He could hear the song of the wind. And he could feel the wind on his fur, on his eyes, on his little black nose. He shut his eyes and let the wind brush him.

He opened his eyes and saw two little squirrels. “Play with us,” they said.

“No time,” said Little Bear. “I need to go home for lunch.”

He began to climb down and saw four little birds. “Look at us,” they said, “we can fly!”

“I can fly, too,” said Little Bear. “But I always fly down. I cannot fly up.”

He climbed down some more and saw a little green worm. “Hello,” said the little green worm. “Talk to me.”

“Another time,” said Little Bear. “I need to go home for lunch.”

He climbed all the way down and saw a little girl. “I think I am lost,” said the little girl. “Could you see the river from the treetop?”

“Oh, yes,” said Little Bear, “I could see the river. Do you live there?”

“Yes,” said the little girl. “My name is Emily. And this is my doll Lucy.”

“I am Little Bear, and I can take you to the river. What is in your basket?”

“Cookies,” said Emily. “Take some.”

“Thank you, I love cookies,” said Little Bear.

“Me too,” said Emily.

They walked together. They ate cookies and talked. Soon they came to the river.

“I see our tent,” said Emily, “and my mother and father.”

“And I hear my mother. She is calling me,” said Little Bear. “I need to go home for lunch. Good-bye, Emily.”

“Good-bye, Little Bear. Come back and play with me.”

“I will,” said Little Bear.

Little Bear ran home. He hugged Mother Bear and said, “Do you know what I just did?”

“What did you just do, Little Bear?” asked Mother Bear.

“I climbed to the treetop and saw the wide, wide world. I climbed down, and I saw two squirrels, four little birds and a little green worm. Then I climbed all the way down, and what do you think I saw?”

“What did you see?”

“I saw a little girl named Emily. She was lost, so I helped her to get home. And now I have a new friend. Who do you think it is?”

“The little green worm?” said Mother Bear.

Little Bear laughed. “No,” he said, “it is Emily. Emily and I are friends.”

Owl had a party. Little Bear, Emily and Lucy were walking to Owl’s house.

They came to the pond where Duck lived. And there was Duck, baby sitting.

Little Bear looked at the ducklings. He asked, “Will the Mother Duck come back soon?”

“Oh, yes,” said Duck. “Wait for me. I can go to the party when she comes back.”

Emily put Lucy down and said, “Oh, what sweet ducklings! I want to hold one.”

“Just call them,” said Little Bear.

“Oh my goodness!” said Duck. “I think I have lost one!”

Little Bear and Emily began to look for it.

Little Bear looked at the tall reeds. He said, “If I were a duckling, I would swim there. It would be like swimming in a forest.”

He looked in the tall reeds. And there was the duckling, swimming and having fun.

“Hello, little one, I see you,” said Little Bear.

“Peep!” said the duckling and swam to the others.

Just in time, too, because his mother came back.

“Hooray!” said Duck. “Now I am free! Now we can go to the party.”

They went to the party.

Emily said, “I think ducklings are lovely.”

“Yes,” said Little Bear, “and owlets are nice, too.”

Emily laughed. “Oh,” she said, “I love all little animals.”

“Me too,” said Little Bear.

Little Bear, Emily, Lucy, Cat, Duck, and Hen all came to Owl’s party.

Cat looked at Lucy. “Who is that?” he said.

“That is Lucy,” said Little Bear. “Lucy is Emily’s doll.”

“Yes,” said Emily. “And she tells me things. She wants to tell me something now.”

Emily put her head down to Lucy’s head.

“What?” said Cat. “I cannot hear her.”

“What is she saying?” asked Hen.

“Yes, tell us,” said Duck.

“She is saying,” said Emily, “that she wants to sit up there.”

And Emily put Lucy in a little tree.

“See?” said Little Bear. “Emily knows what Lucy wants.”

“Let’s eat,” said Cat.

Owl came out of his house. He said, “Here are the party hats. Put them on.”

So they all put on party hats and laughed at each other. Then they sat down to eat.

“Look at Lucy!” said Duck. “She wants to come down.”

They all looked, and there was Lucy, coming down all by herself.

“Oh-oh!” cried Emily. “Lucy will break!”

And Lucy broke. She broke her arm.

“Oh, Lucy!” Emily was crying. She picked up her doll and hugged her.

