In a small forest lived a little bear. He loved to walk outside, chase butterflies, listen to the birds singing, and roll about in the soft grass. But most of all, he loved to play with his friend—a little rabbit.
One day, when the little bear and the 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 games and eat all sorts of treats!
The little bear was delighted. 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 store is already full of cabbage... Or I could give him a big, sweet carrot! But the rabbit has plenty of carrots too..."
The little bear became upset. He cried. And then he noticed that he was in a clearing that he had come to without realising it. And the clearing 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 the trees that grew near the clearing, little birds sang their clear 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 began to pick flowers. Having gathered 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 sort of rags.
"But why?" cried the little bear when he realised 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 again to look for that wonderful clearing with the most beautiful flowers in the world. He searched and searched and found it. And the little bear began to gather flowers again. When the bouquet was gathered, he thought: "But what can I do so that 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 lovely they smell!" And the little bear said: "Let these flowers always stand in a vase with water and then they will 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 little bear brought joy to the rabbit for a long time, reminding him of the happiest birthday of his life.
