Origin of the Eggbear

by Baby Kat Snophlake

There once was a great chef of a small village near where Meltokio stands today. This great chef had a shed full of his greatest secrets to the most delicious food in the world. People lined up at his restaurant, coming from near and far just to taste his new latest dish. He had made anything from potato salad to pork cutlets and it was always the best anyone had ever tasted.

One night, Brown Bear sniffed the air and smelled the delicious supper that the chef had made, and he licked his chops. The chef had always made plenty for everyone to get their fill, and indeed everyone had except for Brown Bear who was not welcome in the village anyway, but that mattered little as there was none left anyway. So the chef packed up his ingredients, washed his dishes, and went to bed.

Brown Bear found the pans used to cook the meal but they were all empty, dripping dry from being washed, and there was not a morsel to be found. He could still smell a mysterious scent, and followed his nose to the shed where the chef kept all of his ingredients. Now Brown Bear's claws were very strong, so a quick swipe at the lock was all that he needed to break open the door. He opened the door and wandered inside.

The shelves were stocked with many spices, dried vegetables and fruits, salted meats, and an ice chest for food that needed to remain cold. All the ingredients were the freshest that Brown Bear had ever smelled, but still that mysterious smell lingered. The bear followed his nose to one particular spice. The scent was so strong it wafted through the woven basket where it was stored, but he had to stand full length to reach it. Thank heavens that bears were blessed with long arms! Brown Bear pulled the top off the basket and inhaled deeply, sticking his nose as close to the basket as he could manage.

This was indeed the right spot!

He pulled down the basket with one grubby paw, but the basket tipped over, showering him in the strange spice. He stuck out a tongue, catching as many of the floating pieces as he could. This spice was delicious! He savored every lick, ignoring how the spice was landing on and all around him.

Spices were very good to eat but they had no substance, so he was still hungry. He sniffed around for other food as well, perhaps something more solid. He found the salted meats and sat on an ice cooler. With each steak he picked up with his paws, the spice would drift from him to the food he was eating, and the steak would be flavored with the same spice, making it even more delicious. This had to be the secret to the chef's cooking!

Satisfied that he had eaten his fill, the bear wandered out of the shed and strode away from the village with a full tummy. As he walked, he could hear faint whispers of all kinds. Some were shrieks of surprise or fear, others were snickers of laughter. He had no idea why so he asked the nearest animal, Mother Boar with her two babies, all of whom were shivering where they stood.

"Fear not, Friend Boar for I have eaten my fill. But now as I walk, I'm hearing more laughing and cries and I was wondering if you could tell me why?"

The Mother Boar relaxed then seemed surprised. "Friend Brown Bear? Is that you?"

"Yes, don't you recognize me?"

"I would," Mother Boar said, "except that you're in disguise! Why, dear friend, are you purple from head to foot?"

Brown Bear looked down at himself and sure enough, the spice had left its purple color sprinkled on his fur. He was no longer recognizable! What kind of spice was that chef using?!

"I'm sorry, Friend Boar! I had eaten a most wonderful feast and I had not realized that I was being painted as I ate! What should I do to remove the purple coloring?"

Mother Boar thought for a moment then stamped her foot. "I have an idea! Eggs are really good for your hair. They will make you silky and are good for helping to get sap out of your fur. If anything would get that spice paint out of your fur, it would be eggs!"

Brown Bear nodded, for surely Mother Boar knew what she was talking about! "And I remember seeing eggs in that chef's stores. I'll just go back and borrow a few."

Mother Boar nodded and Brown Bear turned back the way he had come. He reopened the door to the shed and found the stack of egg cartons full of pearly white eggs. He picked up a few and cracked them over his head, allowing the yolk and whites to soak thoroughly into his fur. He rubbed his fur all over, cracking more eggs as necessary to remove the dye, but no matter how much he scrubbed, the purple spice remained tainted to his coat.

He worked through the night, dragging the eggs to the well so he could mix the water with the eggs to see if that worked. He tried mixing mayonnaise into that mix, and peanuts mashed into a paste, butter fresh from the churn, but nothing worked. He washed out everything and sat among the eggshells crestfallen and purple.

By now it was almost dawn and the chef woke up to begin his morning preparations of breakfast for the villagers and village guests. He was always the first to wake, so when he got up to walk to his shed, he was the first to notice that it had been ransacked.

"Oh dear! What could have happened to my stores last night?" He followed the trail of eggshells and spoiled ingredients to Brown Bear sitting depressed. He noticed the purple fur and the egg yolks dripping from the ends of the hair and he shook where he stood. This was no normal bear! "I don't mean to interrupt," the chef said. Brown Bear turned his head most surprised to see the chef standing not far away from him. "But it seems that you have taken food from my stores. What am I to cook with now?"

Bear drooped his head and faced the chef. "I do apologize," Bear replied, "for my intrusion. I was very hungry but now I have paid the price for my theft. Your purple spice has tainted my fur and now I am no longer recognizable as the Brown Bear that I am. Please allow me to replace your stores, and I will leave you be."

The chef, realizing that Brown Bear had been covered with Purple Satay, the chef's secret ingredient, knew he couldn't allow Brown Bear to wander freely for fear that his secret would become known widespread.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to wander. If people found out you are actually a bear covered with my secret ingredient, the purple spice, my business would be ruined. I need you to be locked up where they won't find you."

Brown Bear didn't like that idea at all. He rather liked being able to run free. "Maybe we could make a deal. I will pretend to be something else. I will be ferocious so that no one will want to approach me. No one will find out our secret. I will be called something else so that I cannot be mistaken for a Brown Bear. I shall replace your stores as payment for my crime. As payment for my freedom, I will help keep your secret!"

The chef pondered that for a moment. Surely, if Brown Bear managed to find another name, maybe his secret would be safe after all. "Okay, as long as no one finds out about my secret ingredient from you, you may roam free. In the meantime, you can restock my stores by night so that no one will see you. I will call you Eggbear as you seem to like eggs so much you are covered in them."

Brown Bear nodded. "Then so I shall be called Eggbear. I will be ferocious and I will replace what I have stolen."

And so the Eggbear has been around Meltokio ever since, restoring the stores of the Wonder Chef, yet the Eggbears are the most ferocious monsters, allowing no one to get near them, and it was by no fault of the Eggbear when the rest of the world learned of the Wonder Chef's secret ingredient. After word got out, Eggbear was released of his duties and allowed freedom to wander. This is why today's Eggbears are so ferocious and mean, yet Wonder Chefs can walk freely among them.


A/N:

About the Folk Tale: The Wonder Chefs of old would be aghast to find their secret is widely known, but Purple Satay had long ago been discovered as a tasty ingredient to many recipes. There have always been those skeptics though who feel that the Eggbear had come first and the Brown Bear is actually a decedent. This story, passed down by the Wonder Chefs themselves, appear to ring true to the truth, but I suppose we'll never know.

Notes from the Authoress: In coinciding with Jellyfish's folk tales, I decided to create a collection that may never see my other stories. Hence this was born from flipping through the monster list and realizing that so many monsters look similar but are differently colored with varying meanness. Then I wondered about Eggbears and now we all know where they came from and why they are so named.

--Kat