“Don’t cry, Emily,” said Little Bear, “we can fix her.”

“I will get some tape,” said Owl.

So Little Bear fixed Lucy. “There,” he said. “Ask her how she feels now.”

Emily put her head down to Lucy’s head.

“She says she feels fine,” said Emily. “And she says you are a very good doctor, Little Bear.”

“Tell her thank you,” said Little Bear. “If she breaks an arm or a leg again, I will fix her.”

Owl laughed. “Not today, please,” he said.

Emily sat Lucy at the table.

Hen asked, “Is she saying something?”

“Yes,” said Emily, “she wants us to begin the party.”

And that is what they did. It was a very fine party, even for Lucy.

Summer ended, and Emily was saying good-bye. It was time to go back to school.

Mother Bear baked a cake. Little Bear made lemonade.

Mother Bear said, “Let us eat the whole cake. If we do, then it will not rain tomorrow.”

“Let it rain,” said Little Bear, “Emily will not be here tomorrow to play with me.”

“Oh,” said Emily, “we can eat the whole cake. And we can drink the lemonade.”

So they ate the cake, and drank the lemonade, and talked and talked.

Then it was time for Emily to go home.

Father Bear said, “Do not let Lucy break any more arms.”

“Oh, no,” said Emily. She hugged her doll and said, “Lucy wants to say good-bye, too. Say good-bye to Little Bear, Lucy.”

Emily gave Lucy to Little Bear. Then she said to him, “Little Bear, you can keep Lucy. I will give her to you.”

“Oh,” said Little Bear.

But then Emily took Lucy back. “Oops!” she said. “I forgot. Lucy wants to come to school with me.”

Then Emily opened her pocketbook. She took out a fine new pen.

“This is for you,” she said. “I want you to have it.”

Little Bear took the pen. “Thank you, Emily,” he said.

He ran to his room and came back with a pretty toy boat. “This is for you,” he said. “Keep it. You can play with it in your bathtub.”

“Thank you,” said Emily. “I will. Good-bye, Little Bear. See you next summer.”

Little Bear stood at the door until Emily was gone. Two big tears ran down his face.

Mother Bear saw the tears and took him on her lap. “My goodness, Little Bear,” she said. “You will go to school, too, and you will learn to write. Then you can write to Emily.”

“Little Bear can begin now,” said Father Bear.

He took out some paper and said, “Little Bear can write his name.”

“Yes,” said Mother Bear, “with his fine new pen.” She helped Little Bear to begin.

That made Little Bear very happy. He said, “When can I write to Emily?”

“Soon,” said Mother Bear.

And soon he wrote to Emily, like this:

“Dear Emily,

It is snowing. I love the snow. I want to send you some snow.

Owl, Duck, Hen, and Cat send their love. And the ducklings do, too.

I cannot wait for summer.

Your friend,

Little Bear.”

One day Little Bear came to visit Grandmother and Grandfather Bear in their little house in the forest.

This was something Little Bear liked to do.

He liked to look at all the nice things, the pictures, Grandmother’s flowers, Grandfather’s toy goblin in a jar.

He liked to put on Grandfather’s big hat and say, “Look at me!”

And he liked Grandmother’s cooking very, very much.

He had some bread and jam, cake and cookies, milk and honey, and an apple.

“Have some more,” said Grandmother.

“Yes, thank you. I am not eating too much, am I?”

“Oh no, no!” said Grandmother.

Then Grandfather said to Little Bear, “We will have fun today, you and I.”

“Yes. But father told me not to make you tired.”

“Me? Tired? How can you make me tired? I am never tired!”

He got up and did a little dance. “Never tired!” Grandfather said and sat down.

Little Bear laughed. “You know what?” he said to his Grandmother and Grandfather.

“What?”

“I like it here,” said Little Bear. He hugged them.

Little Bear and Grandfather had all the fun. Then Grandfather Bear sat down.

“Now we can have a story,” said Little Bear.

“Good. Tell me a story,” said Grandfather Bear.

“No!” Little bear laughed. “You tell me one.”

“Then I must have my pipe.”

Little Bear ran to the house, took the pipe, and ran back.

But Grandfather was already asleep!

“Oh,” said Little Bear.

Little Bear was sad, but not for long. He found his Grandmother in the garden.

