It happened in a certain forest. The morning sun rose from behind the mountain. And its first gentle rays illuminated the leaves of the trees, touched by droplets of dew.
From afar came the ringing of bellflowers. In his den, little Bear Cub woke up. He lived there with his dignified mum Bear and his easygoing dad Bear. And on that day, Bear Cub had something special — his Birthday.
For many months he had eagerly awaited the arrival of This day, because the present from his parents had been requested ages ago and his patience was wearing thin. And now! The long-awaited Birthday had arrived!
A large box stood beside his bed. Bear Cub carefully untied the ribbon, opened the box and… Oh, what a wonder! Before his eyes appeared a big and colourful drum. The present was decorated with intricate patterns, it came with wide straps to wear around the neck, and two drumsticks, which help produce cheerful sounds from the drum.
Bear Cub was thrilled with such a present, as he'd been dreaming about it for ages and secretly hoped that his parents wouldn't change their minds and buy him something else instead. He put it around his neck and bounded out into the forest.
And from that moment on, all the forest animals and birds lost their peace. From early morning till late evening all that could be heard was: "Boom-boom-boom! Bam-bam-bam!"
Bear Cub, have a rest for just a bit, our ears are ringing, our heads are aching.
The birds pleaded.
But Bear Cub replied:
I'll just play a little longer, aren't you having fun?
He swung the drumsticks, and a very loud "boom-boom-boom!" echoed throughout the area.
The animals couldn't bear it any longer and pleaded:
Bear Cub, stop playing! We've got little ones, they want to sleep, but because of your playing they can't fall asleep! You're banging too loudly!
Well, let them put up with it for a bit, they'll fall asleep later. Big deal…
Bear Cub the drummer wouldn't stop.
All the insects gathered together: beetles, ladybirds, mozzies, butterflies. In chorus they began asking Bear Cub to stop playing — it had become far too noisy in the forest.
The echidnas curled up into prickly balls from the noise, the possums hid in a wide hollow, the wallabies burrowed into deep burrows, even the cockatoos flew up to the highest trees, so they wouldn't hear the annoying sounds as much.
Bear Cub wouldn't listen to anyone, he only thought about himself, and about how much fun he was having playing the drum. So all the forest dwellers decided to teach him a lesson.
Towards evening the sun rolled towards the horizon, its rays didn't shine as brightly and illuminate the forest expanses. Bear Cub, who had spent the whole day walking through the thickets and paths with his drum and banging on it, had grown a bit tired after the whole day, and sat down on a colourful meadow with fragrant flowers on an enormous ancient stump, shaped like a chair, to rest.
Suddenly something unexpected happened: all the birds that lived in this forest and its surroundings, suddenly all together very loudly began to sing, chirp, squawk, coo, and twitter. The animals began playing various musical instruments.
The possums — on flutes, the foxes — on pianos, the dingoes — on guitars, the bears — on double basses, the wallabies — on banjos… And all the beetles and butterflies, led by the frogs, began dancing in circles right around the stump on which Bear Cub had sat down to rest.
He was bewildered:
What's happened, what's going on?
Little Bear Cub clutched his head with his paws, couldn't take it and cried out:
Stop! Don't sing, don't play, don't dance! I'm so tired, and you've made such a terrible racket. But I always…
And Bear Cub fell silent, realising that he was the one who had behaved badly, when he hadn't considered others.
He admitted his mistake, apologised for his poor behaviour and rudeness. And he promised that from now on he would play his loud drum only when his thundering "boom-boom-boom" wouldn't bother anyone.
