Big Bear stood up on her hind legs and sniffed the air before continuing towards the water. Her cubs tumbled after her, blinking at the magnificent world.
Big Bear lumbered out onto the ice. Then she stopped and made a hole. She stuck her paw down and caught a fish!
The cubs did exactly what Big Bear did. One made a hole. The other struck at the snow and scared the fish away. The cubs quarreled. They fought. They tackled each other and rolled around in the snow.
They raced and slid over the ice on their bellies. But suddenly they stopped and stared.
“What is that?” they asked, as they looked at the blue-green water.
Every morning, Big Bear lured her cubs closer and closer to the sea. And one day, Big Bear and the cubs came right up to the water’s edge. Big Bear carefully slid into the icy sea.
“Come back!” squeaked the cubs. But Big Bear swam out into the waves and onto an ice floe.
The cubs huddled together as they waited on the thin ice. The water rippled gently towards them. The cubs nudged at the water – but it kept moving. So they dipped a paw into the water… and quickly pulled it out again.
Big Bear called to her cubs from the ice floe: “Come out to me,” she encouraged. “You can do it! Swim!”
And the cubs did it! They swam and dived in the turquoise water. They cut through the waves and paddled with their paws. They splashed and sploshed through the icy water. They kept going and going until Big Bear said: “Come on up with you!”
The cubs dragged their tired bodies up from the ice. Afterwards, Big Bear led them to the bushes with juicy blueberries. They ate and ate until their noses and paws were completely blue.
Big Bear lay on her back and enjoyed the sunshine on her damp fur. But the cubs had other thoughts. And when they were on their way back to the water again, Big Bear smiled as she heard the cubs shout…
“Just one more swim!”
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