by Lance O. Redding –
Nattie was a little black bear cub. She was just a little kid, as far as bears were concerned, and like all little kids, she loved to explore!
One day, Nattie was playing in the forest just outside her family’s cave. Her mother was fishing at the river so they could all have dinner later that day, and so Nattie decided to do some more exploring, since it was her favorite thing to do. She explored the meadow, then the river where it wasn’t too deep, then an old tree that had fallen over and had lots of bugs crawling in and under it. She even explored a family of beetles that was making it’s way to a new home on the other side of the meadow. She stopped at the edge of the meadow, though, cause Mama always told her it was dangerous in the forest, and never to go in there alone.
She turned around and went back to exploring in the meadow, but after a couple more minutes, she sat down and realized that she had explored all these things before. Suddenly it seemed to her that there was nothing new to see! She told her brother what she was feeling.
“Ah, you’re just bored,” he said. “Happens all the time. When you’re bigger, though, you get to catch fish in the deep part of the river, you get to go on your own into the forest… life gets a lot more fun and interesting when you grow up!”
Well, Nattie didn’t want to wait that long to have fun again! She decided that what she needed was a new friend to play with. She looked around the meadow at all the other bears, but they were either already her friends, or they were too old to play and romp and run and wrestle with.
She turned her head to look the other way, when suddenly a bright, orange, yellow, and black-striped butterfly landed right on her nose. She was so surprised that she jumped back, which surprised the butterfly. He flew up in the air, but instead of flying away, he gently floated down with soft, light flaps of his wings, and landed on Nattie’s nose again.
Nattie could feel his teeny, tiny feet as they moved on her nose. It tickled, and made her giggle. It also made her need to sneeze. She tried to keep it in, but the sneeze just kept growing and growing and growing inside her, until finally, it burst out into the open air.
“Aaachooo!”
This time, the butterfly did fly away! He must have been very scared from such a loud noise, thought Nattie. She felt bad, and didn’t want to lose her new friend. So she followed the butterfly as he glided on the soft summer breeze. What Nattie didn’t realize, though, was that the butterfly was flying away from the meadow, and straight into the forest.
She followed the butterfly as fast as she could, but he was a very fast butterfly. The warm breeze carried him up, up and away over the tops of the trees until she couldn’t see him anymore. Suddenly, she realized that she was all alone, in the middle of the forest, and she didn’t know which way to go to get back to her mom!
Little Nattie was scared for about three seconds, but then she said to herself, “Nattie, don’t be a sissy.” That’s what her brother always said to her when she fell and got hurt and wanted to cry. “Be brave, like me!” he would say. She decided to do just that!
But what do brave people do? she wondered.
Her tummy rumbled. That’s it, she thought. Brave people always find food to eat!
She sniffed the grass and sniffed the trees, but nothing smelled very good. She looked around and wondered which way to turn, but no direction looked better than the other, so she just went the direction she was facing, and kept sniffing for food. Soon, she saw some berries that were a deep red. She had never seen berries like this, but they sure smelled good! She touched one of the berries with her tongue as if it were as fragile as the butterfly. She didn’t want to smash it and get it all over her mouth if it wasn’t really yummy. But as soon as her tongue touched the berry, the zingy flavor raced through her body and she knew she would never be satisfied with normal berries again!
She sat down and gobbled up as many berries as she could find on the berry bush, then she went on the other side of the bush and found even more. Her tummy growled again. “I want more!” it said, and she giggled, because she wanted more, too.
She explored around the area and soon found another bush. It was even bigger than the first bush, which made her tummy very happy! Again, she ate and ate, and red berry juice got all over her paws and mouth as she tried to get every last berry off the bush.
When all the berries were gone, her tummy told her “thank you,” and she laid down in the grass to lick the berry-juice off her paws. She rolled on her back and looked up into the sky. The warm sun shone through the tall forest trees in beautiful rays of light. She felt so cozy and comfortable that she wondered why her mother had ever said the forest was a dangerous place. It didn’t seem dangerous to her! Instead, it seemed like a magical place, and she never wanted to leave.
Until she woke up. When she woke up, it was dark. Night had fallen and the day was gone. She looked around in fright, because she didn’t know where she was! After a moment, she realized she was in the forest, by the berry bushes, but it didn’t look like the same, lovely forest anymore. Now, it looked scary and frightening.
She cried out in fear, and started to cry.
“Oh, what’s all this fuss about,” said a voice above her. “Whoooo are you?”
Nattie looked up and saw an owl. “My name is Nattie, Mr. Owl, and I’m lost. Can you help me find my Mama?”
The owl nodded his head. “Follow me,” he said, and lept off the branch with his wings open wide.
Nattie followed him as he led her out of the forest and to the meadow. When Mama saw her, she cried out with joy. “Oh, Nattie, there you are! We were so worried about you!”
Nattie ran to her Mama and they hugged tight for ten whole minutes. “I thought exploring on my own would be fun, Mama, but I promise to never go off without you, again!”
Mama smiled and hugged Nattie close, and they both went into the cave to sleep where Nattie felt safe. Of course, Nattie told her Mama all about the berries she found while lying on their soft, warm cave floor.
“They sound delicious,” said Mama bear.
“Yes, they are. I really, Really, REALLY want some more!” exclaimed Nattie. Then she sheepishly looked at her Mama. “But can you please come with me? I think they’ll taste even better with you there.”
Mama snuggled Nattie. “Of course, I will,” she said. “We’ll go exploring tomorrow. Together.”
And with that, Nattie fell asleep and dreamed of yummy berries, best friends and wonderful mommies.
the end.
Question Time:
1. Describe some places Nattie explored in the beginning of the story.
2. What landed on Nattie’s nose?
3. When Nattie chased it, where did she end up?
4. What did she eat and get all over her paws?
5. Who led Nattie to safety?
