# Disguised as dancing bear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 4, 2020, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951 "2020-01-04T23:40:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/21 "2020-01-05T21:07:14Z")
And yet for more than a century later rubes were still paying good money to see fish sewn on to monkeys, jackalopes and even [shaved bears done up as 'pig-faced ladies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig-faced_women)’, a sort of Opposite World version of the Aubrey-Maturin bear. Not everyone in the early 19th century was as switched on, worldly or completely unignorant as this site’s readers are now with their fancy internets and History Channel. Even with that I think it would be an optimistic means of escape through enemy territory, but no more implausible to us than many other things that people believed. Two contemporary examples - convicts escaping in New South Wales thought they could make it overland to China. They would tear out the compass roses from maps to help guide them on their way. The first specimen of the platypus was suspected of being a hoax. Also [this](https://nationalpost.com/news/world/a-japanese-zoo-uses-real-people-in-animal-costumes-to-practice-escape-drills-and-the-actors-are-seriously-into-it)! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/22 "2020-01-05T22:42:58Z")
There have been so many series about a hero rising through the ranks of the RN during the Napoleonic Wars, that relatively recent (anything after 1960) contributors to the genre like O’Brian must be hard-pressed to find anything original to contribute. All of these tomes include capture and inevitable escape (or parole) from the French. Honestly, the only unused plots are either boring or extremely unlikely. I imagine “disguised as a bear” was just above “dig a tunnel to Swingate” on a very short list. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2020, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/23 "2020-01-05T22:58:18Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > And yet for more than a century later rubes were still paying good money to see fish sewn on to monkeys, jackalopes and even [shaved bears done up as 'pig-faced ladies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig-faced_women)’, a sort of Opposite World version of the Aubrey-Maturin bear. On the other hand, you couldn’t pull the wool of the eyes of a scientist like, say [George Shaw](http://scihi.org/george-shaw-and-the-platypus/) with some bloody beaver with a duck’s bill sewn on, masquerading as a supposed “amazing discovery” from the Antipodes… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/24 "2020-01-06T00:59:25Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Missed edit - Quite what Mark Twain’s diatribe about Fennimore Cooper has to do with it I am not sure. 1.) I don’t see any reference to Mark Twain and Cooper above, but Twain’s two essays about Cooper’s style are hilarious. 2.) Regarding Cooper, I note that his hero – Nathaniel “Natty” Bumppo – dresses up as a bear in \* The Last of the Mohicans\*. The hear costume is actually supposed to be an Indian bear costume, so its lack of realism is not a problem. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/25 "2020-01-06T01:06:35Z")
Link in post #6 is Twain on Cooper. Worth a read any time! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/26 "2020-01-06T02:35:30Z")
Doc Savage disguises himself in an alligator suit in one book. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/27 "2020-01-06T03:15:07Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > On the other hand, you couldn’t pull the wool of the eyes of a scientist like, say [George Shaw](http://scihi.org/george-shaw-and-the-platypus/) with some bloody beaver with a duck’s bill sewn on, masquerading as a supposed “amazing discovery” from the Antipodes… Shaw would have known how to taxonomize a raw prawn when he saw one. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/28 "2020-01-06T03:57:11Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Doc Savage disguises himself in an alligator suit in one book. Off-topic a bit, but who can forget the “Holiday Armadillo”? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/29 "2020-01-06T05:04:39Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 2.) Regarding Cooper, I note that his hero – Nathaniel “Natty” Bumppo – dresses up as a bear in \* The Last of the Mohicans\*. The hear costume is actually supposed to be an Indian bear costume, so its lack of realism is not a problem. I did not know that when I added the reference. Surprise bonus win! 🐻 > [@kayT](#): > > Link in post #6 is Twain on Cooper. Worth a read any time! That was, essentially, my logic for posting it. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/30 "2020-01-06T09:03:44Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > In the Aubrey-Maturin novel by Patrick O’Brian “Post Captain”, Aubrey is forced to wear a bear costume and pass as a dancing bear to get out of France. Am I completely imagining it that this was inspired by a supposed true incident? There is Hawkeye, “Guillaume de Palerme” (fiction), and also the punishments in the Russian and Roman empires. Or you may simply be remembering Nick Cage or something from YouTube – you can have a look and decide how convincing it seems. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/31 "2020-01-06T09:20:15Z")
