Aries sat up immediately excited.
“I am just so hungry Mom. What’s for breakfast?” She asked.
“Well now, that depends,” the mother bear replied. “I expect we will start with some fresh grasses and juicy clover, some roots and maybe if we are really lucky, I just might be able to find us a big fat ant nest.”
Aries pushed past her mother and charged out of the cave.
“Oh goody, good, goody…” she shouted.
“Wait a second. Wait for me…” called out her mother. Too late. Aries was clearly in a hurry to discover the world.
Mommy Bear shook her head and chuckled to herself.
“Just opened her eyes after a whole winter asleep and already charging around the place like a crazy caribou. Where does she get the energy?”
Aries came out of the cave at full tilt, tripped over a tree root and tumbled head over heels down the hill.
“Whoaoa”…She cried.
Aries landed in the stream with a huge splash and for a split second disappeared under the water. Climbing quickly back onto the bank, she shook herself vigorously, spraying water in all directions then stuck a finger in each ear to get the last water out, just as her mother caught up with her.
“Wow that was chilly,” Aries said. “If I wasn’t properly awake before, I certainly am now!”
Mommy Bear reached out a paw and tousled the fur on Aries head.
“Don't be in such a rush,” she told the young bear. “Seriously, don't get too far away from me. It can be dangerous out here for a little bear alone. Some bears can be very bad tempered when they wake up after hibernating and you don't want to get on the wrong side of them. They don’t call them grizzlies for nothing you know.”
“OK Mom, I’ll be careful,” promised Aries.
“Now if my memory serves me correctly, the tastiest clover will be down in the valley,” continued the mother bear. “Let’s go. We don’t want to be the last bears at the party now do we?”
She set off following the direction of the stream, down the hill and into the valley, with Aries following close behind her.
“Sure thing Mom. Err…What’s clover? Come to that, what’s a valley? Can I eat it? Like I said, I’m soooo hungry.” Aries had a lot to learn.
On the far bank of the stream, two big green frogs saw the whole thing…
“Whadya make of that performance then?”Asked the first frog.
“I’d have to give it 7 out of 10 for technical difficulty but just a 2 for artistic impression,” replied the second frog, as if he were a judge in an Olympics diving competition. “When it comes to artistic impression, well, frankly bears suck.”