The Dancing Bear

Before the circus

There was once a dancing circus bear, Arcadius. Arcadius was a well trained bear who was raised by the ring master, Johnathan Smith. He taught Arcadius to do many things regular bears cannot. You think that he might just be able to dance or something, but that's not all, he has the capability to understand key words among many other things. When he hears the word bath he automatically runs the other way. Johnathan teases him and says he might as well be part cat as much as he hates water.

Johnathan found Arcadius after a flood in the forest by his house when he was just a cub. When Johnathan was younger he would bring home all sorts of pets asking his mom if he could keep them. When he was a teenager and brought in a bear through the sliding door in the kitchen with a small smile on his face, asking his mother if he could keep him, you can imagine his mother's reaction. His mother finally said he could keep the small beady eyed bear in the backyard, to which Johnathan eventually protested and slept in the backyard too until Arcadius could come in.

Arcadius got separated from his family and Johnathan was in his early teens, before he joined the circus. He taught the bear tricks and flips and dog tricks from the start to end of each summer day and all the free time he had. When his father came home one day, as his job required him to travel, he had seen Arcadius for the first time. Johnathan reassured his father and took him closer to the small bear. He had taught the bear to shake hands like a dog, which wasnt very easy. When the bear shook his fathers hand and rolled over and fetched the stick numerous times, his father suggested they teach Arcadius more tricks.

Once Arcadius sat in the living room with Johnathan in front of the television, he actually payed attention to the big black box on the wall and noticed people inside. He saw them moving in such a way that caught his eye. He stood up off the floor on his hind legs a little wobbly, he tried to move as they did he did a funny prance of some sort, and tried to spin. He was moving his feet in a strange way, and on the second spin, he stopped to see Johnathan had come back from the kitchen getting more snacks. Awestruck, Johnathan tried to get Arcadius to do it again, but the bear was so insecure as he thought Johnathan thought he was strange.

Eventually Johnathan got him to do it again, and again. Soon he taught Arcadius new moves and sooner or later, he was as elegant and precise at dancing as a bear could be. One day his mother sent the two to visit his uncle a state over. They traveled by train but kept Arcadius' identity a secret. When they arrived at his uncle's he immediately loved the bear. His uncle taught Johnathan magic tricks and card tricks and all kinds of tricks, Johnathan was very interested in everything around his uncle, as he owned a magic shop. He soon took the odd pair to his biggest buyer, the circus, they watched the shows, and ate all the treats there.

After the shows were over and the candy and sweets were eaten, he introduced the two to the ringmaster. Arcadius danced and did tricks and showed the ringmaster what he could do, and he was in awe.  He waited and invited Johnathan and Arcadius to visit him in his trailer every night.  The ringmaster would tell stories and offer kettle corn and filled Johnathan's and fantasies and legends while Arcadius would listen and soon drift into sleep as the stories continued. The ringmaster told Johnathan the  circus was moving to the next state in a few days, so he wouldn't be seeing him for a long time. Johnathan grew worried and didn't want him to leave. That night he left his uncle a note saying he was leaving to join the circus as it is his passion, and on he and Arcadius went with the circus.