A Bear and His Ego

There was once a young polar bear, who lived in the North Pole. He was only but a cub, and was trudging along in the snow, as polar bears do, when he ran into a wraithlike creature perched on a rock.

"I wonder if it tastes good," thought the bear, and he was about to take a bite out of it when the creature spoke.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You might not like what you find."

"What are you?" asked the polar bear.

"Well, I'm your Ego, of course! Haven't you seen an Ego before?"

Now, the polar bear hadn't really seen an ego before (he was a very young bear after all), but he didn't quite want to admit that, so he shook his shaggy fur and growled in his more haughty manner ,"Of course I knew that."

"Well, wonderful of you, old chap. After all, we're fairly well known creatures."

"Really?"

The Ego sniffed. "Naturally. We're everywhere. Anyway buddy boy, I'm your personal ego, so I do hope we'll get on famously. I wouldn't want to turn into one of those."

The young polar bear turned curiously to where his Ego was pointing, and blinked owlishly.

Another polar bear was on the horizon, trailed by an grotesque, oversized wraithlike thing, that bore a slight resemblance to his Ego, but only slight. The other bear growled deep in his throat, an annoyed kind of sound, as he looked around the ice.

"He's not from around these parts," whispered the young polar bear to his Ego, deciding that he didn't really want to get in the way of the other bear.

"No, not quite. His Ego wouldn't let him ask for directions though, and he's wandered a long way from his way of the Pole. 

"That's horrible!" gasped the young bear, his head swimming with the thought of being far away from his local fishing spot. He shuddered. "That's not very nice of his Ego. I hope you won't do that to me!" he continued reproachfuly.

"That's the sad part chap. We're linked, you and I. What you do, you do to me."

"Huh?" (He was a very young cub after all).

His Ego sighed. "Let's go, old boy. We have a long way to go. To cut a long story short, we impact on each other - you on me and me on you. It's a finely tuned balancing sort of system - everyone has an Ego - it's just a matter of how much you pander to it. See, I'm a fairly independent thing myself, and don't fancy being tied down by the whims of anyone - but as nature would have it, that's the very nature of my self. What you do, you do to me as well."

"I see." The polar bear sat and thought for a second. "I've never had to think much about my ego before, but you seem like an honest chap sir, and I'll try my best to keep you on the straight and narrow."

"Wonderful, just wonderful. I see we're going to be fast friends."

And so they set off into the sunset, the young polar bear and his ego side by side, walking into the icy plains of the North Pole.