Once upon a time, two friends traveled the world together. One was tall and strong. The other was small and weak. They had already experienced many adventures together. The big one didn't want to do anything without his little friend being there. The little one, on the other hand, admired his big friend and did everything he asked of him.  One day, the big boy wanted to hunt deer. The little one followed him. They spent the whole day sneaking through the forest, but found no sign of a deer. As dusk fell, they wanted to make their way home. At that moment, they heard a dangerous growling from the bushes. They remained silent and listened. The little boy whispered: "It's probably a bear. Let's go away quickly. Bears are dangerous!" But the big boy just laughed: "You're afraid of a bear? You're a coward. There are two of us. Instead of a deer, we could hunt and kill the bear." The big man spoke so boldly that the little one forgot all about his caution and agreed. "Well, let's give it a try. How are we going to kill the bear?"

"You go ahead, little friend. Scare the bear and then run away quickly. I'll hide and then kill it from ambush. You don't have to be afraid. Nothing can happen."

Because nothing bad had ever happened to him before, the little boy trusted his friend's plan. He ran through the forest with loud steps and a lot of noise. When he realized that the bear was following him, he sped up. He turned around briefly and saw that the bear was huge and had strong paws with long claws. The little boy ran even faster to the tree behind which his friend was hiding. "Now, come out and kill the bear!"

But the big boy had already seen the wild animal from afar. Full of fear, he had climbed far up the tree. From up there, he called out: "I'm here. Come up to me."

But the weak little friend didn't have the strength to climb up. So he lay down on the ground, curled up and pretended to be dead. The mighty bear came up to him, growling and snorting, and nudged him with his snout. The big man had to watch everything from above. The bear was about to eat his friend. But then he heard the bear suddenly stop growling and start making strange noises. The little boy opened his eyes and nodded: "Yes, I understood you bear. Thank you for your advice." The bear growled, turned around and disappeared into the forest. The big boy carefully climbed down from the tree and asked: "What happened? What did the bear tell you?" The little boy looked at the big boy seriously and replied: "He told me to stop following you blindly and to trust my own mind." The little boy took this advice to heart from that day on and chose his pleasures more carefully.

Fassung Anina Meile, nach: E. Schleberger, Märchen aus Sri Lanka, Köln 1982, englische Übersetzung Lysander Jaenike © Mutabor Märchenstiftung