In one magical forest lived a family — Mama Bear, Papa Bear, and little bear cubs. The eldest was named Buttercup, the middle one was called Goodheart, and the youngest girl cub was named Paws-and-Tail. 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 Paws' 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's no food in the forest, fluffy snow lies everywhere, and there isn't a single shop where you could buy different treats.
So in the huge storage room, barrels of honey stood against the walls, along with large wooden boxes of raspberries, apples, apricots, plums, pears, and cranberries. 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, you could even miss a little winter sleep. And they also had to prepare gifts for each other and 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, baubles, garlands, handmade paper crafts, and shiny tinsel.
Little Paws watered all the flowers in the house. She and Mum 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 different 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? Paws ran to open it and saw on the doorstep 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 mum has fallen ill, Dad went to fetch the doctor — the wild boar — and has 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 shaking like leaves in the wind, from cold, from hunger — they were very unhappy. Mama 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 Paws' little pink bed, whilst the girl herself had to settle down in her brothers' room.
At first the little bear cubs were cross with their parents, but then they thought about how frightening it is when you're hungry, cold, and especially when your mum is ill, 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, fruit, medicine for the sick mum, firewood to heat the house, presents for the little hedgehogs, and many, many different toys and gifts.
It was very cheerful and good to help the poor little hedgehogs. It was so pleasant for everyone to have fun together, jump about, play with the young hedgehogs, and watch as the sick hedgehog mum took her medicine and immediately recovered. And then the hedgehog dad 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 mums, dads, and children were together.
And so the bear cub family celebrated Christmas, without presents and special treats. But they felt so good about helping their forest friends, because it's very important to have many such close mates.
