In a forest lived a little bear. He loved to walk outside, chase butterflies, listen to the birds singing, and roll around in soft grass. But most of all he loved to play with his friend — a little rabbit.
One day, when the bear and rabbit were walking through the forest, the rabbit said:
Bear, I'm inviting you to my birthday party tomorrow morning! We'll have fun, play games and eat all sorts of yummy things!
The bear was delighted. He loved sweets and fun. When the rabbit went home, the bear thought: "What should I give my friend? I could give him a big head of cabbage! But the rabbit's storeroom is already full of cabbage... Or I could give him a big, sweet carrot! But the rabbit has plenty of carrots too..."
The bear became upset and cried. Then he noticed he was standing in a clearing he hadn't noticed arriving at. And the clearing was absolutely beautiful. Yellow, red, blue and orange flowers grew everywhere.
Over the flowers, as if dancing, butterflies fluttered about, bees buzzed, and on the branches of trees growing near the clearing, birds sang their bright songs.
The bear looked at the flowers and came up with an idea of what to give his friend: "I'll give him the most beautiful bouquet of flowers!"
And he started picking flowers. Having gathered a huge bouquet, the bear ran home, put the flowers on the table and went to sleep, thinking about how happy the rabbit would be tomorrow.
Morning came. The bear woke up, washed his face and grabbed the bouquet to go to the birthday party. And then he saw that his fresh, fragrant, beautiful flowers had wilted, turning into some sort of rags.
"But why?" cried the bear when he realised his gift had died. "Why did my flowers wilt? What did I do wrong?" he thought, looking at what was left of his bouquet.
The bear felt sad and went off again to find that wonderful clearing with the most beautiful flowers in the world. He searched and searched and found it. And the bear started gathering flowers again. When the bouquet was gathered, he thought: "But what can I do so the flowers don't wilt again?"
He thought and thought and remembered that when it's very hot in summer and there's no rain for a long time, all the plants in the forest become wilted, turn yellow and wither. But when it rains, the plants become beautiful, as if they come alive. And the bear thought: "My bouquet needs water!"
With these thoughts he ran home, got a vase, filled it with water and put the bouquet in it. Then, taking the vase with the bouquet, the bear went to the rabbit's birthday party.
The little rabbit was delighted with the flowers. "How beautiful they are! And how lovely they smell!" And the bear said: "Let these flowers always stand in a vase with water and then they'll stay just as beautiful for a long time!"
The rabbit did just that. Every morning he poured fresh water into the vase and the beautiful bouquet from the bear brought joy to the rabbit for a long time, reminding him of the happiest birthday of his life.
