There is to the very North of China a Small Land mass surrounded on three sides by water and joined to Mainland China by a long narrow causeway.

When the tide is high or the winds strong it is nigh on impossible to get to Mainland China. The inhabitants of this land mass used to be very small people because the authorities at that time had deemed them to be too small to be of any use to society. Before these small people it was inhabited by large brown Bears.

“You are of no use to anyone,” Bawled the government officer

“From this day on you and your like will be sent to a region in the Far North of China a region known as The Royal Kingdom of Bears.”

(The Bears that had lived there had all been rounded up years previously and taken to bile farms.)

“What will we do there?” Asked one of them, Lee Hung Fat.

“Do what you like.” Said the government officer

“But don’t bother me anymore you little people, just go away.” He barked

When they reached the Royal Kingdom of Bears they felt cold, unhappy and unwanted. What were they to do with their time?

Suddenly, as if someone was listening to their thoughts a large roar came from deep within the woods.

“I’ll tell you what you can do,” Roared a Very, Very large Bear

“Follow me,”

A follow him they did, through the dense undergrowth until they came upon a clearing that housed a large wooden building.

“How come you can speak like us?” Asked Lee Hung Fat

“Because I have special powers,” Roared the bear

“ I have been sent here from a distant star, called the Great Bear in order to save all the bears that have been rounded up and sent to the bile farms,”

“Come with me I’ve something to show you”

Inside the building was a large machine made of brass.

“What is that?” Asked one of the small people

“That my good friend is a love stuffing machine.” Said the large bear

“What we are going to do is make little bears, you humans call them Teddy Bears, and we are going to stuff them full of love,”

“Stuff them full of love, is that possible?” Asked one of the small people

“Yes indeed it is, in fact we will stuff them so full of love that Humans all over the World will want to buy them,” The large Bear answered.

“Then with the money we make we are going to save all those poor Bears that have been taken to the vile farms, sorry I meant to say Bile farms,”

“Let me show you how to do it,” The large bear said.

From a large wooden box he took out what looked like a very small bear that had been squashed flat.

“This little chap is called Kuokee, named after a little bear that lives on Ursaminor. He switched on the brass machine and placed a little tube into the squashed bear.

“This is the only tube that should be placed into Bears,” He said

“And only toy bears,”

“Unlike those at the bile farms that take the life out of bears, our tube stuffs the bears with love and life,”

Well as the love was stuffed into Kuokee a strange thing happened. Kuokee’s nose changed into the shape of a heart and a smile appeared on his face.

“Look,” said one of the small people

“Kuokee has a heart and the love stuffing has made him smile,”

“Yes indeed,” Said the large bear

“If more humans had been stuffed with love, you wouldn’t have been sent here, and the bears would not be on those bile farms,” Said the large bear.

Under the guidance of Lee Hung Fat the small people worked day and night producing these small Teddy Bears that were loved and cherished the world over and one by one the large bears were saved from the bile farms.

On a clear night if your look up at the stars you can sometimes see Kuokee’s smiling face looking down on the planet, his little red heart shaped nose glowing in the dark and a smile on his face. All those bears that have been saved from the bile farms now inhabit the Royal Kingdom of Bears; and the small people have gone to live in The Kingdom of Heaven as a reward for all their hard work.

Copyright Paul Lakeman