The Lonely Bear 2391
Once upon a time there was a
bear. He lived by himself. Mostly he liked being by himself because
it meant that nobody could tell him what to do. If he felt tired he
could have a little snooze. If he felt hungry he could have a little
snack. If he felt very hungry he could have a huge meal. Bear liked
huge meals.
He liked fresh air too. When he
needed fresh air he went for a walk in the woods. He would stop now
and again and look up at the trees, breathe deeply and say, “ahh.”
Sometimes,not very often bear
thought it would be nice to share things with a friend. Things like,
“That was a lovely meal or look at that beautiful sunset.”
One warm summer day, the sun was
shining through trees and making patterns on the ground. Bear lay
under his favourite tree. He listened to the wind rustling the leaves
and whistling through the grass. Suddenly he felt something touch his
nose. He lifted his paw to feel what it was when the something spoke.
“Pleezze don’t hurt me.”
“I don’t want to hurt you
but you are tickling my nose.”
“Izzz thizzz better?” it
said landing on his tummy.
“Ho, ho, ho,” laughed bear,
“it still tickles but at least I can see you now.
“Hello Bear my name is Bee.”
“Hello Bee, nice to meet you.
I enjoy little chats. I do get lonely sometimes on my own.”
“On your own? Why are you on
your own when the woods are full of friends. I am busy all day
visiting friends.”
“You are lucky,” said bear,
thinking that he would like to scratch his tummy. “Do you think you
could sit somewhere else. You are tickling me.”
“I’ll have to be off soon. I
have many visits to make before sunset,” said Bee landing on Bear’s
big toe.
Bear closed his eyes and
scratched the place where Bee had been sitting. He breathed a big
phew and nearly blew Bee away.
“Do you think some of your
friends would like to be friendly with a bear?”
“Szszpose so,” said Bee
moving to the other foot, but you will have to be more careful. You
could blow them away with phew like that. Now I really must go
otherwise I shall be late.”
Bee flew into a beam of sunlight
and Bear lost sight of him.
He leaned back and looked into
the sky. The sun was low and it was casting long shadows.
“Well,well,well,” mumbled Bear and he rolled over and fell fast
asleep. Bear often went to sleep when he had a problem which involved
a lot of thinking. When he woke up it was evening. The air was still
and the insects filled the wood with a low humming sound. He sat up,
put his paws on his tummy and said, “Gosh, I feel quite empty.”
“Rumble,rumble,rumble,”said
Bear’s tummy.
Bear knew that it was going to
be a starry evening.
“Goody,goody,”he thought. “I
can go for a walk in the moonlight. If I go to the pool I can play
with my reflection in the water. Then I can lie back and count the
stars.”
“But
first things first,” he said as his tummy gave another rumble.
He had been walking quickly and
was quite out of breath so he stopped for a rest and sat down on a
fallen tree. He leaned his back against a large oak tree. He wanted
to think. He wanted to think about food. Before he had even started
(he was a bit slow at thinking) he heard a voice in the tree.
“Called for supper have you? I
thought you might. I know bears are partial to honey.”
It was Bee. He lived in the
tree.
“I’d love to stay to supper.
I can’t think of anything I’d like better than a nice piece of
honeycomb.”
Bear licked his lips at the
thought of it. Bee appeared from a hole in the trunk of the tree. He
hovered in the air by Bear’s left ear.
“It’s going to be a
beautiful evening,” said Bee.
“Yes, I am going to play with
my reflection in the pool,” said bear reaching into the oak tree
and scooping out a pawful of honeycomb. He ate it quickly and reached
for another pawful.
“Time to go for a few more
visits before my friends go to bed,” buzzes Bee and disappeared.
Bear wiped his mouth with his
paw then he licked it so as not to waste any honey. He felt much
better now that his tummy was full and it had stopped rumbling.
“I will just have a little
rest before I go to play with the moon,” he thought.
"What a pretty sunset ,”
he said as he looked at the red and pink sky. It will be warm and
sunny tomorrow. He was good at forecasting the weather because he was
careful to notice what kind of clouds covered the forest. He also
noticed whether there was a wind blowing and if so which direction it
was coming from. When the wind changed direction he knew that the
weather would also change. Weather watching was a hobby. He spent a
lot of time trying to forecast the weather..
BUT mostly Bear liked to eat.
However just now he was feeling full of honey so he could concentrate
on other things.
“If I walk to the pool now I
shall just reach it in time to see the moon rising.”
He
set off at a slow pace and wondered about Bee’s friends. “If Bee
has so many friends,” he thought, “surely he could share just
one.” Bee had
said that the forest was full of them but Bear couldn’t see any at
all. “They must be in a different part of the forest,” he
thought. He decided to visit Bee the next day to discuss this.
He reached the pool just as he
planned. The moon was just rising. He lay down by the side of the
water and gazed up at the stars. He new where to look in the sky to
find the Great Bear. Then he searched for the Little Bear. It was a
lovely feeling watching the stars twinkling up there so far away. It
lead him to ponder about things. He wondered how big the stars were
and how many there were and if other people lived out there on other
planets.
“Ouch!” said Bear as he
tried to sit up only to find that his bum was numb because he had
been lying on a stone. He managed to roll over and sit up. As he
rubbed his bum he noticed that the moon’s reflection had appeared
in the water. It was an enormous full moon.
Bear’s tummy felt quite wobbly
as he looked at it. He dipped one paw in the water and moved it back
and forth and made waves. He watched the waves ripple through the
moon’s reflection. “The moon smiled,” thought Bear. “I am
sure he likes it because it tickles.” So he did it again.
