Teaching a Big Bear New Tricks

A story of strength and love. The muscle growth has happened prior to the beginning. Please don't read if you're looking for something else.

It was the summer of 1962 and a sickening humid day in rural Alabama. The circus had recently arrived in my hometown of just over five thousand people and I had chosen to spend one of my final days of freedom at the popular weeklong event. My college graduation had been two weeks earlier and I was set to start the world of adulthood as an accountant in the nearby larger city of Mobile in just five days. The Shrine Circus was always a mixture of fair rides, freakish sideshows, and the main event in the central big tent. My favorite part had always been the smaller tents that highlighted unbelievable attractions from across the globe. One year I watched a boa constrictor swallow a small sheep, another year I was surprised by an authentic bearded lady, and the advertisements this year touted a wild strong man called “The Bear.” This spectacle seemed to excite me in a different way than all the others that came before. It was hard to explain, but I wanted to see this man more than anything. I looked at the cartoon posters scattered across town that showed a guy in a red suit coat and top hat cracking a whip at a huge hairy man-beast who was lifting a rock that was larger than an elephant. I didn’t understand why the picture caught my attention in such a special way, but I was ready to check out ‘The Bear’ for myself. After buying my ticket I avoided all the rides and amusement games and headed for one of the side tents, which had a big sign announcing the beast I had come to see. I stood in line with about twenty other people until the appointed hour and we were ushered into the tent.

It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust. There was a four-foot high fence in the middle of the open space. It prevented the crowd from getting too close to a large cage that spread across the complete back end of the tent. My gaze was immediately drawn to a hulking figure sitting on the ground in the back corner of the tightly barred spacious container. I scooted quickly up to the fence so there’d be no one between the show and me. At first it was hard to determine anything specific about the huge mound of skin and hair sitting on the ground. I was finally able to discern dark brown bloodshot eyes darting quickly back and forth across the crowd as if it was trying to seek out the greatest danger. I also began to see that the huge figure wasn’t just a huge blob - there was actually definition and enormous body parts to the mass on the floor. I was able to discern humongous fur-covered shoulders rising up and down as the beast breathed in and out. The Bear seemed to be sitting in a crouched position with his monstrous legs in front of him. The hairy calves were huge and the upper legs were almost unrecognizable – since they each easily dwarfed the bodies of most healthy teenagers. My cousin Farley was one of the biggest men in Alabama and before the Bear even stood up I could tell it was twice as large or even more.

At that moment, the red coated guy with the top hat from the posters walked into the space between the fence and cage and took a wooden cane and let it hit up against the bars as he moved up and down the large space. I could hear how sturdy the thick metal poles were, which was the obvious intention of his actions. The guy in the top hat turned to the crowd.

“Ladies and Gentleman. Welcome to our show today. We have something so spectacular for you to see that you’ll be talking about it for weeks to come. The Shrine Circus has searched the world over to find mind-blowing acts for you to see and this year we have brought you one of the best. Recently, I was in Yugoslavia and introduced to something so unbelievable that I knew I must have it for our circus. I must warn you, though, if you are faint of heart you will want to step back from the fence – for what we have here today is as frightening as it is amazing. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Bear.”

As he spoke the man pulled out a key and opened a giant padlock attached to a large chain draped around two bars that sat side by side at what was a door to the cage. The announcer carefully locked the door behind him after entering. I noticed immediately that the hulking figure in the corner seemed to cower even more into a huge ball. The gentleman in the coat unhooked a coiled whip from his belt and snapped it loudly into the open space. He then took a pistol from its holster at his side and held it in his other hand. A low grumbling noise came from the mass of hair and what I now knew was muscle in the corner of the cage. It caused the back of my neck to tingle in either fear or anticipation – I couldn’t tell what emotion was stronger. A few ladies immediately backed up from the fence – and a couple of guys, too. I didn’t move an inch. The second loud crack of the whip was in the direction of the Bear and the announcer yelled something that was unrecognizable. I assumed it was Yugoslavian or maybe something else. All that happened in the next few seconds made my knees begin to visibly wobble and my eyes to widen in disbelief.

The gentleman with the whip had obviously ordered the Bear to stand up for the huge hulk immediately began to unfold from its crouching position and when it was fully up on its barrel-sized legs the crowd began to gasp in fear and awe. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. As the man-beast rose up the giant hide of a large brown bear fell away from its body. I had mistaken the fur of the bearskin with the dark hair of the living thing underneath. The Bear was indeed covered in dark thick hair, but it was not enough to completely hide the giant body beneath, as I had originally thought. The man standing before us appeared to be as thick as one of the bulls my uncle kept fenced in at his farm - just for impregnating cows. The Bear’s shoulders were a foot higher than those of the man with the whip – and just one of them seemed as wide as the entire smaller man. The face of the beast was a mixture of wildness and rugged good looks. Its head was covered in long hair – down to the shoulders - but its dark beard was neatly trimmed along the strong chin. The resemblance to my uncle’s bull continued when you took in the Bear’s thick neck. I believe the thick support under its big head was as wide as my waist. My mouth dropped open even further and I let out a small yelp-like sound when my eyes finally took in the behemoth’s hairy chest and stomach. For years I had secretly salivated over the mostly unclothed body of Charles Atlas in comic books. I had always dreamed of ordering his dynamic tension program and building my chest up like the guy on the beach in the ads, but what stood before me put the Atlas body to shame. If Charles Atlas was considered big then the thing before me had to be what you would call massive or gargantuan. The Bear didn’t have a flat stomach like Atlas or Steve Reeves in that Hercules’ film, but it was clear the thick hard mid-section before us was needed to hold up such a giant chest, shoulders, and arms. My first glance at the Bear’s limbs hanging from his shoulders almost made me faint. My moment of taking it all in was interrupted when the whip cracked again and another order was given in the same strange language.

