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MAGGIE'S WORLD STORY...
"THE
BEAR WHO WENT TO BETHLEHEM"
Pack up your excitement boys and girls... We're taking another trip to MAGGIE'S
WORLD, that magical place where animals do talk but people don't always
listen... This is a very special story of THE BEAR WHO WENT TO BETHLEHEM...
Many, many years ago there lived a race
of creatures called the BEARFOLK... They were big, beautiful animals with black
fur and bright blue eyes. They
looked like bears, but they talked like people... Humans who had seen and heard
them speak called them BEARFOLK...
The KINGDOM OF BEARFOLK was hidden away
on KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN that was in the middle of the GREAT DESSERT. The BEARFOLK had a magical power called TKT that enabled them
to THINK KIND THOUGHTS and send them to people all over the world... Thinking
kind thoughts---and sending them so far was hard work, and sometimes
"mean" people in far away places would not keep the thoughts they
sent... But the BEARFOLK believed that kindness would overcome evil that was in
the hearts of some people.
On the very top of KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN was
the CASTLE CAVE, where the ROYAL BEARFOLK FAMILY lived.
There was KING XYLAS, QUEEN ZNDY, PRINCESS ZOPHIE and PRINCE XANDU.
KING XYLAS was the wisest of all the
BEARFOLK. He had been a good leader
and his wisdom brought much happiness to all.
QUEEN ZNDY was the grandest cook on KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN.
Her Royal Stove had not cooled in
"hundreds and hundreds" of years because her mother and her
grandmother--and her great-grandmother and her great, great-grandmother had been
grand cooks too. There was always
something special cooking in the Royal Kitchen..."You often hear voices
from the kitchen saying "HMM GOOD" as they sampled some honey soup and
bread and honey comb jam.
Princess ZOPHIE was a wonderful
seamstress and made beautiful robes, scarves and turbans for all the ROYAL
FAMILY. All BEARFOLK families
designed their own colorful clothing, but PRINCESS ZOPHIE's creations always won
a Golden Hive Award at the BEARFOLK Festival every year...
PRINCE XANDU was big and strong and the
champion wrestler of KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN. All
the BEARFOLK loved PRINCE XANDU because he was as kind as he was strong.
He spent long hours on the Mountain Top, "THINKING KIND
THOUGHTS" and sending them far away to unknown lands.....
KING XYLAS and PRINCE XANDU were on the
top of KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN one bright and beautiful night. It was cold but cold weather does not bother BEARFOLK because
their thick fur protects them from the cold winter and the heat of summer.
They had been sitting there a long time,
sending out their Kind Thoughts when KING XYLAS suddenly turned to PRINCE XANDU
and said, "By the claws of my ancestors, "I" have never before
received a thought. But as my name
is XYLAS, a magnificent thought has come to me from some far away place."
"Tell me father," PRINCE XANDU
said. "What was the thought,
and where did it come from?"
"It was like a notion," KING
XYLAS replied, "of a promise
that a miracle human child will soon come to this world."
"A special human child,
father?"
"Yes, my son, a very special child,
so full of love and kind thoughts that there will be rejoicing in the child's
name!"
"Where will the child come?"
PRINCE XANDU asked.
"The child will come to a place
called Bethlehem, my son."
KING XYLAS smiled a smile so bright that
it shed light on the snow around them.
"Golly," PRINCE XANDU thought
out loud, "Someone sent that thought to us?"
"It was more than someone, XANDU...the
thought came from a greater power than there is on this earth!"
KING XYLAS beamed all the brighter.
"You, XANDU, must go to this place
called Bethlehem. You must take the
love of all BEARFOLK to the blessed infant.
Come, let us tell the others.......ZNDY shall bake an offering, and
ZOPHIE shall sew a scarf of royal colors for you to take to this wondrous
child!"
All the BEARFOLK gathered at the foot of
KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN to see PRINCE XANDU off on his journey to the place called
Bethlehem. He said goodbye, and
they wished him a safe journey---and then he walked through the mist that
surrounded KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN.
