But while Little Bear was skipping joyfully over the log, trying to reach the opposite bank before his father and mother could swim across, the log turned over and sent Little Bear head first into the river. Fortunately, he knew enough to keep his mouth shut, and in a little while he bobbed up, shaking his head to get the water out of his eyes and his ears and paddling like a duck. That was all there was to it, because, ever after, Little Bear could swim.
Mother Bear believes to this day that Father Bear knew that the log would roll over. She believes it because, whenever anyone asks him, he says nothing, but just laughs.
One morning, while Little Bear was out camping with his father and mother, he went into the woods to pick daisies and bluebells with which to decorate the entrance to their cave. His hands were full of flowers, and he was ready to go back with them to his mother, when he heard a baby crying. Little Bear stood still and listened. Then he knew that the child who was crying was an Otter baby. He had heard Otter babies cry before.
"What is the matter, baby one?" called Little Bear. "What are you crying about and where are you? Did you bump your nose?"
"I am lost! Come and find me!" answered Baby Otter.
"You are hiding behind the oak stump!" exclaimed Little Bear, as he scrambled through the thicket and fairly pounced upon Baby Otter. "I spy!" he shouted.
"It isn't a game!" wailed the Otter baby. "I tell you I am lost! I don't know where my mother went and I can't find my father! I want to go home. Oh, boo-hoo-hoo!"
"There, there, don't cry!" said Little Bear. "Tell me where your camp is, and I will take you home just as fast as we can go."
"But we do not live here!" complained the lost baby. "Our home is Brookside, a long way off across country, and we are only camping out, and I do not know where our camp is! Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"
"Come, come, cheer up!" said Little Bear, using the very words his father often used when speaking to him. "I tell you I will take you home, and if it is too far away I'll ask my father to go. We are camping out, ourselves, down the river a little way. Now tell me how you happened to get lost."