The Berenstain Bear Scouts and the Evil Eye (7 page)

That's when the Bear Scouts caught on to what was happening. “Good grief!” cried Brother. “He's hypnotizing Bigpaw!”

“Of course!” said Lizzy. “That's what Ralph must have been reading about in
Swindler's Magazine
!”

“Hmm,” said Brother. “If Ralph and hypnotism were a dangerous combination, Ralph, McGreed, and hypnotism are a hundred times as dangerous.”

“That's right,” said Fred. “If McGreed gets Bigpaw under his control, he could control all of Bear Country in a matter of days!”

“We've got to do something!” cried Lizzy.

“But what?” cried Sister.

McGreed had put Bigpaw into a deep sleep. “When you wake up,” said McGreed, “you will be my servant, and I will be your master. You will obey my every command, whatever it may be.”

“Yes, master,” said Bigpaw.

“When I snap my fingers,” said McGreed, “you will wake up and put me down.”

McGreed snapped his fingers. Bigpaw woke up and put McGreed down.

“Bigpaw,” said McGreed. “Who am I?”

“You my master,” said Bigpaw.

“And who are you?” said McGreed.

“I your servant,” said Bigpaw.

“Do the thing with the Bear Scouts, chief,” urged Ralph. He set up the cardboard Bear Scout cutouts on the ledge.

“Your nose is swollen,” said McGreed. “Why is that?”

“Mosquitoes bite Bigpaw's nose,” said the big fellow. “Bigpaw hate mosquitoes,” he said, looking around for some. “Where mosquitoes? Bigpaw bash 'em!”

“They're right there,” said McGreed, pointing to the Bear Scout cutouts.

They were very good cutouts. They looked exactly like the Bear Scouts. But to the deeply hypnotized Bigpaw they looked exactly like mosquitoes. “Bigpaw hate mosquitoes!” he roared. “Bigpaw bash 'em!” He rushed at the Bear Scout cutouts and beat them to a pulp.

“Stop! Stop!” cried the scouts as they poured out from behind the rocks. “Those are bad guys! Don't listen to them! Don't listen to them!”

“It's those infernal Bear Scouts,” snarled McGreed. “They foiled our last scheme. It's time to put an end to them! Bigpaw, deal with those mosquitoes!”

Bigpaw looked at the scouts. “Bigpaw hate mosquitoes. Mosquitoes bite Bigpaw's nose. Make it itch. Make it sore.” He moved toward the Bear Scouts, swinging his clublike banjo. But it seemed to Ralph that the big guy's heart wasn't really in it. Ralph began to worry a bit. What was it that the magazine had said about the power of hypnotism?

McGreed urged Bigpaw on. “Bash 'em! Smash 'em!” he shouted. “Give those rotten mosquitoes what for!”

Bigpaw was about to do just that. He had backed the scouts up against the mountain and was about to smash them with his mighty banjo. The scouts realized that their friend was hypnotized and didn't know what he was doing. “Don't, Bigpaw! Don't!” they screamed. “We're not mosquitoes! We're the Bear Scouts! We're your friends! We love each other!”

That was what Ralph was trying to remember from the magazine: that there was one power hypnotism couldn't overcome—the power of love!

And so it was that Bigpaw did not smash the Bear Scouts. Because what it said in the magazine was true. Just as Bigpaw was about to strike, the power of love broke through. Bigpaw looked at the scouts as if for the first time. “You not mosquitoes,” he said. “You Bear Scouts. You my friends.”

“I think we'd better get out of here fast,” said Ralph. He and McGreed began to edge toward the getaway cave.

Bigpaw turned to Ralph and McGreed. “You not Bigpaw's friends!” he said, raising his banjo. “You bad guys! Bigpaw not hurt Bear Scouts. Bigpaw hurt bad guys!” With that, Bigpaw charged.

“Run for your life!” screamed Ralph. The miserable, scheming twosome streaked for the cave. They got there a split second before Bigpaw hit the cave entrance so hard that the mountain shook and the cave collapsed. There was a rumble inside the mountain.

“Those guys never bother Bigpaw again,” said the big fellow.

Brother put his ear to the mountain. “Those guys will never bother
anybody
again,” he said.

Bigpaw knelt down and held up his great palm. “Way to go!” said Brother as one by one the Bear Scouts stepped up and high-fived their enormous friend.

It was too much to say that Ralph and McGreed would never bother anyone again. It
was
fair to say that the collapse of the cave and the rockslide that followed would put them out of action for quite a while. The rockslide followed Ralph and the great singing expert all the way back down the secret, twisting, turning passageway and dumped them, tattered and torn, in Weaselworld. Ralph crawled out of the rock pile before McGreed came to and made a fast getaway. He certainly wasn't going to hang around and let McGreed turn him back into Big Red Rooster.

As Ralph made his way back to his houseboat, he thought about hypnotism and the events of the day. Operation Revenge was perhaps just too much of a good thing. But that didn't mean hypnotism couldn't be a useful tool in separating folks from their money. He would need more practice, that's all.

Ralph was exhausted when he got back to his houseboat. He dragged himself up the gangplank and collapsed in his easy chair. Once again, Squawk, his pet parrot, greeted him with an unwelcome greeting. “Get a regular job! Get a regular job!” squawked Squawk.

Hmm, more practice, thought Ralph, as he stared at the parrot. He walked over to the parrot, took out his watch, and started swinging it.

“You are getting sleepy,” said Ralph.

“You are getting sleepy,” repeated Squawk.

“When I say the words ‘evil eye' you will no longer be yourself,” said Ralph.

“When I say the words ‘evil eye' you will no longer be yourself,” repeated Squawk.

“You will be Big Barking Dog,” said Ralph.

“You will be Big Barking Dog,” repeated Squawk.

“And so I say
evil eye
!” cried Ralph.

No sooner had Squawk repeated the words “evil eye” than Ralph began running around on all fours barking and chewing the furniture. That's what he was doing when the scouts arrived. The scouts had come to see if Ralph had survived.

“Arf! Arf!” barked Ralph, taking a bite out of the easy chair.

“What do you suppose happened?” said Fred.

“It looks to me like Ralph tried to hypnotize Squawk and it backfired,” said Sister.

“Ralph,” said Brother. “When I snap my fingers, you will once again be your old rotten self.” Brother snapped his fingers, and once again Ralph was his old rotten self.

“Hi, guys,” said Ralph. “What's happening?”

The scouts looked at him as if he were some strange creature from a distant planet. “Later,” said Brother as he and the scouts exited the houseboat and headed for their clubhouse.

The scouts earned their Soil Conservation Merit Badge, and they were very proud of it. But they were just as proud of the fact that they had saved Bear Country from the evil influence of . . .