He put both paws in the water
and moved them about to make bigger waves and watched the moon’s
face laugh as the waves reached it. Bear expected to hear the sounds
of laughter but of course it was only a reflection and the real moon
was millions of miles away.
Turning his back on the pool,
Bear put his paws on his knees and his head on his paws.
“Oh I do wish I had a friend.”
He stood up and began to stamp
home forgetting to look at the stars or to listen to the wind. When
he arrived he went straight to bed. He curled up into a tight ball
because he was sad and angry.
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The next morning the sun
streamed through the cave doorway and warmed Bear’s tummy and shone
in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes first, then his tummy. He stretched
out now because he didn't feel quite so sad or angry, not while he
was basking in the sun.
Bear stood up feeling sure that
this would be the day that he would find a friend. He went off in
search of food for his tummy was telling him that it was breakfast
time.
"If I go to visit Bee,"he
thought, "I can have honey for breakfast and find out about
Bee's friends."
He was eager to get there and
didn't notice that the sun had gone behind a cloud. He sat down on a
fallen tree and said, Do you think that I could stay for breakfast?"
"ZZZZZZZZZZ-ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ,"
came the reply.
Bear wondered if that meant yes
or no.
"Did you say good morning?
I can't quite hear," said Bear.
"ZZZZZZZZZ-ZZZZZZZZZ-ZZZZZZZZ
Oh good gracious, I have overslept, "said Bee. He buzzed about
Bear's head making him feel quite dizzy.
"Do settle down. Here sit
on my paw."
Bear held ou a soft pad for Bee
to sit on.
Bee landed lightly and Bear
said, "That's much better. I really would like to talk to you
about your friends and I ---------"
Bee flew up in the air, zoomed
past Bear's nose and back into the tree."
"No need to be rude . I
thought we could breakfast together and have a chat and -----------"
Bee flew out again, buzzed
around Bear's head once and then away. He was soon a dot in the sky
and then nothing. As he had passed Bear's left ear he buzzed, "
I have to visit so many friends, the flowers you know."
As he passed bear's right ear he
buzzed, " Help yourself to breakfast. Sorry I can't join you.
The flowers will be waiting."
Bear scooped out a pawful of
honey and said, " Well, what was that all about-- flowers
indeed."
"Mmmmmmmmmm,mmmmm,"
Bear licked his paw.
"Lovely honey anyway,"
he said and ate his fill.
"Now I can think, he said
as he wiped his mouth with the back of his paw, making sure not to
waste even one drop of honey.
It had been difficult for bear
to rush to Bee's home and to remember to ask the question he had
planned to ask. It was impossible for him to understand the answers
on an empty stomach. Now he was relaxed and had a full tummy. He
leaned back and closed his eyes to help him to think.
"Flower, Bee, honey,
pollen, nectar, zzzzzzzzzzzzzz, flowers ,bees, honey, pollen, buny,
honey, fleas, bowers, zzzzzz, peas, plowers, hollen, zzz, 2 and
before he knew it he was fast asleep.
While bear was asleep more and
more clouds began to cover the sun and then the whole sky. When
there wasn't even a tiny patch of sky left it started to rain. The
first drop just missed bear so he didn't waken. The next drop went
splash right on the end of his nose. He opened one eye. Then another
drop went splash on his paw and he opened the other eye. As the rain
became heavier Bear started to feel uncomfortable. Usually he didn't
mind the rain but today he was just too miserable.
"If only I had a friend to
share everything with," he thought.
He tried to remember what he was
thinking about before he had fallen asleep.
"Flowers, pollen, bees,
honey-", he thought. "Bee needs to visit flowers to get
the nectar to make the honey. That's why he visits the flowers. They
are his friends because he spreads the pollen from one flower to
another. "
He jumped to his feet."Now
I get it." Then he sat down again thinking, But how does that
help me? I can't creep inside a flower to take the nectar and get the
pollen on my back. I couldn't even put one paw inside a flower."
Bear looked around. There were
no flowers to be seen and the rain was falling heavily. All the
flowers had curled their petals and hung their heads to shelter from
the rain.
Bear decided to shelter from the
rain too. He got up slowly and plodded to his cave. His shoulders
drooped and the rain trickled down his face mingling with the tears
which were now ousing from his eyes. He squeezed his eyes tightly but
they still managed to trickle down his nose.
" No friends, not a soul in
the world. Not even the sun or the wind and it is cloudy so there
will be no moon tonight. Only raindrops to play with my tears."
Bear
felt so sad. His knees bent and he leaned on a mossy rock.
He lay down his
head and cried himself to sleep.
****************************************************
Remember Bear was ticklish. He
woke up because something was tickling his fur. He smiled then
giggled then rolled over onto his back and roared with laughter.
"Hey, do be careful, you'll
break my tendrils, " a voice whispered.
"What, who, where?"
"I can't see anyone and can
only feel that I am being tickled all over."
He wriggled his arms and legs
again, still laughing.
"I am sorry . I didn't mean
to be a nuisance but I grow so quickly when it's sunny and rainy. It
is difficult to know exactly where my tendrils going."
"Please don't be sorry.
It's lovely being tickled. A few minutes ago I was sad and now I
can't stop laughing. Please tell me your name."
"My name is Honeysuckle.
Iwould be grateful if you would try not to break my tendrils."
"Of course, "said Bear
carefully removing every single tendril from his fur. He sat up and
saw the many smiling faces of the Honeysuckle which were dancing in
the warm air."
"Honeysuckle, what a
wonderful name, Honeysuckle."
Then he said in a quiet voice,
"Honeysuckle, will you be my friend?"
"Of course if you promise
not to break my tendrils," said Honeysuckle.
Bear rolled over again and again
and laughed and laughed.
At last he had found a friend.
