Bear Hibernates
Illustrated by Madeleine (then age 6)
The woods were changing from green to golden orange, red and yellow. It was late fall and four furry friends were sharing dinner together.
“Slow down, Bear!” admonished Rabbit. “You are going to choke if you keep shoveling so much food into your mouth!”
“And it wouldn’t hurt if you saved some food for us!”chided Grey Squirrel. “At this rate there won’t be anything left for the rest of us to eat!”
I’m sorry,” replied Black Bear, “but I have to eat as much as I can before I hibernate.”
Beaver turned to face Black Bear. “Why don’t you just collect and store food for the winter like Squirrel and I do? That way you won’t have to sleep through winter.”
“And then you can come skating when the pond freezes,” said Beaver.
“And you can watch the snow fall,” agreed Grey Squirrel.
“And you can come tobogganing down the hill,” added Rabbit.
“ I have never stayed awake all winter. Do you really think that is a good idea?” asked Bear.
Rabbit, Beaver and Squirrel all shouted, “Yes! We do! We will show you how. We will give you lessons.”
* * * *
Bright and early the next morning, Bear knocked loudly on Beaver’s Lodge. Bear had forgotten that Beaver is a nocturnal animal who worked all through the night.
Bear shouted, “Rise and shine, Beaver. I am here for my lesson.”
Beaver yawned. In a sleepy voice, he said, “Of course, Bear, just let me change out of my pajamas.”
Beaver joined Bear on the shore. “Okay Bear, see that pile of branches and twigs that I have stacked up beside my lodge? That is my food for the winter.”
Bear watched as Beaver gnawed through a tree trunk with his powerful teeth. He watched as Beaver carefully added the branches to the pile that he had already made. It looked like a lot of hard work!
“Let me help,” Bear offered. Bear tripped over his big feet and fell into the pile of neatly stacked branches. Twigs flew in the air. And so did Bear! Beaver watched in disbelief as Bear landed with a bump and a thump on the ice. Bear slid right into Beaver’s lodge, making a BIG hole in the side of Beaver’s cozy, warm den.
“Maybe you should go and ask Grey Squirrel for a lesson,” groaned Beaver.
* * * *
Snow had started to fall when Bear found Grey Squirrel high up in an Oak Tree.
“Squirrel,” Bear shouted, “what are you doing up there?”
Squirrel was so startled that he nearly fell out of the tree.
“I am collecting acorns to store for the winter,” he responded when he had recovered from his fright.
Squirrel climbed down from the tree to show the acorns to Bear. “The acorns are really seeds,” Squirrel explained. “I take some back to my nest and the rest I bury. I can come back to find the ones that I have buried, or I can leave them so that they will grow into new Oak Trees.”
Bear watched as Squirrel made trip after trip up and down the Oak Tree. It looked like a lot of work!
“Let me help,” offered Bear. Bear grabbed the tree trunk with both of his burly paws and he began to shake the tree.
Mounds of snow and hundreds of acorns came pelting down on Squirrel’s head. “Ouch,” he cried.
“Maybe you should go and ask Rabbit for a lesson,” groaned Grey Squirrel.
* * * *
Black Bear lumbered up a steep slope to Rabbit’s Den. “Rabbit,” he called, “can you give me a lesson on how you find food for the winter?”
“Sure,” replied Rabbit, “I would be happy to help.”
Rabbit showed Bear two bushes that grew outside of his Den. “I dug my den here so that I would be close to my food,” he explained. “When I am hungry I will leave my den and come and munch on the branches and eat berries,” he continued.
Bear, who had not had anything to eat all morning, was famished. (Beaver’s twigs had not looked very appetizing, and Squirrel had not offered to share his acorns!) Bear reached into the bush to help himself to Rabbit’s berries.
He felt a stabbing pain when a sharp thorn stuck in his paw. Bear stumbled back, crushing the bush as he fell. Bear leaped into the air, landed on the other bush, crushing it as well. He shot up and began patting his backside.
“Quick, some cold snow will make your bottom feel better,” offered Rabbit, as he mournfully looked at his ruined bushes.
Bear planted his bottom in the snow and began to slide down the steep slope that he had just climbed. He landed with a loud CRASH at the bottom.
All three of his friends came at once. They helped to dig Bear out of the snow.
With an amused expression on his face, Beaver said, “It looks like you have skated on the pond.”
“And it looks like you have watched the snow fall,” smiled Squirrel.
“And you have tried tobogganing down a hill,” grinned Rabbit.
“Maybe it is time for you to hibernate!” they all said together.
* * * *
The next day the four friends shared a big banquet feast to help Bear fatten up for his long winter’s sleep.
“Eat faster, Bear,” Rabbit said. “You want to make sure that you eat plenty of food!”
“Yes,” Beaver muttered. “Eat faster so that you can go right to sleep!”
“Don’t worry about the rest of us eating,” added Grey Squirrel. “We can always find more food to eat.”
© 2007, Maureen Yorke.