Could Grandmother tell him a story? Oh yes, she could.

She took Little Bear to the summer house. It was cool there.

They sat down in the summer house.

“Tell me a story about Mother Bear, when she was little. About Mother Bear and the robin. I like that story,” asked Little Bear.

“Very well,” said Grandmother Bear.

And so, she began.

One spring day, when Mother Bear was little, she found a baby robin in the garden. A baby robin, too little to fly.

“Oh, how sweet you are,” she said. “Where did you come from?”

“From my nest,” said the robin.

“And where is your nest, little robin?”

“I think it is there,” said the robin.

Mother Bear looked at one tree. No, that was a blackbird’s nest.

“Maybe it is there,” said the robin.

Mother Bear looked at another tree. No, that was a sparrow’s nest.

Mother Bear looked everywhere, but she could not find a robin’s nest.

“You can live with me. You can be my robin,” said Mother Bear.

She took the robin in the house and made a little home for it.

“Please put me by the window. I like to look at the trees and the sky,” said the robin.

Mother Bear put it by the window.

“Oh. It must be fun to fly out there,” said the robin.

“It will be fun to fly in here, too,” said Mother Bear.

The robin ate. It grew. It sang. Soon it could fly.

It flew about the house. And that was fun, just as Mother Bear had said.

But then one day, the robin was unhappy.

Mother Bear asked, “Why are you so sad, little robin?”

“I do not know. My heart is sad,” said the robin.

“Sing a song,” said Mother Bear.

“I cannot,” said the robin.

“Fly in the house,” said Mother Bear.

“I cannot,” said the robin.

Mother Bear was in tears. She took the robin into the garden.

“I love you, little robin. But I want you to be happy. Fly away, if you wish. You are free.”

The robin flew into the blue sky. It sang a sweet song.

Then it came back again, to Mother Bear.

“Do not be sad. I love you, too. I must fly into the world, but I will come back. Every year I will come back,” said the robin.

So Mother Bear kissed the robin, and it flew away.

“And it came back, Grandmother. Did it?” asked Little Bear.

“Oh yes, Little Bear. It came back. And its children came back. And its children’s children, too. Here is one now.”

Grandfather Bear came to the summer house.

“Hooray! Here is Grandfather,” cried Little Bear.

“Then it is coffee time,” said Grandmother Bear.

She went into the house.

Grandfather looked at Little Bear. Little Bear looked at Grandfather. They both laughed.

“How about a goblin story?” asked Grandfather Bear.

“Oh yes, but I may be scared,” said Little Bear.

“I will not be scared,” said Grandfather Bear.

“Oh, Grandfather!” cried Little Bear. “Please begin the story then.”

So Grandfather began.

One day a little goblin went to an old cave. It was old, it was cold, it was dark.

And something inside the cave went ‘BANG!’.

What was that?

“Ooh-hoo!” cried the goblin.

He was so scared that he jumped out of his shoes.

Then he began to run.

PIT-PAT-PIT-PAT-PIT-PAT…

What was that?

SOMETHING was running after him.

Oh my goodness, what could it be?

The goblin was too scared to look back. He ran faster and faster.

But the SOMETHING ran faster and faster, too!

PIT-PAT-PIT-PAT-PIT-PAT…

The goblin saw a hole in a tree. He jumped in the hole to hide.

The PIT-PAT-PIT-PAT came closer, closer – CLOSER – until it stopped by the hole in the tree!

Then all was quiet.

Nothing happened.

Nothing.

It was SO quiet. The little goblin looked out.

Do you know what he saw?

He saw his SHOES! His little shoes!

“Oh my goodness,” said the goblin.

He climbed out of the tree hole. “I jumped out of my shoes. But they ran after me! And here they are!”

He picked his shoes, hugged them, and put them on.

“Good little shoes. You did not want to stay behind!” the goblin laughed and went away.

“Just like that!” said Grandfather Bear.

“I cannot jump out of my shoes, because I do not have any shoes,” said Little Bear.

He laughed. “That is how I like it.”

Little Bear lay on the sofa.

He was waiting for Mother Bear and Father Bear to come and take him home.

He said to himself, “I am not tired. I can shut my eyes, but I will not go to sleep. I am not at all tired.”

He shut his eyes.

He heard a door open.