In a forest lived a little bear. He loved to walk outside, chase butterflies, listen to 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:
Little bear, I'm inviting you tomorrow morning to my birthday party! We'll have fun, play, and eat lots of treats!
The little bear was very happy. He loved sweets and fun. When the rabbit went home, the little bear thought: "What should I give my friend? I could give him a big head of cabbage! But the rabbit's pantry is already full of cabbage... I could give him a big, sweet carrot! But the rabbit has plenty of carrots too..."
The little bear became sad. He cried. And then he noticed that he was in a meadow that he had come to without realizing it. And the meadow was very, very beautiful. Yellow, red, blue, and orange flowers grew everywhere.
Over the flowers, as if dancing, butterflies fluttered, bees buzzed, and on the branches of trees that grew near the meadow, birds sang their bright songs.
The little 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. After gathering a huge bouquet, the little 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 little 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 kind of rags.
"But why?" cried the little bear when he realized that his gift had died. "Why did my flowers wilt? What did I do wrong?" he thought, looking at his former bouquet.
The little bear felt sad and went to look for that amazing meadow with the most beautiful flowers in the world again. He searched and searched and found it. And the little bear started gathering flowers again. When the bouquet was gathered, he thought: "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 little bear thought: "My bouquet needs water!"
With these thoughts, he ran home, took a vase, poured water into it, and put the bouquet in it. Then, taking the vase with the bouquet, the little bear went to the rabbit's birthday party.
The little rabbit was very happy with the flowers. "How beautiful they are! And how wonderful they smell!" And the little bear said: "Let these flowers always stand in a vase with water and then they will stay this 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 little bear made the rabbit happy for a long time, reminding him of the happiest birthday of his life.
