“Eventually, the man came back to the clearing, bringing some food for the bear. The bear ate his food and curled up to sleep. This happened every day. While the man wasn’t there, the bear walked in circles around this stake, moaning a little to himself. Very odd, thought the tree. Such a strong-looking bear – surely he could pull out that stake. Why does he put up with this unhappy situation? For even to a tree, the bear didn’t seem all that happy.”

“What did he do?” squeaks Babet.

“Well,” Jorzy says knowledgeably, “the tree was actually a magic tree, and when he wanted to, he could talk. So he bent his branches a little lower to the clearing and asked the bear what was the matter. The bear looked up with mournful eyes. ‘I am really a prince,’ he told the tree. ‘That man you see coming and going, he is an evil magician who changed me into the shape of a bear.’

“‘Why ever would he want to do that?’ asked the tree.

“‘Because he wants to rule the city instead of me. He turned me into a bear, and here I must stay for the rest of my miserable life.’ And at this point, the poor bear burst into tears.”

Jorzy gets out his pipe and stuffs it with baccy. The lantern casts long shadows across the walls.

“The tree didn’t know what to do. He didn’t like to interfere in the ways of humans, but this just didn’t seem right. So that evening, when the magician turned up with the bear’s dinner, the tree grabbed him with one of his branches and lifted him into the air. The magician was most put out. ‘Let me down!’ he cried. ‘Or I will put a spell on you!’ The tree only chuckled – he was too old to be spelled by anybody.

“And he flung the magician clear out of the forest.

“Then an amazing thing happened … the chains fell off the bear, and instead of a bear, a young man stood in the clearing. The young man bowed to the tree, and thanked him from the bottom of his heart for saving his life.

“‘Don’t mention it,’ said the tree.

“‘I won’t ever forget it,’ said the prince. And he was true to his word. Every year, from that time on, all of his friends and family came to have a marvellous picnic in the clearing to celebrate the kindness of the tree. The children climbed around the tree’s branches, and draped flower strings all over him, and everybody sang lots of happy songs to the tree.”

Jorzy finally applied a light to his pipe, puffing out smoke.

Babet holds up a finger. “Did they eat jellies?” she asks.

“Yes,” says Jorzy, “they ate lots and lots of jellies!”

* * *