After his meeting with Santa Claus, Little Pine wandered the back paths of the woods for a long, long time. He needed time to try to understand what it meant to be named a Prince by the King of the Elves. It sounded very important and he wasn’t quite sure what was expected of him.
As he walked along, deep in thought, the trees and woodland creatures greeted him with merry smiles. “Oh, Little Pine!” they would say, “What a beautiful star you have!” He stopped to chat for a few minutes with each of them, asking how they were enjoying Festival season so far. Their stories cheered him, and by late afternoon, he decided he would focus on the second half of his new title, “Ambassador of Friendship.” He liked that part a lot. He didn’t have to tell anybody that he was a prince. In his mind, everybody was a prince or princess. Everybody was special in his or her own way.
Still, he admitted to himself, he really liked the shining star that Santa had fastened to his crown. It would always be a reminder of this special day and of his mission—to be a friend. He decided that he would keep it in a special place where he could see it every day, but he’d wear it only for Festival season.
After he figured everything out, he was his usual happy self again, and he turned toward home. He certainly had quite a story to tell Mother over supper tonight.
He was right at the fork in the trail where he turned to get home when he spotted a family of bears resting beneath the branches of one of his cousins. “Hello!” he greeted them cheerily. “I’m Little Pine. Welcome to our Festival!”
“Thank you, Little Pine. We’re the Her family. I’m Her-Man, and this is my wife, Her-She, and our twins, Her-O and Her-Oine. We just got here and we’re supposed to find Grandmother Bear and check in. Do you happen to know where we can find her?”
“You’re almost there right now,” Little Pine said, and he explained how the right branch of the fork in the trail would take them to the bears’ encampment. “You’re going to have a wonderful time,” Little Pine told them. “Grandmother will make you feel right at home and you’re going to get to meet more bears than you can imagine. They’ve been coming every day, some from very far.
“Did you have to travel long to get here?”
“Oh, yes,” said Her-she. “We’ve been walking many days. In fact, we thought we were lost. But then we heard some whistling and it seemed that we should follow the song. To our surprise, when we reached the source of the music, it was coming from three happy elves! They gave us a snack and told us we were already here.”
“You’ll be seeing more of them,” Little Pine said. “They check out the whole woods every day to make sure everybody is happy and the decorations are in order. You’ll see their handiwork everywhere.
“Listen, I have a little time before I have to be home for supper. Let me take you to Grandmother Bear.”
“Thank you, Little Pine,” said Her-man. “That would be wonderful.”
Little Pine was quite taken by the baby bears and the pretty cart they were riding in. He suspected the family was ready for some rest after their long journey and he didn’t want them to feel alone or to be afraid again that they might be lost. So he led them toward the encampment.
Her-She noticed the decorations on the tree-stumps and Little Pine explained that they were drums that the chipmunks and squirrels and woodpeckers would play for the Grand March on Festival Day. “You’re in for a day that you’ll never forget,” he told her.
They were nearly there when the babies sniffed the air and started laughing. Her-She sniffed the air, too, and said, “Oh! Honey! There’s honey nearby!”
“That’s Grandmother Bear’s special holiday treat,” Little Pine said. “She adds it to everything she makes for the bears. And after you eat and are rested, you’ll get to join the choir,” Little Pine said. He was thinking about Sugar Bear and hoping he might see her. Secretly, he wanted her to see him wearing his bright, new shining star.
The Her family picked up the pace a little once they smelled the honey. When they got to the camp, Little Pine was pointing out the main cave where Grandmother Bear would welcome them and feed them.
“But before you go,” he said, reaching in his pocket for four fun bubbles, “Here’s a little welcome gift for you.” Each bubble burst into streamers of different colors and the sound of elves whistling danced around them in the merriest Festival songs. They all laughed at the surprising show, and then they said their good-byes—just as Little Pine spotted Sugar Bear coming from the main cave.
She was, she said, on her way to another choir practice and couldn’t chat long. “But I must tell you, Little Pine, that you looking stunning with that beautiful golden star!” and before he knew what was happening, she wrapped her soft white arms around him and gave a big bear hug.
“What tales I’ll have to tell tonight!” he said to himself, “a whole bear family! And another, wonderful hug!” And he skipped happily all the way home, thinking to himself that he must be one of the luckiest pines on the planet.