Introduction
The story The Bond of Love illustrates the friendship and love that can develop between a human and an animal. It tells the love and friendship story between the author’s wife and their pet bear cub. Love is blind to differences in language, gender, or nationality and can even elicit a gentle response from an animal. In the narrative, the narrator gives his wife a baby sloth bear named Bruno. The bear grows fond of everyone in the house over time. The bear is moved to the zoo as he gets bigger. The narrator’s wife and the bear are both affected by being apart from their loved ones. As a result, the bear needs to be returned home.
Summary
The narrator and his companions were travelling through the sugarcane fields close to Mysore two years ago. To keep the wild pigs out of their fields, some people were shooting at them. A black sloth bear appeared out of nowhere. The bear was shot and killed even though the narrator did not want to shoot it. When the narrator and his friends approached the dead bear, they noticed a cub of a sloth bear that had been riding on its mother. When the cub saw its mother’s dead body, it cried. The cub sprinted off into the fields as the narrator tried to catch it. The narrator chased it down and got it. He placed the bear cub in a gunny bag and carried it to his Bangalore home.
After returning to Bangalore, the narrator gave his wife the bear cub. She was thrilled to get a male cub. She gave him the name Bruno and immediately tied a ribbon around his neck. Bruno fit right in with the family. At first, he only drank milk from a bottle, but soon he was eating everything, including chocolates, eggs, bread, and porridge made from any ingredient. He also drank buttermilk, butter, beer, tea, and coffee. The narrator’s two Alsatian dogs and all the tenants’ kids who lived in the narrator’s bungalow were also attached to Bruno. He played, ran around the kitchen, and slept on the narrator’s bed when he was a young cub.
Barium carbonate, a poison, was once kept by the narrator in his library to kill rats. After entering the library, Bruno consumed some poison. He consequently experienced a paralysis attack. Bruno was losing strength, throwing up, and breathing heavily. He was taken right away to a veterinarian. Bruno initially received 10 cc of the antidote via injection, but his condition did not get any better. After receiving another 10 cc injection from the doctor, Bruno recovered within 30 minutes. Bruno had once consumed a gallon of engine oil, but it had no negative effects on him.
Bruno matured over time and earned the moniker “Baba.” He grew taller until he was the size of two dogs or more. But he continued to be amusing, charming, and cunning. Baba had learned to perform some tricks at the narrator’s wife’s orders. He could box or wrestle. He had the ability to hold a piece of wood like a baby and a stick like a gun. Due to the young children of the tenants who lived in the house, Baba had to be kept chained the majority of the time. So it was decided that Baba would be sent to the zoo in Mysore after consulting the narrator’s friends and family. Baba was transported in a cage to the Mysore Zoo. All of the family members in the home missed Baba. In Baba’s absence, the narrator’s wife was extremely upset. She resisted eating for the first few days and frequently wrote letters to the zookeeper asking how Baba was doing. Baba was miserable while at the zoo and turned down food.
For three months, the narrator prevented his wife from seeing Baba. The narrator and his wife eventually travelled to the zoo to meet him. Everyone had warned them that the narrator’s wife would not be recognised by Baba. But the moment Baba saw her, he started crying joyfully. For three hours, the narrator’s wife remained inside the cage while patting Baba through the bars. She served him lemonade, tea, and cakes. The wife of the narrator asked the curator of the zoo to return Baba to his house. The curator informed her that Baba was now state property and that he could only send Baba if the Superintendent in Bangalore, who was his superior, gave his approval.
The Superintendent was then approached by the narrator’s wife, who asked him to bring Bruno home. The kind Superintendent consented and requested a cage from the curator so she could transport Baba to Bangalore.
The narrator’s wife helped him build Baba an island at home. The island measured 15 feet wide and 20 feet long. A dry pit or moat that was 6 feet wide and 7 feet deep encircled it. For Baba to sleep in at night, a wooden box filled with straw was placed inside the island. His wooden block (baby) and stick (gun) were also placed there.
