Эльза Хольмлунд Минарик - Little Bear and Other Stories / Маленький медвежонок и другие рассказы. 3-4 классы

“Oh, that was fun!” cried Little Bear. “And then you came with the cake. You always make me happy.”

Mother Bear smiled and looked at her Little Bear. “And now you can make me happy, too,” she said.

“How?” asked Little Bear.

“You can go to sleep,” said Mother Bear.

And Little Bear shut his eye and went to sleep.

“Little Bear,” said Mother Bear, “can you be my fisherman?”

“Yes, I can,” said Little Bear.

“Good,” said Mother Bear. “Will you go to the river? Will you catch a fish for us?”

“Yes, I will,” said Little Bear.

So Little Bear went to the river, and there he saw Owl.

Owl was sitting on a log. “Hello, Little Bear,” said Owl.

“Hello, Owl,” said Little Bear. “Father Bear is not home. He is fishing on the ocean. But Mother Bear wants a fish now, so I need to catch one.”

“Good,” said Owl. “Catch one!”

Little Bear fished. “I have one!” he said. “Is it too little?”

“It looks good to me,” said Owl.

“Well,” said Little Bear, “Father can catch big fish. He sails in a big boat, too.”

Owl said, “Some day you will be a big bear. You will catch big fish, and you will sail in a boat like Father Bear.”

“You know what?” said Little Bear. “We can play. The log can be a boat. I will be Father Bear. You can be you. And we are fishing.”

“Where we are fishing?” asked Owl.

“On the ocean,” said Little Bear.

“All right,” said Owl.

“Hooray!” said Little Bear. “See what I have?”

“What is it?” asked Owl.

“An octopus,” said Little Bear.

“Oh,” said Owl. “But see what I have?”

“What is it?” asked Little Bear.

“A whale,” said Owl.

“But a whale is too big,” said Little Bear.

“This is a little whale,” said Owl.

Just then Mother Bear came. “Where is the fish?” she asked.

Little Bear laughed, “How about an octopus?”

“An octopus?” said Mother Bear.

“Well, then,” said Owl, “how about a little whale?”

“A whale?” said Mother Bear. “No, thank you. No whale.”

“Then how about this little fish?” said Little Bear.

“Yes, thank you,” said Mother Bear, “this is just what I want.”

Little Bear said, “You will see. When I am as big as Father Bear, I will catch a real octopus.”

“Yes, and sail in a real boat,” said Owl.

“I know it,” said Mother Bear.

Owl said, “Little Bear fishes very well.”

“Oh, yes,” said Mother Bear. “He fishes really well. He is a real fisherman. Just like his father.”

Little Bear sat in the top of a high tree. He looked at the wide, wide world.

He saw the green fields. He saw the river. And far, far away he saw the blue sea.

He saw the tops of trees. He saw his house. He saw Mother Bear.

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.