The Story about a President and a Bear

Once upon a time, in America, there was a president.
His name was Theodore Roosevelt, a promising man, the youngest president at that point.
For you must know, he was only 42, an age at which most men didn't know a thing about politics.
He had secured a great victory with his election and to celebrate it, he travelled across the land.
He visited every single one of the 45 states the glorious country had.
At one time, he came into a village in the northern regions, with dense forests and great lakes.
The people were overjoyed their president would come and visit them.
They wanted to give the president something special, that would always remind him of them.
So when the day came, Theodore passed through the village and onto the town's square to meet the people.
He was welcomed, men padded him on the back and shook his hand, women cried of joy and children danced and sang, all in good spirits. The mayor had brought Roosevelt onto a stage, which stood in the center of the square, and had a large box placed atop it, draped with a cloth.
The mayor gestured for silence, and the audience fell silent. He started a speech on how honoured he and the village were, that a man like Roosevelt would come and visit them. He went on and on, you know how it goes.
After a while, he proclaimed that they could only do so much for him in return. So he asked, Mr. President, wouldn't you honour our village even more and participate in our speciality, in that for which we are known and that for which many of men come to this village for.
Roosevelt ofcourse couldn't decline and he responded as to what the mayor might refer.
The mayor went to the great box and said he would show the president, pulling the cloth down.
The box had been a cage, and in it was a bear. And not just a bear, but it was a bear cub, so small and frightened, for he was blinded by the sun and scared for the spectators had started cheering again.
The mayor came upon Roosevelt with a rifle, handing it to the president, saying, Mr President, this is what many men come in search of. They come to hunt the great bears that inhabit these woods, for you see, only the bravest and most cunning of hunters can take on the vicious predator and live to tell the tale.
The crowd roared and started pushing the president to take aim at the cub. They wanted him to prove himself as a real man, and a hunter, for that was the man they would follow.
Roosevelt couldn't believe what he was seeing. A mob of people, cheering him on to kill a bear cub. He looked at the little thing, writhing in agony in it's cage, trying to find a way to escape the noise and stress.
He just couldn't do it.
He put down the rifle and called his men. They were to release the cub immediately. The mayor and the villagers did not understand. Why would the president not want to do this? It was what any great man longed to do to prove his worth.
Theodore told them there was no greatness in killing. Not without self defense or any way it would support his very survival. That fighting for a cause was righteous, and that sacrifices should be made, but innocents avoided at all costs. This cub was no hunter, wasn't the apex predator they were talking about. It was a frightened child, only wanting to return to the woods, to his mother and be safe.
If the time would come that he had to shoot a bear, because it would be eat or be eaten, he would make the call. But until them, he had no quarry with the cub.
Theodore took the cub with him, making sure it had all the care it needed. He looked after it, until it was strong again. At that point, he went back to the woods where the cub came from and released it again, so it could return to frolicking in the woods and doing bear-stuff all day long.

At that time, there was a spectator. He was a toymaker and specialised in making dolls and stuffed animals. He recognised the kind heart Roosevelt had shown that day. And he would make sure no one would ever forget what he did for that little bear.
That's why today, we still tuck our childeren in with their stuffed dolls, their Teddybears. Named after Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt and the little bear he returned home.