Chapter 5 — The Bear Story

Chapter 5 of the Class 7 English NCERT textbook (An Alien Hand), "The Bear Story", is a short story by Axel Munthe about a lady who lives in an old manor-house on the border of a big forest and keeps a pet bear she is deeply fond of. Found as a helpless, half-starved cub, the bear is raised on the bottle and grows into a large, amiable animal living peaceably with the household. The central incident occurs one Sunday when the lady discovers a bear following her through the forest — with a surprising twist at the end.

• Nurture taming the wild — The story shows how care can shape nature: a half-dead cub raised on the bottle grows into a gentle, vegetarian bear who plays with dogs, carries children, and harms no one — exploring how kindness can nurture even a wild creature into a tame companion.
• The Sunday encounter and mistaken identity — The plot turns on the lady striking a forest bear she assumes is her disobedient pet. The revelation that her own bear sat home all day exposes a mistaken-identity twist, the story's central surprise and source of dramatic irony.
• Loyalty and trust in the household — Beneath the humour runs the theme of loyalty — the bear's peaceable bond with the family and the cook's testimony that clears him — reminding readers how easily trust can be misjudged and how a gentle nature is proved by faithful behaviour.

1. 01The bear cub was found half-dead of hunger in the forest and brought up on the bottle by the lady and the old cook.
2. 02He grew into a large bear but remained amiable — he never harmed anyone, lived alongside dogs and ponies, and let children sleep in his kennel.
3. 03He was a vegetarian, eating bread, porridge, potato, cabbage, and turnip; he loved apples and once had trouble resisting the beehives, for which he was chained for two days.
4. 04He was chained at night and on Sundays when his mistress walked through the dense forest to visit her married sister on the other side of the mountain-lake.
5. 05One Sunday a bear followed the lady through the forest; she hit it on the nose with her parasol so hard it broke, and the bear turned back.
6. 06When the lady returned home and began scolding her bear, the cook revealed he had sat quietly on his haunches at the kennel the entire day — the bear in the forest was not her pet but a wild bear.
7. 07The story, written by Axel Munthe, explores the themes of loyalty, mistaken identity, and the gentle nature that can be nurtured in a wild animal.