I’ve just seen this thread on Twitter, with many lovely kind people replying and offering new bears.

My beautiful boy has lost his favourite thing in the world known simply as Bear. Jack is autistic and this scruffy bear has been his best friend and companion. He is completely devastated and would be so grateful to find him again. Twickenham, Teddington and local area. Pls RT pic.twitter.com/Rv45Cft0s9

— Matt Barnfield (@mattbarnfield1) April 13, 2018

It reminded me of a story I made up when I was a child, to deal with the fact that some children mistreat their bears. (No, Christopher Robin, it is not acceptable to carry them by the ear and bump them down the stairs.) I almost convinced myself that the place in my story was  real.

The story goes like this. When teddy bears are sad, or bored, or lost, they go to a place called Saftporgy. They teleport there and leave a simulacrum of themselves behind. It is an island in the middle of an ocean, and its climate and vegetation are uniquely suited to bears. The bears of Saftporgy have ample supplies of honey, and hammocks, and trees to climb. Saftporgy is basically Big Rock Candy Mountain, but for bears. It’s possible that Bear is taking a holiday in Saftporgy.

I was delighted to see, in the book The Witches’ Goddess, by Janet and Stewart Farrar, an entire chapter on teddy bears and the archetype that they represent.

There are also numerous bear goddesses: Artio, Artemis, Callisto, Mielikki, and Ildiko.

Let’s hope Jack and Bear are reunited.