THE TWINS TAKE TO A TREE
Run while you may, nor hesitate
Lest you should prove to be too late.
_Mother Bear._
Mother Bear is a very wise mother. One of the first things she taught
the twins was that safety is the first and most important thing. Then
she taught them that it is better to run away from possible danger than
to wait to make sure of the danger.
“No harm comes of running away,” said she, “but if you wait you may
discover your danger too late to run. It is better to run away a
hundred times without cause than to be too late once in time of real
danger.”
So when the twins suddenly came face to face with Buster Bear for the
first time, they did just the right thing. For a second or two they
stared at him in frightened surprise, then they turned and ran.
Do you think it queer that the twins didn’t know their own father?
And do you think it even more queer that Buster Bear didn’t know his
own children? Just remember that they had never seen him and he had
never seen them before. For more than three months after they were
born they hadn’t been out from under that great windfall in the Green
Forest. When they did come out, Buster Bear had been in another part
of the Green Forest. Mother Bear had warned him to keep away from that
windfall, and Buster had obeyed. So Boxer and Woof-Woof had known
nothing about their father and Buster had known nothing about the twins.
Now when Buster saw those cubs, not knowing they were his own, he
was filled with sudden anger. He didn’t want any more Bears in the
Green Forest. He wanted the Green Forest just for himself and Mrs.
Bear. Those young Bears were likely to make a great deal of trouble.
Anyway, they would need a lot of food, and this would mean that it
would be just so much harder for him to get enough to satisfy his own
big appetite. So after the first surprised stare Buster growled. It
was a grumbly-rumbly growl deep down in his throat. The twins heard it
as they started to run, and it was the most awful sound they ever had
heard.
Straight to the nearest tall tree ran the twins, and up they scrambled.
Chatterer the Red Squirrel could hardly have gone up that tree faster.
Somehow they felt safer in a tree than on the ground. Buster Bear
walked over to the foot of the tree and looked up at the cubs. They
were fat, were those cubs. They were very fat.
“They look good enough to eat,” thought Buster, as he stood up at the
foot of the tree, looking up at Boxer and Woof-Woof. “They would make
me a very good dinner. They have no business here, anyway. I’ve been
living on roots and such things so long that a little fresh meat would
taste good. If I go up after them, I can do two things at once, rid the
Green Forest of a pair of troublesome youngsters who are bound to make
trouble, and get a good dinner. I believe I’ll do it.”
Of course this was very dreadful, but you know Buster didn’t know that
those cubs were his own. They meant no more to him than did Peter
Rabbit, and you know he wouldn’t have hesitated an instant to gobble up
Peter if he had had the chance.
Buster looked all around to make sure that no one saw him. Then he dug
his great claws into that tree and started to climb up.