Long ago, bears had very long tails. One day, when all the bears were trying to catch fish, the water froze up. The bears were surprised that their tails were then covered with ice. Luckily, only their tails were frozen from the cold water, and no other part of their bodies. The bears were in a hurry to get all the ice off their tails so they could hibernate.

They thought about yanking the ice off. They were determined not to give up and tried to get the ice off for one day. They kept on trying but still, they couldn't get it off. All the bears even tried to melt the ice with their own breath. Even the Wise bear couldn't think of anything to get to rid of the ice. All the bears ignored the ice on their tails for one day hoping it would melt off. They were frustrated and furious because they still couldn't get the ice off their tails.

Three days had past already but still, the bears couldn't get rid of the ice. All the bears thought the ice would never come off. One bear said, "Come on, if we wait all day for the ice to melt, we won't be able to hibernate.'' But the others disagreed. So the bear yanked off the ice. After he did, he wished he hadn't pulled the ice off his tail because he had a short tail. Some of the bears laughed at him. The bear without the tail ignored them and hibernated in the winter. Another bear did the same thing because he was tired. One by one the bears yanked the ice off their tails. Soon almost all the bears yanked the ice off their tail.

The couple of remaining bears was the Wise Bear and his assistant. The Wise Bear's assistant was tired to listen to anything because he hadn't slept for a long time. So he yanked the ice off and he hibernated. The Wise Bear shouted to his assistant and asked him why he had yanked the ice off his tail. The answer the Wise Bear got was a snore. The Wise Bear was tired. So the Wise Bear did the same thing as his assistant by yanking the ice off his tail. He had done that just because he was really tired. If he wasn't he would still be refusing to yank the ice off his tail.

So that is why bears have short tails.