Bear is Lonely

 

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.

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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.