HOW "LITTLE-CUB-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT-MIND-HIS-PAPA" WAS NEARLY DROWNED AMONG THE LOGS
"Just on the edge of the stream which flowed by the saw-mill where the 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' lived, there was a pond of still water, and in this pond there were a great many logs that floated down from the forest away up the river. These logs were in this pond waiting to be sawed up into boards and timber, to be used in building houses. Now, this was a very dangerous place for little boys, and for little bears. The Papa Bear had told his little son never to go out on the logs, and the little fellow had promised that he never would go out on the logs. But, day after day, the little Cub Bear saw men going out on the logs with long sticks that had big spikes in the end of them, and long sticks with hooks on the end of them; and they pushed the logs here and there, to bring them over to the saw-mill, where they were hoisted into the mills by great chains, and then were moved over in front of a great saw to be sawed into lumber.
"As the little Cub Bear watched these men every day he would think how easy it was, and how nice it was to ride around on those logs, and to step from one log to another, and how foolish his papa was to tell him not to go down on the logs, when it was so easy.
"One day after watching the men for a long while, the little Cub Bear thought he would go down very, very carefully and walk out on one of the logs, and this he did. There he waited for a long while, sitting on the log. It was great fun, and didn't hurt at all, so finally he stepped over on to another log, and then on to another. My! how he enjoyed it. The little bear felt sure that his papa had make a great mistake in telling him to keep off the logs.
"Just then, as the little bear stepped from one log to another, both logs rolled, and down he went into the water. But he didn't mind that much because he could swim very well. The little bear swam to the surface as quickly as he could, but instead of getting his head out of the water, he bumped his head into the logs, for the surface of the water was all covered with floating logs.
"Then the little bear saw why his papa had told him never to play on the logs, because if he once fell into the river, he was very apt to be drowned. The little Cub Bear didn't give up and drown like that. He began to swim as hard as he could, and held his breath as long as he could, and after he had swum just as far as he possibly could, he came up to the surface again, and this time his nose came out between two logs, and there was just room enough for his nose to get up out of the water, so he had a chance to breath again. And oh, how good it seemed. And he took such long, deep breaths, and it seemed as though he could never get enough air. Then he thought he would see if he couldn't find a way out, and he tried and tried, but there wasn't room between the logs for his head to come up out of the water. He couldn't even get his eyes above the surface of the water, and so he couldn't see where he was. Pretty soon the logs began to move closer and closer together, and then he knew if he stayed where he was he would surely be killed. So he took a long breath, just as deep a breath as he could.
"Can you take a long, deep breath, little Cub Bear?" (And the little Cub Bear said, "Yes, papa," and he took a long, deep breath to show his papa how the little bear breathed when he just had his nose above the water.)
"Then the little bear dropped down again under the water, and he swam as hard and fast as he could, hoping that the next time he came up he might possibly find another place where he could breathe. He knew that if he did not, he surely would be drowned and would never see his papa again.