"You may taste of it if you wish, Son Bear," said his mother.
Into the kettle went Little Bear's paw, and out it came filled with soft, brown, juicy fruit. He ate it, and it was good-so good he ate more and more. Father Bear ate the fruit, Mother Bear ate the fruit.
"What is it?" they said one to another. But although they could not answer the question, they liked that fruit so well they ate and ate until they ate it all up. They even forgot their manners and smacked their lips.
Suddenly there was a noise in one of the tents, and out popped the cook's wife, calling, "Oh, the bears are eating our prunes! Oh, the bears are eating our prunes! Shoo! Shoo! Shoo! They were eating our prunes!"
"So we were eating prunes!" exclaimed Mother Bear, as away went the Three Bears, laughing.
"And prunes are good!" piped up Little Bear, in his shrill, shrill voice.
But Daddy Bear pranced through the forest singing:
"Oh, let us sing some new, new tunes!
All about her prunes, prunes, prunes!"
And "Prunes, prunes, prunes," the Three Bears sang all that merry day. "Prunes, prunes, prunes, prunes we had for breakfast!"
Little Bear had never heard of the Pied Piper of Hamelin who rid the town of rats, and then, when he went back for his promised pay, was only laughed at, so that he piped away all the children of Hamelin town and never piped them back again. Mother Bear had never told Little Bear that story. However, she had taught her child to keep his promises, which was very fortunate, because one day the Pied Piper appeared when Little Bear was alone in the sunbright clearing which was his favorite playground.