Little Bear told her about the two men, one on either side of his path. "And I am afraid to go by them!" he wailed.
"Come, come, child, dry your eyes," said Mother Skunk. "You have always been kind to my children, and now I will take care of you. Stop crying and follow me."
"But won't the men catch you?" asked Little Bear.
"Oh, no," answered Mother Skunk, "They will not touch us. You follow me. Come, children."
On walked Mother Skunk, slowly and comfortably, with Little Bear and her six pretty children following one behind another, as she had told them to do.
When the man who was fishing saw Mother Skunk walking by with her children and Little Bear, he sat still as a mouse. All he did was wink. The man by the fire stopped cleaning his gun when he saw Mother Skunk walking by with her children and Little Bear, and he, too, sat still as a mouse.
All he did was wink. "Now, Little Bear," said Mother Skunk, when they had gone a few steps more, "The children and I will [Illustration: On walked Mother Skunk] stay here a while and catch beetles, but you must run along home. The men will not trouble you while we are in their path, never fear!" "I thank you, Mother Skunk!" Little Bear called over his shoulder, as he pit- patted for home as fast as he could travel. And when he reached home, he told what had happened to him and walked up and down in front of the fireplace to show Father Bear and Mother Bear how Mother Skunk had walked past the two big men, as if she were not afraid of anyone in the woods. And how the Three Bears laughed!
But when Mother Bear tucked Little Bear into bed that night, she kissed him and said:
"Let us always be thankful for good, kind friends!"
One morning when Little Bear wanted to play, his mother sent him out to pull weeds in the blackberry patch. When his mother went out to see how he was getting on, she found him lying on the ground and looking at the sky.