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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