Story for Emma’s 4th Birthday

For my Granddaughter's 4th birthday, I refurbished and painted the house my daughter, Mandy, was given for her 5th birthday by my Mom and Dad.   I wrote the following story to go with the house.

Once upon a time there lived a pretty girl bear called

Bronny.

 

 

 

Not far away, lived a handsome young bear. He was clever and strong.

His name was Paddy.

Before very long they fell in love. They walked in the forest together, collected berries together and shared their hopes and dreams.

One day Paddy had a surprise for Bronny.

“Let’s go on a picnic,” he said.

“You bring us some nice muffins and juice and I’ll bring a blanket to sit on.”

After a scrumptious lunch, Paddy got down on one knee and said,

“Bronny, my dear, I love you very much. Please will you marry me?

 

 

Of course Bronny said yes, and just before Christmas, there was a beautiful wedding in the forest chapel.

Mr and Mrs Bear were very happy together. They lived in the forest in the hollow of a big old tree. Bronny made it nice and comfortable and knitted a big pink blanket for them.

They worked together collecting food and Bronny would serve it nicely on big leaves.

 

After about a year, Bronny became pregnant and one day a fluffy baby bear was born.

They called the baby Honey, because she was so sweet. She had reddish fur and a cute white snout.

 

But Honey was quite a nervous cub. As she grew older a lot of things scared her. Spiders frightened her.

When wise

Mr Owl said, “Hoo hoo!” she got such a fright that she started to cry.

Paddy Bear, who was now Daddy Bear was worried. The forest is no place for little bear cubs, he thought. I need to find a house for my family to live in. When Bronny Bear, who was now Mommy Bear, told him she had another baby in her tummy, he set out to find a house for his family.

Daddy Bear talked to his friend, wise Mr. Owl. “You fly around a lot,” he said. Have you seen a house that would be suitable for a bear family?

“Well, “ said wise Mr. Owl, “there

Is a house about three days journey to the east. I’ve never seen anybody going in or out of it, so perhaps it is empty.”

Paddy walked and walked. Every morning he faced the rising sun and tried to keep going in that direction.

At the end of the third day, he saw it – a lovely wooden house with a red roof. It needed a bit of paint but it looked just perfect for the Bear family.

Paddy took a good look around the house. He noticed that the roof was leaking and when he climbed on a ladder to look, he saw there were some tiles missing. He would have to get some new tiles.

Just then he heard someone calling, “Mee-ow. Anybody home?”

Paddy climbed down to see a glamorous cat. “My name is Miss Kitty,” she said. “I live down the road. I have brought a pot of tea. Are you moving in?”

Paddy explained about Bronny and Honey and the baby on the way.

“I

see you are looking for some tiles,” she said.

I have some left over in my garden if you would like them. Paddy was overjoyed and he invited Miss Kitty to come in and have a look around the house. Miss Kitty poured them each a cup of tea.

Miss Kitty used to be a film star. “When I was just a

Kitten,” she explained,

I played the part of Hello Kitty. I was very famous.”

Paddy showed Miss Kitty around the house. She loved the bathroom. “I wish I had a bath,” she said. “People think that just because cats lick themselves clean, they don’t need a bath but I would love to just lie in a nice warm bath.”

Paddy offered to make her a wooden bath in exchange for the tiles she was giving him.

The following week, Paddy was very busy tiling the roof. It took longer than he thought, as building always does. When wise Mr. Owl flew by to see if he had found the house, Paddy asked him to take a message to Bronny, telling her about the house and the repairs he was doing.

“But before you go,” said Paddy, “there is something bothering me. Who owns this house?”

Well, said wise Mr. Owl, “It used to belong to a little girl called Mandy. But that was about 25 years ago.

She would have grown up by now. Perhaps she even has a family of her own.”

“I’d like to show you something,” said Paddy. He took wise Mr. Owl to the bedroom. It was a little room, only big enough for a double bed, two bunk beds and a plastic chair. On the wall were two photos. One was of a little girl with dark hair and her mother.

“Is that Mandy?” asked Paddy, pointing to the little girl.

No, said wise Mr. Owl, “That’s Mandy, the mother.”

“I remember she always had lovely red hair.”

“Do you think they would mind if a bear family stayed in their house?” asked Paddy a little nervously.

“I am sure they would love to have a bear family stay in their house,” said Mr Owl.

What do you think?

Paddy spent some time painting the outside of the house.

He also noticed that not everything in the house was bear-sized. For instance, the stove was very high. Bronny was quite a short bear and she wouldn’t be able to reach the top to cook.

Paddy cut down a tree from the nearby forest and made a wooden step that Bronny could stand on if she wanted to cook on the stove top.

Although she was best at baking and would easily be able to reach the oven

The bath was also big. That wasn’t a problem though. Paddy thought that the whole family could probably fit in the bath together.

When he was happy with the repairs he had done, Paddy went back to fetch Bronny and Honey. They were very excited and didn’t stop asking questions for the three days that they walked to their new home. They got there just in time because that night the new baby came. It was a little boy bear. They called him Bubbles, because when he was born, there was a bubble at the side of his mouth.

Honey was overjoyed with her new brother.

“He can sleep on the bottom bunk and I’ll sleep on the top bunk,” she announced excitedly.

“Talking about sleep,” said Mommy Bear, “it has been a very long day. It is time for you to go to bed.”

Mommy Bear tucked in her two bear cubs in the nice fluffy blankets she had knitted.

“Night night, Honey,” said Daddy Bear. “You have been a star today. You walked a long way and didn’t complain at all. Remember, we love you very much. “Don’t be scared of the new noises in a new house,” he added.

“I’m not scared,” said Honey. “I’m a big sister now. I am going to be a brave bear cub and look after my brother and make sure he doesn’t get scared.”

Bronny was also exhausted. She and Paddy went to bed soon after. “This is a beautiful house,” said Bronny. “Thank you so much. You are such a clever bear and I love you very much.”

“You are the clever bear,” replied Paddy. “Look at the beautiful baby you have given us. I love you very much, Mrs Bear.”

It wasn’t long before they were fast asleep in their new house.

A few days later the Bear family had a party. They invited all their friends around to meet the new baby. Miss Kitty brought some toys for Bubbles and some hair clips for Honey. Wise Mr. Owl brought a big blue pot for the family so Bronny would make some vegetable soup on her new stove.

“Hoo hoo!” he said. “What a handsome baby bear.”

Honey remembered that she was a brave big sister, so although she got a fright at Mr. Owl’s loud voice, she didn’t cry but just smiled at Bubbles so he wouldn’t be scared.

Honey never forgot that she was a brave big sister. When she saw a spider, she told Bubbles not to be scared because they were much bigger than any spider. When she fell down and hurt herself, she didn’t cry because she didn’t want Bubbles to worry about her. When she was scared, she silently asked God to help her be brave and she put a smile on her face.

Paddy Bear remembered his promise to Miss Kitty and made her a lovely wooden bath. Miss Kitty was very excited about it. Now she has baths every day and is the only cat I know who would rather have a bath than a lick clean.

The Bear family lived happily in the house that Paddy had found. The children grew up and had lots of adventures and Bronny and Paddy lived happily ever after.