The Winter's Tale to him in a dream and bade him name the girl Perdita. He leaves a fardel (a bundle) by the baby containing gold and other trinkets which suggest that the baby is of noble blood. A violent storm suddenly appears, wrecking the ship on which Antigonus arrived. He wishes to take pity on the child, but is chased away in one of Shakespeare's most famous stage directions: "Exit, pursued by a bear." (It is not known whether Shakespeare used a real bear from the London bear-pits, or an actor in bear costume.) Perdita is rescued by a shepherd and his
The Bear (play) the gardener and coachman. "The Bear"'s comedy derives from the characters' lack of self-knowledge. The widow Popova fancies herself inconsolably bereaved, while Smirnov considers himself a misogynist. They are both stock examples of "alazons": figures made ludicrous by pretending to be more than they actually are. "The Bear" is one of many of Chekhov's "farce-vaudevilles", which also includes "The Proposal," "A Tragedian in Spite of Himself", and the unfinished "Night before the Trial". In a letter to Yakov Polonsky on February 22, 1888 Chekhov wrote: Chekhov used the French play "Les Jurons de Cadillac" by Pierre Berton as inspiration for