“I can tell everyone is quite taken with The Bear. Now, let me show you what he can do.”

The ringmaster or whatever he would be called stepped over to a big bar on the ground with giant metal balls attached to its ends. Hand painted in white on both of the hefty-looking round black globes was the number two hundred. The man in the red coat put one of his heavy boots against what he called a barbell and seemed to use all of his strength to try and move it. The immense looking thing didn’t move an inch. He then asked the crowd if anyone wanted to come in and try to lift the thing – in case they didn’t believe it was real – but we all turned down the offer quickly and were completely satisfied that it weighed over four hundred pounds. My cousin Farley had once carried a small cow for a short distance – but the thing had only weighed two hundred and he used his shoulders. My body was beginning to tingle all over as I figured out that the Bear was going to lift this thing with just his hands. The whip again snapped loudly and this time is was very close to the big beast. Another order in the foreign language was given and the giant hulk moved to the barbell. The Bear bent down and wrapped his huge hands around the bar. This action gave me a perfect look at his thick arms. I knew with just one glance that each of his forearms were wider than one of my legs and his upper arms were thicker than both of my legs put together. I could feel the same warm stirring in my crotch that had happened the first time I gazed on Steve Reeves in ‘Hercules.” I could feel my big friend below my waist getting stiff. There was just something about big muscles that always gave me an embarrassing boner.

Right before the creature in front of us lifted the bar he stared at the faces of the crowd. It seemed like it was a trick it had been taught to do – to increase the effect – but when the Bear got to my excited smiling face he paused a little and seemed to look right into my soul. I saw the big brute move his gaze down my body and the sides of his mouth seemed to curl slightly upward when he saw what I’m sure was the prominent outline of my hard dick in my pants. He then returned his eyes to mine and kept them locked on me as he raised the bar into the air. It was done so quickly that I almost didn’t believe it had happened, but then I watched as the Bear held the big thing above his head and every muscle in his body seemed to pop out to new size. He then pumped it up and down a few times to really prove what he was capable of, finally stopping with it in the air. The giant then gritted his teeth and we watched as his forearms, upper arms, and shoulders started to tighten, causing cord-like veins to appear everywhere. I had no idea what was happening, but then I noticed that the middle of the bar above his head was slowly inching upward. The man was bending the metal bar and causing the big balls to move toward each other. After getting it almost to a right angle he let it drop to the ground with a loud thud and we all stared as the heavy balls, which had sunk partially into the ground because of their weight. The Bear had not taken his eyes off of me the entire time. I surveyed his massive body and noticed it was now covered in mouth-watering droplets of sweat, which matted his body hair in places and emphasized his bulking muscles.

The sudden crack of the whip, this time hitting the left shoulder of the bear, caused me to snap out of my muscle trance. I looked at the Bear’s face to see if it registered pain but it was obvious he had not felt anything at all – it had probably only felt like a fly landing on him. I did notice that the big beast glared at the ringmaster and a sneer crept across his lips. I glanced at the guy in the red coat and noticed a distinct look of fear – even if it was very brief.

“There you have it, Ladies and Gentlemen, the full power of the Bear. This is surely the strongest man in the world. Remember, everyone, that this creature will be displaying his strength even more under the big top later this evening. Make sure you don’t miss the main show tonight at six. But wait, what’s this? It seems like the Bear has seen something in the audience that he likes. I must warn you, ladies and gentlemen, when he gets like this we have trouble containing him. I think he has seen some pretty young lady who has made his animal instincts go out of control. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep him from going wild. Folks, it would be best if you exited the tent right away. Just to your right there!”

It was pretty clear that this was all part of the act. The Bear had started acting a little crazy, grabbing the bars and shaking the entire cage. The thing started growling and grunting like an animal and the ringmaster was playing the part of a worried keeper – but very poorly. He started cracking the whip into the air and yelling orders in the foreign language. Some of the people around me immediately stepped back and one or two of the ladies screamed. I didn’t move. I was mesmerized as I watched the Bear grab two metal bars of the cage and start to pull them apart. I could hear the steel squealing as his strong hands easily deformed it. The big man never took his eyes from me as he started to pry the bars away from each other. I moved my gaze back and forth between his huge arms and his eyes – wanting to see what his power could do but also somehow on fire by how he looked at me. It was a feeling I had never experienced before. Just as the Bear got the bars pried far enough apart for him to turn sideways and stick his upper body through – reaching out toward us with a huge hand – the ringmaster shot his gun into the air. All noise and motion stopped – even the Bear quickly snapped back into the cage and froze. The ringmaster shouted an order and the huge man immediately moved to the back corner, crouched down, and covered his large frame with the bearskin. Something made me look up at the roof of the tent – fully intending to see bullet holes, but none were there. Just as I had thought, the gun used blanks.

“No need to panic, folks. The Bear just wanted to make contact with some pretty girl. Don’t worry; we have him under control. Come to the big top later tonight and you’ll see him do a lot more. Everyone can exit out to your right. Have a great day.”

The crowd started to move toward the tent opening. I wanted desperately to stay – and I didn’t know why. It was clear that the Bear had not noticed some girl, for he had stared at me the entire time. His gaze had made my stomach feel weirder than I ever remembered. I moved with the crowd but just before exiting I stepped behind a large wooden cutout of “The Bear” that was used for decoration in the front section of the viewing area. My heart was pounding, but I was compelled to stay by some unknown desire and it was the most powerful pull I had ever felt. Someone outside closed the opening to the tent and suddenly there were only three of us in the space. I was ready to somehow get a chance to face the Bear one on one.

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