonathon’s father after his last trip to Alaska. 

“Of course, Jonathon, Mr. Piddles deserves a good night's rest.” Grammy Ronni sat down on Jonathon’s bed, cleared her throat, and began to tell her story.

“Once upon a time, there was a woman who lived in Alaska―”

“That’s where Mr. Piddles is from!” Jonathon never could contain his excitement during story time.

“Yes, Jonathon, now be quiet or Mr. Piddles won’t be able to hear the story,” Jonathon nodded his head and snuggled down into his bed.

“Now where was I... oh yes! A woman in Alaska was very lonely and struggled to find food. The men of the village would go hunting, but there was very little food to go around. One day the hunters brought back a large amount of fish and behind them came a small polar bear cub. They told the woman that the cub had followed them while they had been fishing and there was no mother bear to be found! 

“Well, I can take the cub,” the woman said, “but he will need a name. Perhaps Mr. Piddles will do!”
Jonathon laughed and whispered to Mr. Piddles, “That’s you!”

“The hunters gave the cub to the woman and she led him to her hut. She shared the few fish that she had with him and he curled up on her bed when they went to sleep. After several weeks Mr. Piddles became very large. All of the other villagers came to know the woman and her pet, Mr. Piddles. The woman even talked to Mr. Piddles as though he was a human!

“Mr. Piddles, today we are going shopping, so we have to put on your collar. Otherwise the villagers might think you are a stray polar bear.” She had woven him a pretty collar out of rope so that he would not be attacked. 

Mr. Piddles would nod and let out a small growl so that the woman would know he understood her. They walked through the village every morning and eventually the villagers grew to know Mr. Piddles and the woman. However, one day a stranger came and couldn’t believe his eyes! A domesticated polar bear had never been seen before in his village. He immediately ran home and told everyone in his village about the strange bear and woman he had seen. Soon word spread and one of the villagers wanted to kidnap Mr. Piddles, for he had become quite the expert fisher! 

So the man and one of his friends snuck back to Mr. Piddles’ village at night. They crept to the woman’s hut and placed a handmade leash on Mr. Piddles. Mr. Piddles was very confused because he did not know these men. He decided to go with them though, because he liked to go on adventures. 

After they left the village for a day, though, Mr. Piddles had had enough! The men had fed him fish and treated him well, but he missed the woman who had raised him. Speaking of which, the woman was very upset about the missing Mr. Piddles! She had never gone a day without Mr. Piddles since she had adopted him. 

After another day at the new village, Mr. Piddles began to roar and pull against the leash. This broke very easily because after all Mr. Piddles was a polar bear! He quickly ran back to the woman’s village and found her hut. He popped up onto his hind legs and gave her a big hug! Mr. Piddles had been very worried about the woman and was glad to be at home. The woman returned the hug and the village decided to celebrate Mr. Piddles’ return with a fish festival the next day. Mr. Piddles was very excited when he saw all the fish the next day at the festival. The whole village celebrated and so it came to be that every year on March 23^rd they celebrated Mr. Piddles. The end!”

Grammy Ronni turned to look at Jonathon and he had fallen asleep- this time snuggled up with his new best friend Mr. Piddles. 

Author’s Note:

This story was taken from the Eskimo story titled: The WomanWho Had a Bear as a Foster-Son collected by Knud Rasmussen. I really enjoyed reading the story, and thought it would perfectly transform into a bedtime story for Jonathon. The tale was about a woman who adopted a polar bear cub whose mother was killed by the village’s hunters. This seemed a little too gruesome to include in a bedtime story, as well as the ending in which the bear gets killed by another villages hunters.  To still include the other village I thought I would make it a kidnapping for the bear’s fishing expertise! Mr. Piddles is the name of my neighbors’ cat back in Mustang. I would babysit him when my neighbors would travel, so I have become quite fond of the little fellow. I thought it was about time that Jonathon had a stuffed animal to snuggle up with in bed and this was the perfect time to do it! And if dad is away traveling, he must be bringing back gifts for his son occasionally. It also reminds me a bit of Calvin and Hobbes so maybe there will be Jonathon and Mr. Piddles adventures!