So then I go and look it up, and discover that disguising your self as a bear has a VVVery long literary and mythic history. > **[The Golden Ass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Ass)** > > The Metamorphoses of Apuleius, which Augustine of Hippo referred to as The Golden Ass (Asinus aureus), is the only ancient Roman novel in Latin to survive in its entirety. > The protagonist of the novel is Lucius. At the end of the novel, he is revealed to be from Madaurus, the hometown of Apuleius himself. The plot revolves around the protagonist's curiosity (curiositas) and insatiable desire to see and practice magic. While trying to perform a spell to transform into a bird, he is accidentally t... > **[THE DISGUISE MOTIF IN THE GERMANIC HERO-SAGAS : Grace van Sweringen Baur :...](https://archive.org/stream/jstor-40915008/40915008_djvu.txt)** > > THE DISGUISE MOTIF IN THE GERMANIC HERO-SAGAS is an article from Scandinavian Studies and Notes, Volume 4. View more articles from Scandinavian Studies and... ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/32 "2020-01-06T14:56:48Z")
In defense of O’Brian, while the bear scene was admittedly ridiculous, it was also delightful and hilarious. Jack in the bear suit tiredly dancing a hornpipe, and Stephen working the crowd for tips “Remember the bear sir, remember the bear!” And it’s really the only incident like that in the whole series. In terms of historical accuracy, I don’t think it’s terrible and is quite unnoticeable to the casual reader. Yes, he puts his heroes into multiple famous battles, and yes, he crams about 13 books and a decade’s worth of action into 10 months of real historical time, but what else are you going to do in historical fiction? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/33 "2020-01-06T16:05:16Z")
“If I get that man on my quarterdeck, he’ll dance!” When a British officer prisoner makes the bear dance to impress a woman. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/34 "2020-01-06T16:31:58Z")
Yes the sequence is ridiculous and very punishing to Jack. But remember the events immediately prior to this: Jack was involved in an affair with Diana and Stephen was very jealous and ready to duel with him. Emerging political and naval events shut that down pretty quickly, and then the two were thrown on shore and needed to get to Spain. I view the whole sequence as Stephen’s sly revenge on Jack. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/35 "2020-01-06T17:03:21Z")
Did anyone else think it was a reference to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahg6qcgoay4) video? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/36 "2020-01-06T17:13:15Z")
The bear scene is the least-plausible thing in the entire series (second only to two people floating in the middle of the Pacific being rescued by a native craft randomly happening upon them, and that’s at least possible if very unlikely). I wish there was an interview with “O’Brian” where it was brought up, just to know what he was thinking, given how careful he was to base the nautical adventures on actual events or at least plausible ones. [Unless, GreenWyvern, you can give examples of where he was inaccurate in naval matters?] Sure, there were some ignorant rubes around then, but most of those rubes would also have seen lots of animals up close and in person. And there were just as many smart people then as now, and plenty of relatively well-traveled and worldly suspicious people, too. [I just accept the ‘five years of action happen in one historical calendar year’ and ‘one person sees way more action than really plausible’ as necessary if we want a series longer than three or four books, so it doesn’t bother me. But the bear, I just can’t get past]. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/37 "2020-01-06T17:32:20Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > [I just accept the ‘five years of action happen in one historical calendar year’ and ‘one person sees way more action than really plausible’ as necessary if we want a series longer than three or four books, so it doesn’t bother me. The timeline was always implausible, but didn’t become impossible until around 1812. I think it was in the forward of the third or fourth book taking place in that year that O’Brian actually acknowledges, and begs the reader to excuse, this very necessary literary conceit. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/38 "2020-01-06T18:23:33Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > (second only to two people floating in the middle of the Pacific being rescued by a native craft randomly happening upon them, and that’s at least possible if very unlikely). A group of women fleeing authoritative men in their tribe, who have hacked of a male symbol of vitality from their outrigger. Given POB’s use of historical incidents, I wonder if it has any basis in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/39 "2020-01-06T18:30:51Z")
Yeah, I find that jumping the shark. A human in a bear costume would likely be exhibiting unmistakable \*human \*motions and behaviors despite trying his hardest to pass himself off as a bear. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disguised-as-dancing-bear/845951/40 "2020-01-06T18:32:38Z")
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