“The secret of the bears of Uri”

The story begins thus: Grandfather Ueli has two grandchildren, Jakob and Anna, who often visit him. They find this incredibly exciting because he lives right on the edge of a forest, where adventures await and where there are so many exciting things to see and discover. One day, just behind the house, the kids find a strange, large, brownish-grey object that looks very old indeed. They’ve never seen anything like it, so they rush over to their grandfather to ask him about it. Flustered, he says: “Oh, where did you find that? It’s a horn! I’ve not seen one in ages”. He tells them that it used to belong to a very brave boy. “Do you want to hear an exciting story about him?” he asks.

Of course they do! So Grandfather tells them how long, long ago, many bears used to live in the valley in Uri. They were big and strong and ruled over the forests and the valley itself. And because the forest was home to so many animals, they all had to help look after it. One day, people also came to the valley. And as is the way of things, those people were thoughtless in what they did. They used the wood of the forest to build their houses, to light their fires, to heat their homes and cook their food – and so the forest got smaller and smaller. The animals that lived in it had to move farther and farther away. Soon they were at a loss as to what to do, and they were sad because they had no more room to live. So the animals all got together and decided to save the forest. They made a plan …

If you want to find out what this plan involved, what the men of the forest had to do with it – the “Woldmanndli” – and what the secret was of the bears of the valley: then you’ll have to come to our Family Concert on Easter Sunday. Bernhard Russi and young actors from the region will be performing the dialect tale “Z’Gheimnis vu dä Urschner Bärrä” (“The secret of the bears of Uri”). The story is from the Association for Stories of Canton Uri and has been published as an illustrated book. Janine Zopp has adapted the text of her children’s book for this Family Concert, and Jenny Russi’s illustrations will bring the story to life in the Andermatt Concert Hall. The music will be provided by the Swiss Orchestra, conducted by Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer. Told for everyone big and small (recommended from 5 years upwards).