On the other side of the mist was the
Great Desert... scorching sun and burning sand as far as the eye could see.
PRINCE XANDU was suddenly very unhappy and afraid...("OH HOW CAN I
EVER FIND THIS PLACE CALLED BETHLEHEM?")
These were feelings XANDU had never known
before, and he was confused... He could never get across the great desert, much
less find a place he had never heard of!
Just then, as KING XYLAS had promised, a
wonderful thought struck him, and PRINCE XANDU set off across the Desert,
whistling a happy BEARFOLK tune...Every time he began to feel discouraged or
lost---another thought would strike him.
Finally, he saw the end of the desert and
the beginning of rolling hills in the distance.
PRINCE XANDU met a caravan that was
heading out into the desert. He
approached one of the camel drivers.
"May I ask of you, Sir, directions to a place called
Bethlehem?"
"Beyond that line of hills there is
the town of Bethlehem," the driver said, before he realized that a GREAT
BIG BEAR had spoken to him!
"My thanks, kind Sir!" XANDU
replied.
PRINCE XANDU "touched his turban
politely", as the startled drivers "whipped their camels into a
run" and disappeared into the darkness.
They had never heard of the BEARFOLK.
The little town of Bethlehem was asleep
when PRINCE XANDU entered. He
paused for a moment in front of the Inn....Then a thought told him to go to the
stable at the edge of town.
XANDU could hear the animals making happy
animal sounds as he entered the stable... The animals were looking from their
stalls at two humans--a man and a woman who knelt beside a manger.
PRINCE XANDU stopped suddenly, and marveled at what he saw...
There in the manger, wrapped in pieces of
linen, was a human boy child. There was only the light of a single oil lamp in
the stable, but the glow around the infant made the inside of the stable as
bright as day.
PRINCE XANDU was filled with wonderful
thoughts he had never felt before. He placed the baked offering and the
magnificent scarf at the feet of the boy child....Then XANDU knelt at the side
of the manger.
The man was called JOSEPH and the woman
was called MARY--and they did not seem surprised to see XANDU kneeling at the
manger.
JOSEPH said, "This child's name is
JESUS."
XANDU repeated the name "JESUS"
softly and thought "This night is indeed a miracle!"
PRINCE XANDU was so filled with wonderful
thoughts that he rushed from the stable, eager to share the news of
JESUS...THREE WISE MEN were approaching the stable as XANDU rushed past them.
"HE HAS COME...JESUS HAS COME!"
XANDU SHOUTED.
"THAT WAS A BEAR!" the first
Wise Man said. "A BEAR WEARING
CLOTHING!" exclaimed the second Wise Man.
A BEAR THAT SPEAKS!" said the third Wise Man.
The three Wise Men sat on their camels
and watched PRINCE XANDU disappear in the direction of the Great Desert...
"THIS IS A NIGHT OF MIRACLES!"
proclaimed the three Wise Men.
PRINCE XANDU returned to the land of the
BEARFOLK on KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN, and there was great rejoicing when he told them
about JESUS.......
It is said because PRINCE XANDU went to
Bethlehem the night that JESUS CHRIST was born, that exactly at midnight on
CHRISTMAS EVE all bears everywhere can speak...
Perhaps, they say "JESUS" just
as clearly as PRINCE XANDU did that night so long ago...
Today, as they have for thousands and
thousands of years, the BEARFOLK use their magical power of TKT to send KIND
THOUGHTS to people all over the world. Maybe
that happy thought YOU had just now came all the way from KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN!
The BEARFOLK are thankful that they can
speak, and they want to share THEIR magical power of TKT with YOU...
Close your eyes and pretend that you are
on the top of KRYSTUE MOUNTAIN.....Now think a really KIND THOUGHT for people
ALL over the world. Do this
EVERYDAY, and you will always have the MAGICAL POWER of TKT.
(THE
END)
Maggie's
World Animal Adventure Series Stories
Written
by - M. P. Marshall
(c)
A Lingovista Production