Little Pine worked all morning tucking freshly baked treats in the hollows of trees. He was just finishing with his seventh basketful when he heard the whistling of the elves coming down the trail.
“Hey, Little Pine!” one of the shouted to him, waving. “It’s lunch time!” They skipped over to him and handed him a big mug of hot butternut stew.
“Thanks for your help, Little Pine. Mother said you have been out here for hours.”
“You’re welcome. I’ve had fun. I got to chat with some chipmunks and mice, and a couple squirrels and even an opossum. They were quite curious about what I was doing. So I explained about the bears and they said they wouldn’t eat the treats we hid in the hollows since they were meant for our special guests. I promised them that Mother Elf was making plenty for Festival Day, too—enough for them to take plenty of them home after the feast.”
“We finished decorating the stumps today,” the middle elf said. “So we’ll be able to hide the rest of the treats that are ready if you have other things that you’d like to do.”
“Thanks!” said Little Pine. “I would like to see if more bears have come. They’re wonderful creatures, you know, and I want them to know that they’re welcome.”
As they ate, he saw a look on the eldest elf’s face that he had noticed the other day. It was kind of smug and mischievous and he wondered what it meant. “What’s going on?” he asked the elf. “You’re wearing a most peculiar expression.”
“Oh, nothing,” the elf said, smiling. The other two elf-brothers giggled. “It’s a secret,” the youngest one said. “You’ll see. It’s a surprise.”
Little Pine knew better than to try to get them to tell him what it was. Elves were some of the best secret-keepers in the world, especially when they had surprises up their sleeves. So he told them about meeting Tuffy Bear and Sugar and how sweet they were, how full of affection. And the elves told him about the red-headed woodpeckers and how they were inviting all their aunts and uncles and cousins from the nearby woods to join in the drumming on Festival Day.
When they finished their lunch, Little Pine told them goodbye and headed over to the end of the pond where the bears were staying. He kept thinking about the elves’ secret and grew more curious with every step, trying to imagine what it could be.
He had just reached the edge of the pond when he heard a tinny, clanging sound up ahead. “What could that be?” he wondered out loud. He quickened his pace. The noise seemed to be coming from a tree down the trail and it was accompanied by the funniest chattering sound. Then he saw a flash of red and looking closer saw a bear and some other kind of little animal sitting on a sled way up on one of his cousin pine’s branches.
“Hello!” he hollered up to them. “I’m Little Pine. Welcome to our Festival. What are you doing up in that tree?”
“Hello, Little Pine,” said the bear. “I’m Atlanta, the sailor bear, and this is my friend Marvin Monkey. We went sledding yesterday when the snow was still here and we went flying over the top of a big hill and ended up in this tree. Now we’re stuck, I’m embarrassed to say. We’ve been here all night.”
“Oh no!” said Little Pine. “How can I help you?”
“Help is on its way,” Atlanta Bear said. “Sugar Bear heard Marvin’s cymbals this morning and she went to get some big brown bears who came in last night. They’re very tall and clever, and I’m quite sure they will be able to get us safely down.”
“I’m sorry you had to be stuck all night,” Little Pine said with a soft laugh, “But I have to tell you that you two look pretty funny up there on a sled in a tree!”
“I’m sure we’ll be the talk of bear town for days,” said Atlanta. “Marvin thinks it’s marvelous. He lives to amuse. And I must admit that I’m an adventurous sort of bear, and now I have another yarn to tell when I get home. So no one is the worse for it.”
Just then the two brown bears arrived and in no time at all, they rescued Marvin and Atlanta. “Grandmother Bear will be relieved to see you safe and sound,” one of the big bears said. “She was concerned. She had Tuffy on standby, and she’s made a special lunch to feed you when we get back.”
Little Pine introduced himself to the brown bears and thanked them for their help. Then he gave everyone fun bubbles as he accompanied them back to bear town. They walked along in the shower of dancing lights from the bubbles and laughed at the song that filled the air: “Over the river and through the woods, to Grandmother’s house we go . . . “