Wolstencroft The Bear

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by Karen Lewis
Illustrated by Michael S. Weber
Not long ago and not far away there was a beautiful, big teddy bear who sat on a shelf in a drug store waiting
for someone to buy him and give him a home.
His name was Wolstencroft. And he was no ordinary bear.
His fur was a lovely shade of light grey, and he had honey colored ears, nose and feet. His eyes were warm and
kind and he had a wonderfully wise look on his face.
Wolstencroft looked very smart in a brown plaid waistcoat with a gold satin bow tie at his neck.
Attached to the tie was a tag with his name written in bold, black letters Wolstencroft.
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Copyright 2003 Karen Lewis. Illustrations copyright 2003 Carol Moore. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any process without prior written permission from the publisher.
1st Edition. Published by Carol Moore
041907415
Wolstencroft The Bear - from Children's Storybooks Online http://www.magickeys.com/books/wolstencroft/index.html
1 of 1 01-11-2014 02:46
Wolstencroft the Bear Page 2
He had arrived in the store just before Christmas when there had been a lovely big tree in the window, all
decorated with fairy lights. Yards and yards of sar!ling tinsel had been draed over everything, and holiday music
had been laying all the time. Wolstencroft was esecially fond of "ingle Bells. He li!ed its light, tin!ling sounds. #t
always made him feel merry.
$t that time there had been lots of other bears to !ee him comany. #n fact, there had been so many teddy
bears crowded onto that one narrow shelf that he had scarcely had room to move.
But, one by one they had all gone. %leefully waving goodbye as they were carried off to their new homes. &ntil
finally, he was the only teddy bear left in the entire store.
He had hoed that 'anta Claus would dro by on Christmas (ve and deliver him to a good home. But he hadn)t.
'anta had been too busy that year, delivering even more resents than usual.
Wolstencroft felt sad and lonely sitting there all by himself on the shelf that was high above the Christmas cards.
He longed to have a child ta!e him home and love him and lay with him. But, most of all, to hug him. *or no hug
is ever too big for a teddy bear.
He was trying hard not to cry because he !new that tears would ma!e his eyes all uffy and red and then he
would have even less chance of finding a home.
But why oh why didn)t someone choose him+
Why, he wondered, was he assed over so many times for other less beautiful bears+
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Wolstencroft The Bear - Page 2 http://www.magickeys.com/books/wolstencroft/page2.html
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Then one day, shortly before Easter, three bunny rabbits were placed on the shelf beside him.
They all had very big ears and feet and long legs. All three were wearing woolen sweaters.
ita abbit wore a pin! sweater. oger abbit a green one. And onnie wore blue.
oger and onnie were twins, and ita was their sister.
"#y you are a handsome bear," ita told Wolstencroft after the store had closed for the night. "$%m surprised
that no one has bought you and ta!en you home."
"&o am $," replied Wolstencroft and, although he tried very hard to stop it, a tear rolled down his furry chee!.
onnie and oger had 'umped down off the shelf and were playing tag up and down the aisles.
"Be careful and don%t !noc! anything over," ita called to them.
ita loo!ed closely at Wolstencroft from every angle. &he peered into his face and circled around him, her nose
twitching. (e had noticed that bunnies% noses twitch a lot. Then she sat down and remained deep in thought for a
very long time.
"Well," he as!ed her, unable to stand the suspense any longer. "What do you thin! is wrong with me) Why
doesn%t anyone want to buy me)"
"$t must be your name," ita answered.
"#y name*" e+claimed Wolstencroft. "Why, what%s wrong with my name)"
",h, there%s nothing wrong with your name," ita replied. "Wolstencroft is a wonderful name, but it%s too long
for some people to say. -ot everyone can pronounce it properly."
-ow Wolstencroft had always been able to say his name correctly. But then, it was his very own name and
everyone can say his or her own name. At least he thought that they could. -ot when they are very little, of course.
(e couldn%t say his name when he was a tiny baby bear. But after he had started going to school he !new it very
well.
"Wolstencroft," the teacher would call out. "Will you recite the alphabet for us today)"
And he would name all the letters from A to .. All /0 of them. (e was a very smart bear.
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On Easter Sunday, very early just after the store had opened, a Mommy and Daddy bought oger and onn!e
for the!r t"!n boys#
$%hey loo& n!ce,$ !ta sa!d# She "as happy that her brothers had found a good home but felt sad, too, because
she "as beg!nn!ng to m!ss them already#
't the front of the store a table had been set up "!th chocolate Easter eggs# 'nd as !t "as no" Easter Sunday,
they had been mar&ed do"n to half pr!ce#
'fter everyone had gone home for the day, Wolstencroft p!c&ed the n!cest egg he could f!nd and gave !t to !ta,
to cheer her up#
%hey shared the egg, suc&!ng on the s"eet creamy chocolate and ma&!ng sure !t d!dn(t get onto the!r clothes#
%hen they started to tal& about the name Wolstencroft aga!n#
$) "ouldn(t "ant to change !t,$ Wolstencroft declared# $ ) mean !t(s me# )(ve had !t all my l!fe#
$But !f !t(s stopp!ng you from gett!ng a home,$ !ta !ns!sted# $*ou may have to#$
She hopped over to the boo& department and returned "!th a boo& called What to Name Baby#
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Then she began reading out the names she thought might suit Wolstencroft.
"What about Adrian?" she suggested. "It's a lovely name very dignified."
But Wolstencroft shoo! his head.
