Reading time: 6 min“Is that a sheep or a cat?” wondered Sam, the little brown bear, as he watched the fluffy clouds rushing past the mountain peak, constantly changing shape to resemble different animals.
As he watched the cloud formations, he lay comfortably in the grass on a mountain meadow, plucking a few daisies while lost in thought.
Sam was still a young bear, but already old enough to be out on his own more often. He had almost outgrown his mother’s protection. She had taught him everything he needed to know and now regularly sent him out alone to forage for food.
While he was out hunting, he liked to lie down in the cool grass and dream. As a large, elegant eagle hovered above him in the sky that day, Sam watched the impressive bird of prey float weightlessly through the air.
It seemed to require little effort. Sam was surprised that it didn’t even move its wings.
“Oh, how I would love to be a big bird! Then I could fly and see the world from above. I could be in one place today and somewhere completely different tomorrow. I would be able to spot my prey from above and then just swoop down without having to search for it.”
He rose somewhat heavily from his resting place and made his way down to the river with a growling stomach. The current was fast and the blue water sloshed vigorously against the many small rocks and stones that carefully embedded the river.
Sam made his way through the rushing river. He spotted a large boulder and sat down on the highest spot. Despite his growling stomach, he didn’t feel like fishing today. Instead, he watched a group of salmon fighting against the current toward the mouth of the river and sank back into his thoughts.
“Oh, to be a fish!” Sam mused. “Then I could glide silently and gently through the water. I could join a large school and just drift along. Down there in the sea, I could see the most beautiful coral reefs and eat the tastiest algae. The current would take me to the most beautiful places.”
Without catching a single fish, Sam climbed down from the rock and crossed a meadow toward the forest. On the way there, he casually satisfied his hunger by picking the juicy blackberries from some magnificent bushes and eating them with relish.
“Mmm… that’s just what I needed,” he said contentedly. He enjoyed the sweet fruits with loud smacking sounds, so that red juice ran from his mouth.
In the afternoon, the sun was high in the sky. Sam began to sweat under his thick fur and looked for shade. When he spotted a large tree with a dense crown of colorful leaves already tinged with autumn colors, he headed straight for a small forest.
He looked around and decided to take a little break. “Today, I’m just going to do nothing!” he grumbled and decided to just laze around. But just as he was about to make himself comfortable under the shady tree, he suddenly felt a terrible tickling sensation under his fur.
“Hey!” Sam cried. He jumped up frantically and shook himself with all his might. He even hopped from one leg to the other, hoping to find the cause of the tingling and tickling in his fur.
But nothing happened. Sam was desperate. Now he leaned against the wide tree trunk and rubbed himself against it as hard as he could. But it didn’t help.
“I have to find out who suddenly hid under my fur.” When he couldn’t find anyone even after looking more closely, he sat down under the tree, feeling dejected. Only now did he notice a soft scurrying on the sandy forest floor and saw several small black dots disappearing through the branches.
“Well, where are these little creatures running to?” Sam had never encountered ants before and now watched the little insects with curiosity.
He saw an ant colony crawling down the tree trunk toward the forest. Some of the little creatures seemed to be taking a shortcut through Sam’s fur.
Sam watched with interest as the little ants scurried along. Curious, he decided to follow them. The little ants were fast and nimble and seemed to have a clear destination in mind.
Just as Sam thought he could see the anthill in the distance, he stumbled over an old tree stump. While he had been running so fast after the nimble animals, he didn’t notice that he had reached a dead end. The forest around him was now densely overgrown, and tall, thorny bushes grew around him.
Sam tried to claw his way through the dense bushes, but the thorny branches immediately caught in his fur.
“Ouch!” grumbled the bear. “How could this happen to me?” Sam tried to free himself from the thorns. Thorn by thorn, he carefully pulled them out of his paws. Now he remembered his mother’s words, who had always advised him to think first and only then follow a trail.
Sam was annoyed at this beginner’s mistake. He had focused only on the little ants and their path into the forest and completely forgotten to think about what might await him at the end.
When he had freed himself from all the thorns, he looked for a way out. There he encountered the ant colony again, lined up neatly and moving purposefully and seemingly effortlessly through the thorny branches to the other side of the thorn bushes.
“I wish I were an ant right now! Then I could fit through anywhere and no obstacles would block my way,” Sam muttered aloud.
Suddenly, Sam was startled out of his thoughts by a strange voice. He looked up and saw a brown squirrel sitting on a narrow branch.
“I would never have guessed that a bear like you would wish to be a tiny creature like an ant!” he heard it call down.
“But why not?” Sam asked in surprise.
“Because you’re a bear! Strong and powerful. All the animals have great respect for you and your fellow bears. You bears are strong and brave. You can climb trees, swim, and run fast. You have big paws that can lift and carry anything, and a loud, fearsome voice that makes the whole forest tremble.”
Sam watched the wildly gesticulating squirrel speechless, fearing that it might fall off the branch at any moment. But the squirrel had a firm grip and talked and talked.
Sam was still looking up and was completely surprised that a tiny little squirrel was telling him how lucky he was to be a bear.
Shaken awake by what it said, Sam suddenly felt very encouraged. He stood up and stood on both hind legs. This made him immensely tall. Now he had a good overview and saw a way out of the prickly thorn bushes.
He was suddenly content and somehow encouraged. It felt good to be a bear again. He no longer wanted to trade places with any fish, bird, or ant.
Before disappearing into the depths of the forest, he turned around briefly and looked up joyfully at the little forest dweller.
Sam gratefully raised his paw in farewell, even forgetting about the countless ants in his fur.
More Bedtime Stories:
You’ll find more bedtime stories in our collection: All Bedtime Stories for Kids →
Popular Topics: