"The Other Day I Met a Bear" (also known as "The Bear in the Forest" or "Bear in Tennis Shoes") is a traditional American camp song, sung as an echo song. It uses the same tune that is also used for "Princess Pat" and "Sippin' Cider Through a Straw." Its Roud Folk Song Index number is 37851.
The traditional lyrics are:
Some versions include a verse before the last stanza:
I heard a crack, And then a crunch. And then I was That big bears lunch!
Some versions also include the following lines after the last stanza:
The "Bear in Tennis Shoes" version starts with the following lines:
This version ends with:
Another version is:
Final verse, which may be used if singing a bit more of the song over several nights, adding more each time.
Additional verses, extending the story with more animals:
"The Other Day I Met a Bear" is one of the songs sung by Barney the dinosaur on the 1990 children's video Campfire Sing-along except it was shortened to 4 stanzas instead of 10. On Barney & Friends, the tune was used for The Exercise Song. The 2007 album For the Kids Three! includes a version of the song by Barenaked Ladies.
In Japanese, the song is known as "Mori no Kuma-san" ( or ), with lyrics written by Yoshihiro Baba. It is on the soundtrack to the film version of Ranma ý (1989) and an instrumental version is used frequently in the Family Stadium video game series.