Resonant Object: Mr. Jingles
History
There once was a little girl who lived in a little white house by the water with her mother and father. Every night, her father would sing to her as he tucked her into bed — a beloved old standard one night, a bawdy sea shanty the next — and she imagined she must have been the luckiest daughter in the world.
Then one night, as her father came to tuck her in, she noticed he wasn’t singing. When she asked him why, he revealed to her the object he’d been hiding behind his back; a bright white teddy bear, a “polar teddy bear,” he told her. In addition to a black bow tie, the bear bore three tiny black bells in a line down its abdomen, buttons on an otherwise invisible tuxedo, which jingled when it shifted in her father’s hand. “This is Mr. Jingles,” he told her, settling the bear under her arm. “He’ll be looking out for you while I’m away.”
When she asked him where he was going, her father explained (as best he could to a girl so young) that his country needed him, and that he was going off to fight for it. When she realized what he was saying, she burst into tears and begged him not to go, forbid him to ever leave her and her mother. He hugged her and insisted that he loved her, but in the end, left her all the same. And when he did not return soon after, the little girl grew resentful of the bear and took it out to the water’s edge one afternoon. Spitting curses at her father’s name, she angrily tore off the teddy bear’s arms and legs and cast them into the depths, leaving the stump there on the bank.
Several weeks later, her father returned home from a place her mother called “Gallipoli.” When the army car arrived, two soldiers pulled from the back seat the man that once had been her father. Both his arms and both his legs had been blown off in the Battle of Suvla Bay, and all that remained was a head and torso. When the girl saw her father, her mind snapped and she raced back to the water’s edge, desperate to the find the bear. It was still there, its white fur now matted and discolored, its perfect bow tie bent askew. Convinced that her only hope was to retrieve the pieces she’d cast aside, she dove fearlessly into the water and promptly drowned, her helpless father crying her name from above.
While the cotton limbs of Mr. Jingles never were recovered, the rest of the bear lived on. After losing his daughter, the grief-stricken father couldn’t bring himself to part with it, and it stayed by his bedside until the day of his death, passing soon after to his young goddaughter, a little girl of about his daughter’s age . . .
Then one night, as her father came to tuck her in, she noticed he wasn’t singing. When she asked him why, he revealed to her the object he’d been hiding behind his back; a bright white teddy bear, a “polar teddy bear,” he told her. In addition to a black bow tie, the bear bore three tiny black bells in a line down its abdomen, buttons on an otherwise invisible tuxedo, which jingled when it shifted in her father’s hand. “This is Mr. Jingles,” he told her, settling the bear under her arm. “He’ll be looking out for you while I’m away.”
When she asked him where he was going, her father explained (as best he could to a girl so young) that his country needed him, and that he was going off to fight for it. When she realized what he was saying, she burst into tears and begged him not to go, forbid him to ever leave her and her mother. He hugged her and insisted that he loved her, but in the end, left her all the same. And when he did not return soon after, the little girl grew resentful of the bear and took it out to the water’s edge one afternoon. Spitting curses at her father’s name, she angrily tore off the teddy bear’s arms and legs and cast them into the depths, leaving the stump there on the bank.
Several weeks later, her father returned home from a place her mother called “Gallipoli.” When the army car arrived, two soldiers pulled from the back seat the man that once had been her father. Both his arms and both his legs had been blown off in the Battle of Suvla Bay, and all that remained was a head and torso. When the girl saw her father, her mind snapped and she raced back to the water’s edge, desperate to the find the bear. It was still there, its white fur now matted and discolored, its perfect bow tie bent askew. Convinced that her only hope was to retrieve the pieces she’d cast aside, she dove fearlessly into the water and promptly drowned, her helpless father crying her name from above.
While the cotton limbs of Mr. Jingles never were recovered, the rest of the bear lived on. After losing his daughter, the grief-stricken father couldn’t bring himself to part with it, and it stayed by his bedside until the day of his death, passing soon after to his young goddaughter, a little girl of about his daughter’s age . . .
Item type
Toy
Owning Organization
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