"Well "hat do you thin! of Bernard? It actually means brave as a bear."
But Wolstencroft "as not im#ressed.
$o %ita left the B's and began fli##ing through the #ages of the boo! reading out a name for each letter of the
al#habet starting "ith &.
"&live 'avid (d"in )rancis *raham +o"ard Ivan ,eremy -eith .eonard /iles 0athan 1liver Percy
2uentin %odney $el"yn Timothy 3lysses 4incent Winston."
And here she sto##ed because the names beginning "ith 5 6 and 78 5avier 6ves and 7achary "ere too
difficult to #ronounce. There "as no sense in ta!ing a name that "as even harder to say than the one he already
had.
But Wolstencroft didn't li!e any of the names she suggested. At least not for himself.
"They're all fine names" he said #o##ing a #iece of chocolate into his mouth then dabbing his mouth "ith a
na#!in. "But they're 9ust not me."
%ita stayed lost in thought for a very long time ta##ing her chee! "ith her finger. And it "asn't until the big
cloc! behind the #harmacy counter struc! ten that she finally s#o!e.
"I thin! I have the ans"er" she said. "6ou could have a name that's easy to say and !ee# your name at the same
time."
Wolstencroft loo!ed #u::led. "That doesn't ma!e sense" he re#lied.
"1h but it does" %ita insisted. "6ou only have to shorten the name you have."
Wolstencroft began to loo! interested. "6ou mean I "ould still be Wolstencroft but I'd have a shorter easier to
#ronounce name for those "ho #referred it."
"That's right" she cried e;citedly. "And you have such a long name that there are several choices." And she
began tic!ing them off on her fingers.
"Woolly Wolsten $ten or &roft. Which one do you li!e best?"
Wolstencroft thought very carefully mulling over each name in his mind.
"I li!e &roft" he decided at last. It's very dignified.
%ita loo!ed disa##ointed. "I li!e Woolly best" she said. "It's so cuddly and friendly. And you are "oolly you
have a lovely thic! coat."
Wolstencroft loo!ed uncertain.
"6ou "ould still be Wolstencroft" %ita reminded him. "And that's a very dignified name indeed. Woolly "ould
be a nice contrast."
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They tal!ed it over for "ell into the night as this "as a very im#ortant decision. There are very fe" things as
im#ortant as one's name.
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But finally, just before the dawn rose in the eastern sky, Rita had convinced him that Woolly was the best
choice.
"ou!re right," Wolstencroft said as he closed his eyes and "re"ared to slee". "#t!s nice to be dignified, but not to
be stuffy."
$nd so it was that Wolstencroft became known as Woolly for short.
"# bet someone will come along and buy you tomorrow," Rita "redicted as she fetched a black felt "en from the
stationery de"artment and underneath Wolstencroft, wrote Woolly for short.
But Rita was wrong. #t was she, and not Wolstencroft, who went to a new home the ne%t day.
&obody bought Wolstencroft that day. 'r the ne%t day. 'r the day after that.
#n fact, all through that entire year, which felt very long indeed to Wolstencroft, nobody took him home to love
and to hug him. $nd by this time he longed to be hugged so badly that sometimes he thought he just couldn!t stand
it any longer. Because, of course, no hug is too big for a teddy bear.
(oon it was almost )hristmas time again. $nd the tinsel and the holly were decorating the drug store. $nd the
sho""ers were all very merry and wearing gaily colored scarves and mittens. But still no one bought Wolstencroft,
who was feeling e%tra sad and lonely sitting there all by himself high above the )hristmas cards and wra""ing
"a"er.
#t!s my name he decided sadly, as a tear rolled down his furry cheek. # hate it. $nd so does everyone else. # wish
# were called anything but Wolstencroft. *ven though it!s now Woolly for short.
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Then one frosty evening when the stars were sparkling in the night sky and snowflakes were dancing past the
windows, a little boy and his daddy came into the store.
"Hey look at this," said the daddy when he noticed Wolstencrofts name tag. "This teddy bear has the same
name as yo!" #nly yo!re called $ten for short and hes called Woolly."
"What%" The boy called o!t in s!rprise. "& didnt think anyone else in the whole great big world was called
Wolstencroft."
'nd (!st like Wolstencroft the bear, he was beginning to hate his name.
"Why dont yo! two get to know each other%" the daddy s!ggested as he lifted Wolstencroft down from the shelf.
'nd the little boy wrapped his arms aro!nd his namesake, which means someone who has the same name as
yo!rself, and stroked his soft f!r. 'nd they both loved each other from that moment on.
"& love him daddy, can & have him for )hristmas%" he asked hopef!lly. 'nd when his daddy said yes, danced
aro!nd the store with Wolstencroft, almost colliding with other shoppers as he did so.
Wolstencroft really wasnt s!ch a bad name after all they both decided as they whirled aro!nd the )hristmas
tree at the front of the store. &n fact, it was starting to so!nd better all the time now that they had fo!nd each other
in this wonderf!l way.
Wolstencroft the bear had never remembered feeling this happy before. &ndeed, he felt so chock*f!ll of (oy that
he tho!ght he (!st might b!rst. He was going to a new home at last. 'nd he knew that this little boy, who was
called $ten, wo!ld be his very best friend forever.
Then $ten gave him a h!g so big that his t!mmy was s+!ished. B!t, of co!rse, Wolstencroft didnt care. Beca!se
no h!g is too big for a teddy bear.
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