"Now, my boy," he said to Bobby, "when I get a little way up thetree, you hand me the big brown jar. I can easily climb the rest ofthe way with one hand, because the claws in my feet are very bigand strong."
Bobby picked the jar up. My, but it was heavy. It was just about asmuch as he could do to lift it. However, he managed to get it wellabove his head and walked toward the tree.
He was so anxious to reach his father, that he did not look where hewas going and his foot caught in a root, and down went Bobby, jar,and all.
HIS FOOT CAUGHT IN A ROOT]
The terrible crash made Father Bear turn around and when he saw whathad happened he grew quite angry.
"Dear me, what a careless boy you are. That was the biggest jar yourmother had. Now, not only shall we have to give up getting the honeytoday, but when we come tomorrow we will have to bring two smalljars. This will mean you will have to carry one of the jars, as apunishment."
Bobby felt tears coming to his eyes, but being a brave littlebear, he struggled against crying. "I am very sorry, father, and Iwill be more careful next time."
"Being sorry won't bring the jar back," but you could see from hisface, he was not as angry as he had been at first when the jarsmashed.
All the way home, Bobby was very quiet. Every once in a while hisfather would look at him and think that Bobby was still worryingabout the broken jar. This was not a fact, however, for somethinghad happened which Bobby felt he could not tell his father.
It had taken place while the two bears were walking from tree totree looking for the one that had the most honey. A small tree withvery bright green leaves had bent over and touched Bobby on theshoulder and had whispered in his ear: "What about Jane Bird? Don'tforget, you must see her and must not give up until you find her."
Perhaps this, as well as the root of the big tree had been one ofthe causes of Bobby's stumbling when he went to give his father thebig brown jar.
When Father Bear and Bobby Bear reached their cave, Mother Bear wasstanding waiting for them. The first thing she said was: "Where'sthe honey? Didn't you bring any?"
Bobby said nothing. He was too ashamed of his carelessness. By thistime, Father Bear's anger had all gone and he felt sorry for Bobby.So he said to Mother Bear:
"The jar fell to the ground and broke. We're going again tomorrow.It doesn't matter, we can take two small jars."
This did not satisfy Mother Bear, however. "What am I going to dofor a big jar?" she asked. "I've had that one so long I can neverget along without it."
"Don't worry, mother," Father Bear answered. "The next time I go tothe store, I'll get you one twice as big as the one that broke, ifyou wish."
After dinner, Bobby came timidly to his mother and asked: "Can Ihelp you wash the dishes?"
"Oh, my, what's the matter with the boy? Did you hear that?" sheasked Father Bear.
"Oh, that's nothing, mother. Aren't you always glad to have Bobbyhelp you?" Father Bear was having his after dinner smoke and neverliked to be bothered when he was enjoying himself that way. Besideshe felt he had scolded Bobby Bear enough and he didn't want MotherBear to know how the jar had really been broken.
Soon after, both Mother Bear and Father Bear went for theirafternoon naps and Bobby ran out to play with another littleboy-bear who had come to visit him that afternoon.
Bobby was not a very good playmate that afternoon, for he could nothelp thinking from time to time of what the little tree with thebright green leaves had said to him.
THE BEES CHASE BOBBY
A few mornings later, before the sun was up, Father Bear and Bobbywere at the bee tree.
They had brought with them the large brown jar which Father Bear hadbought for Mother Bear, as he had promised her he would do. In orderto get the jar he had had to make a special trip to the store.
There was really no need for Father Bear to have gone into town, asthe bear family had sufficient groceries to last another week, butBobby had urged his father so strongly to go and get the honey, thathe had made a special trip to town just to buy the jar.
It surely was a big, brown jar, much bigger than the one that wasbroken. Bobby tried to carry it, but it was too heavy for hislittle arms.
"How will you manage today, father? I can't reach the jar up to you,it's too heavy. You will have to get the honey all alone."
