The Real Charlie Bear

January 8, 1963

One day when little Charlie Bear came into the house to get a drink of water, papa Charlie said to him, “Little Charlie, today seems to be a fine day for a long trip. Where would you like to go?”

“Can we go to the place you told us about one time — the place that’s all sand?” replied little Charlie.

“I wonder if you mean Arabia. That’s a good suggestion. Let’s go. You find Annie and I’ll ask mama Bear if she wants to go.”

In a few minutes little Annie came running in to papa Charlie Bear and asked, “Where’s Arabia, papa?”

“Arabia is just about on the other side of the world, Annie,” answered papa Charlie Bear. “If little Charlie starts from Los Angeles and goes East and you start from Los Angeles and go west, you will meet just about in Arabia.”

In a few minutes papa Charlie Bear, mama Bear, Annie Bear and little Charlie were all ready to go. They put on their traveling caps, whirled around three times, turned a somersault and there they were just outside a town in the northern part of Arabia.

The sun was shining very brightly and wherever they looked, all they could see was sand-colored hard-packed ground…there weren’t any trees — or grass — or flowers — just a few scattered low bushes without any leaves. There weren’t even any hills — just flat land.

As they walked toward the town, a man came toward them. On his head he wore a white cloth that was held in place by what looked like two strands of thick black rope. His clothing was just like a man’s white shirt except that it went way down to the ground! And he had sandals on his feet. He was thin, not very tall and nice looking with dark brown skin.

“Salahm alay-kum” said the Arabian.

“Alay-kum salahm” replied Charlie Bear.

“What are you saying?” asked Annie.

“We’re just saying ‘How do you do’ to each other,” answered papa Charlie Bear.

“Hello” said little Charlie. “Can we go into the town?”

“Welcome, little one,” said Ali bin Joseph. (That was his name.) “Come with me and I’ll show you around.”

As they went through the opening of the wall, they saw a large open area surrounded by one-story square houses each with only one door and only two or three windows. All the houses were made of the same sand-colored clay. In back of each house was a small area where the little children played while their mothers did the housework.

Some houses had ovens in the back yards…but they didn’t look like ovens at all. They looked like just rounded piles of the same sand-colored clay that were just a little higher than you are. Each oven had a hole in the front and one in the top.

Little Charlie asked, “How do the ovens work, Mr. Ali bin Joseph?”

Ali answered, “The mother makes a hot fire in the oven — heating up the whole inside. When the walls are all very hot, she puts in her round loaves of bread and the heat from the hot walls bakes the bread.”

“Why,” said mama Bear, “that’s about the way we do it too. Only we use gas or electricity instead of wood to make the oven hot.”

Little Annie had been looking around and asked, “Mr. Ali, what is that building over there that is bigger than the others?”

“That’s where the Amir lives,” answered Ali.

“Who’s the Amir?” Annie continued.

“The Amir is the man who is the leader in this village. He is the man who makes us behave. He teaches us religion. He makes sure the boys go to school.”

“Don’t the girls have to go to school, too?” Annie asked.

“No,” replied Ali, “Over here the girls learn what they need to know from their mothers in the home. The boys need to go to school so they can learn to read, write and do arithmetic so when they are grown they can go to market, do the trading and provide for their families. Would you like to visit the Amir?”

“That would be wonderful,” said Charlie Bear. “Do you think he’s at home?”

“We’ll go over and ask,” said Ali.

Ali bin Joseph went into the Amir’s house while Charlie Bear and his family waited outside. In just a few minutes, Ali came out with an invitation from the Amir for the Charlie Bear family to join him for coffee.

As they entered a large room, there was the Amir waiting to greet them.

“Salahm alay-kum” said the Amir.

“Alay-kum salahm,” replied Charlie Bear. “Thank you very much for inviting us to have coffee with you.”

“It is my pleasure to share what I have with travelers,” answered the Amir. “I see you have brought your children. Perhaps they would like to play with my children while we have our coffee.”

With that he beckoned to two little boys to come in. The boys took little Annie and little Charlie into the family courtyard where there were more boys and girls to play with. And there were some pet baby sheep and goats to play with too.

When the children had gone the Amir showed Charlie Bear and Mrs. Charlie Bear where to sit. They were so surprised. They sat on the floor! Nope! There wasn’t a single chair in the whole room. All the walls were plain without any pictures. The floor was covered by two large, bright-colored carpets and all around the edge of the room were pillows for people to sit on.

Charlie Bear watched as a boy built a fire in a corner of the room. While the water was coming to a boil, the boy ground the coffee beans and added some cardamom seeds. When the water was boiling, he poured it over the coffee which he had put in a brass coffee pot. Then he added a lot of sugar.

After he had stirred this, he poured it into a brightly polished coffee pot and filled the spout of the pot with what looked like fibers from a leaf of a date tree. These fibers served as a sieve so the coffee was clear as the boy poured it into tiny handleless cups.

When the cups were all on the brass tray, the boy passed them around — each person taking the cup with his right hand ’cause in Arabia people are not allowed to eat or drink with their left hands.

When each had finished his coffee, (which was very very strong and sweet!) the boy filled the cups again.

Charlie Bear didn’t like it very well and Mrs. Charlie Bear didn’t like it at all, but the next time the cups were empty the boy filled them again — so, Mr. and Mrs. Charlie Bear had to keep on drinking that strong strange tasting coffee.

Very quietly Ali bin Joseph told Charlie Bear that if he did not want any more coffee, then he should turn his cup from side to side and say “Bess” when the boy starts to fill the cup.

That is just what Charlie Bear said and it is just what Mrs. Charlie Bear said the next time the boy started to give them more coffee.

Charlie Bear said “Thank you” to the Amir for the coffee and told him that it was now time for them to go.

As they went out into the sunshine, there were little Charlie and little Annie all ready with their traveling caps on.

They all said “Good bye” to Mr. Ali bin Joseph, whirled around three times, turned a somersault and there they were, back home in time for Mama Bear to make some blueberry muffins for supper.