Straightway Mr. Man lifted the latch, went in, and walked over to the cradle. Instead of a little pink and white baby in the cradle, there lay a baby bear, sound asleep. Mr. Man smiled and stooped over to take Little Bear in his arms.
"I'll carry you home to my children for a pet," said Mr. Man.
At that moment middle-sized Mother Bear opened the door. Oh, but she was frightened when she saw a man with a gun in his hand leaning over her baby's cradle! She feared he would run away with the baby and shoot whoever tried to stop him. Middle-sized Mother Bear tried to think what to do and in a second she remembered that sometimes men are afraid of fire. Running to the fireplace she seized a blazing log and darted at Mr. Man. One end of the log was not on fire, so Mother Bear didn't get burned.
But that man! When he saw Mother Bear coming toward him with a blazing log, he jumped for the door and was gone before she had time to think twice! And he was never again seen near the Three Bears' home!
Little Bear loves to hear about that man to this day.
GRANDFATHER GRIZZLY
Little Bear's parents had never told him about his Grandfather Grizzly, but Auntie Cinnamon's twins told Little Bear that Grandfather Grizzly talked like this: "Gr-gr-gr-ger-ger-row-rowl!"—only they made it sound like the north wind in November.
Little Bear shivered with fear. That pleased the twins so much they told one story after another, just to see Little Bear look frightened. But the joke was on them, because, while they were trying to scare Little Bear, they had frightened themselves so badly they jumped every time the friendly owl spoke in the forest.
Of course Little Bear straightway asked Father Bear many questions about Grandfather Grizzly and his folks. At last he said, "If I ever meet a grizzly, up I go, up I go, to the top of the highest tree!"