"That's all right, my boy. I could have done that yesterday just aswell as not. But I wanted to see what kind of a little helper myBobby was."
Father Bear started up the tree. Bobby watched him climb. He wasvery proud of his great, strong father. Bobby wondered when he wouldbe big enough and strong enough to go after honey alone.
It was quite a distance from the ground to where the bees were, andfor some time the bees did not see Father Bear.
When his great, shaggy head appeared in front of their house thebees were very angry, and buzzed around making a very loud noise.
"Father, father," cried Bobby, "be careful, they'll sting you.Remember what you told me about what bees do to little bears."
"Don't fear for me, Bobby. My skin is tough and no bee can possiblyhurt me. Just watch so that you will know how to get the honey whenyou grow into a big, strong bear."
Father Bear thrust the sharp claws of his two powerful feet into thetree. He pressed the jar against the trunk, holding himself firmlyby his left hand.
Then with a great blow of his other arm he scattered the bees rightand left. They roared louder than ever and thousands of them flewaround.
Such a great, black cloud was in front of Father Bear's face thatBobby Bear could hardly see him. This time, however, he did not callout, for he had faith in his father and knew that he would get thehoney and reach the ground unharmed.
A strong east wind was blowing which helped Father Bear somewhat, asit was hard for the bees to keep on the wing against such a wind.When it blew stronger than ever Bobby saw his father thrust a greatpaw into the black hole in the tree. Great masses of golden, yellowhoney were put quickly into the jar. Again and again father put inhis hand just as though no bees were around at all.
In fact Father Bear was actually laughing at the bees, so little washe bothered by their angry attack.
"Are you there, my boy?" he called, looking down.
"Yes, father, I'm here," cheerily answered little Bobby.
"All right then, I'm coming down and I have such a feast of honey inthis jar that it will make your mouth water."
In a moment or two he reached the ground and Bobby saw such a sightas he looked into the jar that his eyes opened wide as saucers.
"My goodness, what a lot of honey! I don't know how you managed tocarry it. Why, even the empty jar was too much for me."
"Yes, my boy," his father answered, "but you must remember you areonly a little fellow. Nobody expects little Bobby Bears to do thethings that big bears can do."
"May I eat a little of the honey, or must I wait till I get home?"asked Bobby.
"No, go ahead and dip your hand in the jar. There's plenty of it."
Bobby did so and began to eat. "Yum, yum, this is ever so muchbetter honey than what uncle brought. This is fine and sweet."
Just at this moment his father uttered a cry of warning.
"Run, my boy, as fast as you can. Here come the bees! I'll lookafter the honey."
Father Bear knew he could not keep the bees from stinging Bobbywhose skin was soft and tender. They couldn't hurt an old bear likehimself, as his skin was tough. That's why he told Bobby to run onahead. He thought he would fool the bees. They would all stop andbuzz around him and forget to follow Bobby.
Little Bobby ran as fast as he could. Most of the bees stopped nearFather Bear, but a few caught up with Bobby and gave him a sting ortwo.
Soon, however, Father Bear drove the bees away with a great branchof a tree. Then he hurried and caught up with Bobby and togetherthey ran as fast as the wind. Soon they reached home safely withtheir great jar of delicious honey.
When Father Bear told of their
adventure, Mother Bear was anxious.
"Didn't my little boy get stung by the bees?" she asked Bobby.
"Oh," he replied, "one or two did bite me in the face. But itdoesn't hurt much." Bobby was brave, you see, and had been taughtnot to complain about trifles.
"Still, you had better let me put something on the stings," said hismother, "or else they might grow worse." So she brought somebear-liniment and rubbed it on the bites.
BOBBY CATCHES A FISH AS BIG AS HIMSELF
A few mornings later, Father Bear said: "Let's go fishing. Wehaven't tasted nice, fresh fish for a long time."
"That's a good idea," said Mother Bear. "The fish you get in cansaren't anything like the fish you catch yourself."
