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Almost everybody, everywhere knows the story about the "Three Bears who had a visit from a little girl
named Goldilocks," who gave that bear family a very bad time one day.
Well, here we have another bear family that didn't need a little blonde girl to upset the peace and quiet of their
home.
This family of bears has five in it, and they are: Papa Brown, Mama Brown, Brother Cubby, Sister Fuzzy, and Little
Furry. Well, let me tell you, four of the bears behaved themselves pretty well most of the time, but one of the
little ones made such a nuisance of himself that Papa and Mama Brown would almost rather have had a Goldilocks
around than their own son, Little Furry. Now, Little Furry wasn't too bad during the daytime, though he was kind
of stubborn and often didn't do what he was told to right away; but, every night, night after night, he made bedtime
a miserable, unhappy time for everybody in the Brown Bear Family cave that they called home.
When it was time for Little Furry and his brother and sister to go to bed, Little Furry would start to think up
excuses to keep him up just a little longer. Little Furry would count some dried berries or pine cones over and
over and say that he was doing his homework for bear school, or he would pile some sticks together and say that
he was working on his invention.
No matter what Little Furry did or said, it would always come out as a whine that drove Papa and Mama Brown almost
crazy. They knew and Little Furry knew that he was just stalling and trying to stay up a little longer and a little
longer for no really good reason. You know, if bears had radio or television sets or even record players in their
caves, Little Furry would have whined and whined to use them as an excuse to stay awake instead of going to bed
and sleeping as he knew he should.
Now, we all know that a mother can take more of this kind of behavior than a father. If any father thinks he had
a hard day at work, then when he gets home, he wants peace and quiet at night in his own home, cave, nest, a hole
in the ground or wherever he may live with his family. So, one night when Little Furry was whining to stay up just
a little longer, Papa Brown said in bear talk,"OKAY, stay up as late as you want to, but get out of here right
NOW!!" With that Papa Brown pushed Little Furry right out of the cave door. Little Furry was surprised and
a little bit scared at first, but when he saw that the moon was shinning, he sat down to think a while, Well, Little
Furry decided that this was great and that he would have a lot of fun.
Why not go catch a good fish to eat? He thought to himself. Away he went off through the woods to his favorite
creek. At first it was pretty easy to find his way in the moonlight, But where the trees were thickest it was dark
and Little Furry started bumping into things more and more. By the time he reached the creek, big black clouds
had covered the moon completely and it was as dark as dark can get. All of a sudden Little Furry slipped on the
rocks and splashed so much cold water on himself trying to find a fish that before long Little Furry was tired,
freezing cold, wet and miserable, what s more, not a single fish was moving in the entire creek. Little Furry thought
to himself that they were probably all asleep, just as he should have been.
Feeling awfully sorry for himself, Little Furry started for home. Well, the things Little Furry bumped into that
hurt him and the noises he heard that scared him, like the HOOT HOOT that an owl made, and the SQUEAK SQUEAK of
a bat that flew right past his nose, all this really made Little Furry as sad as he was cold, wet and tired. Little
Furry just sat down and cried like a baby, baby bear that is, just like he use to. That is how Mama Brown found
him and took Little Furry home to the cave. Papa Brown pretended that he was asleep, but he was glad that Mama
Brown had found their foolish son at last.
You know what Little Furry did the next night? That night was also the first night of real wintertime. Little Furry
kissed Mama Brown and Papa Brown GOOD NIGHT right after supper and Little Furry went to bed without another sound,
and he didn t wake up until springtime, months later.
Now, sensible people don t sleep the same way bears do, but the kind of young people that mothers, fathers, sisters
and brothers like to have in their homes with them go to bed when they should without stalling, whining and making
fuss about it.
GOOD NIGHT
LITTLE ONES,
SLEEP TIGHT!!!!!
By Poindexter Hiccumbottom
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