Little Bear at Work and at Play | Page 5

log."
"All right, I'll do it," promised Little Bear, and gladly followed his father until the Three Bears reached the bridge.
[Illustration: In a little while he bobbed up]
But while Little Bear was skipping joyfully over the log, trying to reach the opposite bank before his father and mother could swim across, the log turned over and sent Little Bear head first into the river. Fortunately, he knew enough to keep his mouth shut, and in a little while he bobbed up, shaking his head to get the water out of his eyes and his ears and paddling like a duck. That was all there was to it, because, ever after, Little Bear could swim.
Mother Bear believes to this day that Father Bear knew that the log would roll over. She believes it because, whenever anyone asks him, he says nothing, but just laughs.
One morning, while Little Bear was out camping with his father and mother, he went into the woods to pick daisies and bluebells with which to decorate the entrance to their cave. His hands were full of flowers, and he was ready to go back with them to his mother, when he heard a baby crying. Little Bear stood still and listened. Then he knew that the child who was crying was an Otter baby. He had heard Otter babies cry before.
"What is the matter, baby one?" called Little Bear. "What are you crying about and where are you? Did you bump your nose?"
"I am lost! Come and find me!" answered Baby Otter.
"You are hiding behind the oak stump!" exclaimed Little Bear, as he scrambled through the thicket and fairly pounced upon Baby Otter. "I spy!" he shouted.
"It isn't a game!" wailed the Otter baby. "I tell you I am lost! I don't know where my mother went and I can't find my father! I want to go home. Oh, boo-hoo-hoo!"
"There, there, don't cry!" said Little Bear. "Tell me where your camp is, and I will take you home just as fast as we can go."
"But we do not live here!" complained the lost baby. "Our home is Brookside, a long way off across country, and we are only camping out, and I do not know where our camp is! Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"
"Come, come, cheer up!" said Little Bear, using the very words his father often used when speaking to him. "I tell you I will take you home, and if it is too far away I'll ask my father to go. We are camping out, ourselves, down the river a little way. Now tell me how you happened to get lost."
So the Otter baby told him that the Otter family had gone out together after breakfast that morning, and that while they were laughing and chatting Baby Otter had strayed away from the path to pick flowers. The next thing that he knew he had been alone, and, not knowing what else to do, he had sat down and cried.
"Well, wipe your eyes now, and give me your paw!" said Little Bear in big, grown-up tones. "My father showed me your camp only yesterday, and, if you are one of the campers, you live only a little way from here and I can take you home."
Of course Baby Otter wiped his eyes and walked happily behind Little Bear. He wished to travel in single file, Otter fashion.
[Illustration: Baby Otter walked happily behind Little Bear]
It happened that Father Bear had been teaching Little Bear how to follow the woods trails, and Little Bear knew the Otters' path, because they always went round stumps and under logs; besides, their legs were short and their bodies so heavy they left well-worn trails behind them.
At last Little Bear reached the end of the crooked path, and Baby Otter, without so much as saying "Thank you!" to Little Bear, ran to the cave by the river bank where his family was camping out.
"Some people always forget their manners," said Little Bear to himself, as he ran home to tell his father and mother what he had done.
"I am glad you were good to the baby," said Little Bear's mother, as she took the bluebells and daisies that he had brought and put them into a hollow stump beside the cave door. She had filled the stump with water from the spring while Little Bear was gone.
"The flowers are lovely!" said Mother Bear. "Now please run into the woods for some green leaves and vines to put with them, Little Bear."
Before he could do as she told him, Uncle John Kingfisher came flying to invite the Three Bears to a party. "The Otters," said he, "request your presence at a fish dinner. Come now."
"We thank you, Uncle John Kingfisher," said Father Bear. "We will start at once. Come, Little Bear, wash your hands and face and