In a magical forest, there lived a family — a mother bear, a father bear, and little bear cubs. The oldest was named Buttercup, the middle one was called Goodheart, and the youngest girl cub was named Tail-Paw. They all lived in a beautiful big house where the walls and stairs were made of fragrant wood.
The boy cubs lived in their own room. Each had his own wooden bed, and on the shelves lay many, many different toys — big tanks, almost like real ones, toy guns, bulldozers, and even huge building sets from which you could build a big house.
You could tell right away that boys lived here. But in Tail-Paw's room, everything was pink — the bedspread on the bed, the curtains on the windows, and the dresses, of which there were very many in the pink wardrobe.
All the bears, both adults and children, worked all summer and all autumn to store as much food as possible for winter. After all, in winter there is no food in the forest, fluffy snow lies everywhere, and there isn't a single store where you could buy different treats.
Therefore, in the huge pantry room, barrels of honey stood against the walls, along with large wooden boxes filled with raspberries, apples, apricots, plums, pears, and lingonberries. And there was much, much more food there.
Actually, the bears should have gone into hibernation long ago, because bears sleep in winter. But our bears couldn't sleep, because the most important holiday was about to arrive — Christmas. And for such an occasion, they could even miss a little winter sleep. And they also had to prepare gifts for each other and for all their forest friends.
Before this bright, wonderful holiday, all the bears cleaned the house, put away toys, books, and things, and they decorated the house with beautiful drawings, ornaments, garlands, handmade paper crafts, and shiny tinsel.
Little Tail-Paw watered all the flowers in the house. She and her mother had grown many beautiful flowers in pots, and throughout the house there was a pleasant floral aroma. In the largest room, they set up a big table, covered it with a beautiful white tablecloth, and placed many, many plates with various delicious dishes.
And suddenly there was a knock at the door — not even a knock, but a barely audible tap. All the bears looked at each other. Who could it be at such a time? Tail-Paw ran to open the door and saw on the threshold two little hedgehogs, a brother and sister — Spike and Tiny. They had come to ask the bears for help.
Hello, bears. We really need your help! Our mother is sick, our father went to get the doctor — the wild boar — and probably got lost. And we have no firewood at home at all. It's so cold outside that icicles will soon appear in our rooms. And we have no food at all.
The hedgehogs greeted them.
The poor hedgehogs were trembling like leaves in the wind, from cold, from hunger — they were very unhappy. Mother Bear rushed to the little ones, quickly changed them into warm dry clothes, gave them hot tea with raspberry jam, fed them delicious honey pies, and put them to sleep in Tail-Paw's little pink bed, while the girl herself had to lie down in her brothers' room.
At first, the little bear cubs were angry with their parents, but then they thought about how scary it is when you're hungry, cold, and most importantly, when your mother is sick, and they too felt sorry for the poor hedgehogs.
The next day, when everyone woke up, the whole bear family set off to the hedgehogs' house, taking with them lots of different food, fruits, medicine for the sick mother, firewood to heat the house, gifts for the little hedgehogs, and many, many different toys and presents.
It was very fun and good to help the poor little hedgehogs. It was so pleasant for everyone to have fun together, to jump, to play with the young hedgehogs, to watch as the sick hedgehog mother took the medicine and immediately recovered. And then the hedgehog father returned home, alive and well. It turned out he had fallen into a huge snowdrift and couldn't get out. But now everything was fine, and all the mothers, fathers, and children gathered together.
And so the bear cub family celebrated Christmas, without gifts and special treats. But they felt so good helping their forest friends, because it's very important to have many such close companions.
