The Bear Family at Home, and How the Circus Came to Visit Them

by Curtis Dwight Wilbur

The little Cub Bear said, "Why can't we have a race? You know the four beautiful black horses are down at the foot of the mountain, in a little valley, and the four snow-white horses are down at the foot of the mountain, in another valley. Perhaps we can get them up here and run a race. I will drive one chariot."

And then the monkey said, "You never learned how to drive horses. I learned how in the circus."

But the little Cub Bear was a very brave little bear, and he said he would try anyway.

So the next morning, they went down to see if they could get the horses to come up and run the chariot race. Jumbo saw them, and asked where they were going. The monkey told him, and Jumbo said that was fine. He would be very glad to act as judge of the race, and that he would go half way down the mountain and draw a line, and that the first one to get over the line would win the race.

So the monkey went down and told the black horses and the white horses what they wanted, and they all agreed that it would be great fun to come up and run a race, just as they used to in the circus. So they all came up to the den; and they were the most beautiful horses you ever saw. It took the monkey a long while to hitch up the horses. The bears helped him all they could.

All four of the white horses were hitched to one of the red and gold chariots, and the four black horses were hitched to the other red and gold chariot; and the monkey chose the white horses, and the little bear chose the black horses. The monkey got into his chariot and took the reins, and little Cub Bear climbed into his chariot and took the reins, and looked over to see how the monkey held them, and he tried to hold them the same way.

Then the monkey said, "How are we going to know how to start, so we can both start together?"

And the Circus Bear said, "I will tell you what to do. We will get the beaver to slap his tail on the water, and that will be just as good as firing a pistol. When you hear the noise, you both start at the same time."

So the muskrat ran down and told the beaver what to do. And little Cub Bear and the monkey waited, all ready to start the moment they heard the noise.