The Bear Who Wouldn’t Go To Bed
Billy, the bear cub, loved playing and foraging for tasty treats in the forest with his brother and other cubs that lived nearby. Fishing was Billy’s favorite thing to do, because he always caught more than anybody and liked to show off how many he caught.
One night, Billy’s mom told her cubs to brush their teeth and get into bed, so she could tuck them in. It was time to hibernate and sleep for the winter, like all bears do.
Billy sighed and brushed his teeth. He didn’t want to go to bed, but he lied down anyway and let his mother tuck him into bed. He closed his eyes, but he had other plans.
After Billy’s mom and brother were fast asleep, he slipped out of bed. He had fun sneaking around and playing by himself in their cave for a little while, but by morning he was so bored he couldn’t wait for his family to wake up and keep him company.
Billy waited and waited. His family still didn’t wake up, so he finally decided to go outside and play. He couldn’t find neighbor cubs playing anywhere. They, too, were sleeping.
Billy soon got hungry, so he searched the forest for nuts and berries, but there were none now. He settled on trying to catch fish, but there were so few fish in the river. Luckily, he caught some anyway, and even though the fish filled his belly, he still felt empty and alone inside, because there was nobody there to show the fish off to.
Day after day, Billy became even more lonely and bored, then very cold when it began to snow. He even tried lying down to hibernate, again. However, he couldn’t quite settle in right and kept waking up, again.
One day, many days later, when the snow started melting, Billy’s mom woke up. He was so overjoyed to finally see her again that he ran up and gave a big hug. Billy told his mom what happened.
She then tucked him snugly into his warm bed, and told him, “That’s alright, Billy. I just hope you learned to go to bed when you’re told and not stay up, again.”
Billy smiled and nodded, then yawned wide and finally fell asleep.
