So many years have gone by! So many years that no one remembers the evil duke who once lived in Cormorant Castle or how the bears came down from Sicily's mountains to defeat him. No one even remembers that Sicily once had mountains. First published in 1947, Dino Buzzati's sprightly fairy tale chronicles this forgotten history - the terrible winter that sent the starving bears down into the valley in search of food, as well as their struggles with an army of wild boars, wily professors who may or may not be magicians, the snarling Marmoset the Cat, and, worse still, suggestions of treachery within their own ranks. Despite the odds, the bears - from valiant King Leander to his little cub Tony, from the mechanically-minded Marzipan to observant Dandelion - triumph with bravery, ingenuity, humility, and high spirits.