Bobby Bear didn't say anything at first. He was wondering whetherthe fish would sting, as the bees did.
"How about it, my boy?" his father asked. "Shall we go fishing?"
"Surely, father. Let us go now. What do we have to take along?"
"Well," replied Father Bear, "first, we must have lines and floats,and hooks. We can cut a pole when we get to the river. But we musthave worms."
"I saw worms in the garden, father, when mother was sowing seed lastSpring," said Bobby.
"You did, eh? That's fine. Let us go and dig some up. Ask yourmother for an old tin can to put them in."
It was a lovely day when, about an hour later, they started outfishing. Father Bear had the lines, all fixed, in his trouserpocket. He had been careful to push all the hooks into the corkfloats so no harm could be done.
Bobby Bear was very proud to be carrying the worms. After they hadgotten almost a hundred they had put some soft, moist earth on top,so you could see no worms. If you hadn't known they were there,you'd have thought the can had nothing but dirt.
It wasn't nearly as far to the river as it had been to thecornfield. Bobby was glad of this.
They found a nice, mossy bank to sit on. Bobby Bear rested while hisfather got two poles. Taking the lines from his pocket, he tied oneto each of the fish poles and there they were, all ready to fish.
"What do you do, father?" asked the boy-bear. "How do you know whenyou have a fish on the line?"
His father answered, "First, we bait the hooks; that is, we put aworm on each of our hooks, so when it hangs dangling in the waterthe fish jump at it.
"They, of course, don't know there's a hook inside. They think it'sa regular worm. When they pull at the worm you must jerk your rodever so little. This is so you will catch the hook in the fish'smouth. He struggles to get away, and you pull him in.
"There's one thing I want to be sure of, that is, that you don't letthe pole fly out of your hand. So, I'll tie it to your wrist."
They started fishing. Father Bear got a bite. He pulled his pole upquickly. No fish--but a clean hook. So he put another worm on, threwthe line in, and waited.
This time when the fish bit Father Bear was too quick for it, and ina moment he had it up on the bank.
Bobby was all eagerness now. He wanted to catch a fish too.
"Oh, father," he cried. "I've got a bite. Look at me--"
But he didn't finish his sentence, for something heavy on his linegave a jerk. He lost his balance and fell off the rock on which hehad been sitting. Into the water he fell--splash--but he hungtightly to his rod. The current was swift and the big weight on hisline kept dragging him away from shore.
INTO THE WATER HE FELL]
Sure enough, Bobby Bear had a bite.
Bobby Bear was struggling in the water, trying to swim to shore. Itwas pretty hard work, for the fish on the end of his line was nearlyas big as he.
At first Father Bear thought it was just an ordinary little fish onBobby's line. Besides he knew his boy could swim so he thought hewould let him get back to shore by himself. He wanted to teach BobbyBear to depend on himself on all occasions.
Suddenly he saw a great fish flop up out of the water and then herealized what a monster Bobby had on his line. He immediately threwdown his fish line and plunged in to his son's rescue. With a fewstrokes of his powerful arms he reached Bobby Bear.
Grasping the boy-bear around the waist, he drew him to land. Thefish, caught as it was on the hook, couldn't help coming too.
My, but it was a wonderful fish. Bobby was indeed very proud tothink he had caught such a big fish.
"No wonder I fell into the water, father, with such a big fellow onmy line," he said.
"Yes," answered his father, "that's the biggest fish I have seen inthese parts for many a year. Your mother will certainly fix up afeast for us with that fish. She can stuff it and add a few slicesof nice, sweet bacon."
"Yum, yum," said Bobby, "it makes my mouth water to think about it.Can't we go right home now?"
"Oh, no," said his father. "The fish are biting so well today, wehad better stay a while longer. Besides it will give us a chance todry our clothes, sitting here in this hot sun. I don't want you tocatch cold, you know. It's shady all the way home through thewoods."
"But what will we do with the big fish? He's liable to get away.Just look at him flopping about on the bank."
