BROMLEY BEAR KEEPS HIS PROMISE
Once upon a time, there was a bear that lived in the Noshar Forest. He was a big bear, a strong bear, a good bear. But he was also a bear who did not like to work, he was a lazy bear. His name was Bromley Bear.
One day Bromley Bear woke up after a long, long sleep. He had slept all winter and now it was spring. The birds were chirping and the flowers were blooming, spring was wonderful! Suddenly Bromley Bear heard a loud growley sound coming from somewhere.
First he looked to the right and then he looked to the left, where was the noise coming from?
He followed the sound down, down, down; it was coming from his tummy! Bromley Bear had been sleeping for so long that he had forgotten how hungry he was and his tummy was growling loudly to remind him. He marched into the forest to look for food, his arms swinging back and forth, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, and his feet plodding along.
Suddenly Bromley Bear felt something buzz by his nose, buzz, buzz, buzz. It was a honeybee. Honey! Bromley Bear thought, he could do with some yummy tasting honey. He licked his lips and patted his tummy which growled even louder, growl, growl, growl.
Bromley Bear followed the bee back to the beehive. There were lots of bees working on the hive, buzz, buzz, buzz.
They were working so hard they did not look his way so Bromley Bear knocked on the tree, knock, knock, knock.
Mable a small honeybee flew up to Bromley Bear. “Can I help you?” the bee asked politely. “Yes,” said Bromley Bear, “ I would like some honey please.” How much honey would you like?” asked Mable. “A lot,” said Bromley Bear, patting his empty tummy.
“How will you pay for the honey?” asked Mable as she buzzed in front of the great big bear. Bromley Bear thought about this for a moment, he was so hungry but he did not have any money. Then he had an idea. “Can I promise to pay you tomorrow?” he asked the bee. “Okay,” said Mable, “please bring me two dollars tomorrow.”
Bromley Bear took the honey and went home. He was so happy he danced all the way home, jiggle, jiggle, jiggle.
He finished the entire jar of honey, yummy, yummy, yummy.
The next day Bromley bear was having a nice nap under a tall oak tree when he heard a buzzing sound. He opened his eyes to see Mable the honeybee. “Hello Mable” Bromley Bear said cheerily. “Hello Bromley Bear," Mable replied, “do you have the money for me?”
Money? Bromley Bear thought, he had forgotten about the money. He looked into his right pocket then into his left pocket, but both were empty. “Sorry, Mable, but I do not have any money,” Bromley Bear said as he stood up and stretched his great arms.
Mable’s eyes grew wide. “But Bromley Bear, you made a promise.”
Bromley Bear suddenly understood. He shuffled his feet and hung his head down, he felt sad. He had made a promise. A promise was important. It was the most important thing ever.
He scratched his head, scratch, scratch, scratch.
Then Bromley Bear had an idea. “I do not have any money, but may be I can help you make honey,” he shouted in excitement.
The bee thought about this for a moment. The bear would not fit in the beehive, how could he help make honey? “Well,” Mable volunteered, “we make honey by visiting flowers and our wings get really tired from flying. May be you can bring the flowers to us?”
Bromley Bear got excited. Collect flowers, that was something he could do! But then he felt sad again. “Mable, if we pick the flowers, won’t they be away from their family and their home?”
Mable thought about this, “Yes,” she said. She felt sad too because she did not want the flowers to be lonely.
Bromley Bear thought and thought and thought. Finally he had a bear-inspirational idea. “Mable, I am big and strong. I can walk here and there and find new places full of flowers. That way you do not have to fly everywhere looking for flowers and your wings will not get so tired."
Mable buzzed happily around. That would work! They could follow Bromley Bear to the far away places he knew had flowers, imagine all the new flowers they would find!
That afternoon, Bromley Bear marched into the forest, stomp, stomp, stomp. All the bees from the beehive buzzed behind him, buzz, buzz, buzz.
It was quite a sight! He was keeping the promise he made to the bees, he was helping them make honey! He showed the bees to a place with many flowers of different colours. There were red, purple, orange and yellow flowers. Then Bromley Bear sat by a tree while the bees visited all the pretty flowers. He was going to show the bees the way back to the hive when they were done.
He was so happy. He had kept his promise and made friends with the bees. They were going to pay him for his work with more honey. It was good not to be lazy!
Copyright © November 2002.