THE TWINS GET THEIR FIRST BATH
You cannot learn to swim on land,
So waste no time in trying.
And if you keep from getting wet
You’ll never need a drying.
_Mother Bear._
Wonderful days were these for the twins, Boxer and Woof-Woof. Every
day there was something new to see or hear or taste or smell or feel.
And then there had to be tucked away in each funny little head where
it could not be forgotten the memory of exactly how each of these new
things looked or sounded or tasted or smelled or felt. Mother Bear was
very particular about this. So, though the twins didn’t know it, they
were really going to school all the time that they thought they were
simply having good times and wonderful adventures.
One day Mother Bear led them over to the pond of Paddy the Beaver. How
the cubs did stare when they got their first glimpse of that pond. The
Laughing Brook was the only water they were acquainted with, and in
that part of the Green Forest it was narrow and the pools were very
small. They had not supposed there was so much water in all the Great
World as now lay before them in the pond of Paddy the Beaver.
Mother Bear led the way straight to one end of the dam which Paddy
had built to make that pond. She started across that dam. The twins
followed. Every few steps they stopped to wonder at that pond. The
Merry Little Breezes of Old Mother West Wind were dancing across the
middle of it and making little ripples that sparkled as the Jolly
Little Sunbeams kissed them.
Close to the dam the water was smooth, for the Merry Little Breezes had
not come in there. Boxer and Woof-Woof looked down. Perhaps you can
guess how they felt when they saw two little Bears of just their size
staring back at them. The twins were so surprised that they backed
away hastily. The stranger cubs did exactly the same thing. This gave
Boxer and Woof-Woof confidence. They moved forward to the very edge of
the dam, and there they sat up.
When they did this they lost sight of the other little Bears. They
didn’t know what to make of it. Then Boxer happened to look down in the
water. There were the stranger cubs sitting up and doing exactly as he
and Woof-Woof did. Stranger still, one of them was dressed in black and
one in brown, and the latter looked so exactly like his sister that
Boxer turned to look at her, to make sure that she was beside him
there on the edge of the dam.
Boxer dropped down on all fours. The little stranger in black did the
same thing. It provoked Boxer. Like a flash he struck at that stranger.
Quick as he was, the stranger was as quick. Boxer saw a stout little
paw exactly like his own coming toward him. He dodged, and as he did
so his own swiftly moving little paw struck--nothing but water. It so
surprised Boxer that he lost his balance, and in he tumbled with a
splash.
[Illustration: IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THEY EVER HAD BEEN IN THE WATER
ALL OVER. _Page 121._]
Now Woof-Woof had been so intent on the little stranger in brown
that she had paid no attention to Boxer. Woof-Woof was rather
better-natured than her small brother. She had no desire to quarrel
with these strangers. Slowly, very slowly, she stretched her head
toward the little stranger in brown. The latter did just the same
thing. They were just about to touch noses when Boxer fell in. The
splash startled Woof-Woof so that she lost her balance, and in she went
headfirst with a splash quite equal to that of Boxer.
If ever there were two frightened little Bears, they were the twins. It
was the first time they ever had been in the water all over. They tried
to run, but there was nothing for their feet to touch. This frightened
them still more, and they made their legs go faster. Then they
discovered that they were moving through the water; they were swimming!
they were getting their first bath and their first swimming lesson at
the same time.