This text is an edit for educational purposes of the 1939 story “The Bear Who Let it Alone” by James Thurber. It and other stories can be found in the collection Fables for Our Time and Famous Poems Illustrated.
In the woods of the Far West there once lived a brown bear who could take it or leave it. He would go into a bar where they sold mead, and he would take his time having just two drinks. Then he would leave some bills on the bar and say, “See what the bears in the back room will have,” and he would leave for home.
But there came a day when the brown bear had just one mead too many, and he took up drinking.
He would stumble home at night, trying as he could to get back to his family, kicking over the umbrella stand, knocking down the lamps, and ramming his elbows through the windows.
Then he would collapse on the floor and lie there until he went to sleep.
His wife was greatly distressed, and his children were very frightened.
At length the bear saw the error of his ways and began to reform. He became a famous teetotaler, never again touching another drop of mead, and a persistent lecturer on temperance. He would tell everybody that came to his house about the importance of moderation in all things, about the awful effects of drink, and he would boast about how strong and well he had become since he gave up touching the stuff.
To demonstrate this, he would stand on his head and on his hands and he would turn cartwheels in the house, kicking over the umbrella stand, knocking down the lamps, and ramming his elbows through the windows.
Then he would lie down on the floor, tired by his exercise, and go to sleep.
His wife was greatly distressed, and his children were very frightened.