"Don't you worry about that fish. I'll fix him." So saying, FatherBear took a stout cord from his pocket. One end he passed throughthe fish's mouth--the other he tied around a young tree. Then hethrew the fish back into the river to keep it fresh until it wastime to go home.
Being a bright, sunny day, Bobby and his father soon were dry. Bobbyrolled in the long grass, then sat on a stump in the sun. FatherBear who laughed at cold and heat, and trouble, and danger, simplyshrugged his shoulders and lit his pipe. Then he went on fishing.
Many more fish were caught before the sun going down warned them itwas time to go home. They rolled up their lines, threw the poles inthe river, then tossed the worms after them and started back throughthe thick woods to their cave.
Father Bear had a big string of fish. Bobby proudly carried the onewhich had pulled him into the water. It was so heavy it made a loadin itself. He wanted his mother to see him with his first fish--anda monster at that.
THE FIGHT WITH THE WOLVES
Perhaps it was the smell of the fish. Maybe it was because of thenoise that Bobby and his father made, singing and whistling as theywalked along. Whatever the cause, five gray wolves, gaunt and lean,met them at the turn of a road.
"Ho! ho! Here's supper for us. And we won't have to work to get it,"cried the biggest wolf, in a loud, gruff voice.
"Fine, fresh fish," said the next largest wolf. "And all ready forus to take."
"Well, we surely are lucky," the third wolf cried. "I'll make shortwork of my portion."
"Let us see, let us see. Five gray wolves, to two bears. This willbe an easy job for us." So spoke wolf number four.
"I'm so hungry, oh, so hungry. When are we going to start eating thefish?" wailed the smallest wolf of the lot.
All the time the wolves were talking they were slinking aroundFather Bear and Bobby.
Now they rushed forward, thinking it would be very easy to overcomethe bears and take the fish for themselves. But they reckoned wrong.They didn't know that Father Bear had won many prizes as thegreatest fighting bear for miles around.
Why, he even had been known to conquer a lion--so strong were hisgreat arms and legs, and so powerful his jaws. So, when four graywolves rushed at him at once he was ready for them. Wolf number onewent down with a blow which killed him at once. The next two werecruelly wounded by Father Bear's powerful claws. And the fourth,seeing how badly the rest were getting on, ran away, as fast as hecould.
What about little Bobby Bear all this time? Remember, he had a fishto guard, and this fish was almost as big as himself. The fifth wolfhad attacked Bobby, who never had seen such awful white teeth andangry eyes.
He hardly knew what to do. One thing he was determined on, though,and that was that this boy-wolf would never get the fish from him.What, the fish he had caught himself? The idea.
So he quickly struck with all his might at the wolf, grabbin
g him ashe stumbled. Then the wolf found out how strong Bobby was.
"Please, Mr. Bear, let me go, and I'll never again try to harm you,"he called out.
"Will you run right away and never come near me again?" Bobbypanted, for he was using all his strength.
"Yes, yes, anything, only let me go," said the little wolf.
With this Bobby let go. The wolf fell to the ground--he was sotired. He lay there a few moments, then with much grunting got onhis feet and ran off.
For some time Father Bear had been watching his boy. Very proudindeed was he of what was going on.
Now that all danger was past he rushed over and embraced Bobby. "Myboy, how well you fought. You're a credit to Bearland."
Gathering up their fish, they once more started for home.
The battle with the wolves had not taken more than a few minutes,although, as Bobby now told his father, it had seemed a long, longwhile to him.
"I was so afraid the little wolf would steal my fish," said Bobby.
"It is well to be able to take care of yourself, isn't it?" askedFather Bear.
"Yes," said Bobby. "If you keep on taking me out with you everyday, I shall grow up to be a very strong bear. I can see that."
His father said nothing, but smiled to hear his little boy talk sowisely.
It was almost dark when they got home, but there still was lightenough for the two tired bears to see Mother Bear.