Little Bear and Other Stories / «Маленький медвежонок» и другие рассказы
Книга для чтения на английском языке в 3–4 классах общеобразовательных учебных заведений
Адаптация и словарь: А. В. Шитова
© Шитова А. В., адаптация, словарь, 2014
© ООО Антология, 2014
Little Bear
by Else Holmelund Minarik
What Will Little Bear Wear?
It is cold. See the snow? See the snow come down?
Little Bear said, “Mother Bear, I am cold. See the snow? I want something to put on.”
So Mother Bear made something for Little Bear.
“See, Little Bear,” she said, “I have something, something for my little bear. Here it is. Put it on your head.”
“Oh,” said Little Bear, “it is a hat. Hooray! Now I am not cold.”
Little Bear went out to play.
Here is Little Bear.
“Oh,” said Mother Bear, “do you want something?”
“I am cold,” said Little Bear, “I want something to put on.”
So Mother Bear made something for Little Bear.
“See, Little Bear,” she said, “I have something, something for my little bear. Put it on.”
“Oh,” said Little Bear, “it is a coat. Hooray! Now I am not cold.”
Little Bear went out to play.
Here is Little Bear again.
“Oh,” said Mother Bear, “do you want something?”
“I am cold,” said Little Bear. “I want something to put on.”
So Mother Bear made something again for Little Bear.
“See, Little Bear,” she said, “here is something, something for my little bear. Now you cannot be cold. Put it on.”
“Oh,” said Little Bear, “it is snow pants. Hooray! Now I am not cold.”
Little Bear went out to play.
Here is Little Bear again.
“Oh,” said Mother Bear, “what can you want now?”
“I am cold,” said Little Bear. “I want something to put on.”
“My little bear,” said Mother Bear, “you have a hat, you have a coat, you have snow pants. Do you want a fur coat, too?”
“Yes,” said Little Bear, “I want a fur coat, too.”
Mother Bear took the hat, the coat, and the snow pants.
“See?” said Mother Bear. “There is the fur coat.”
“Hooray!” said Little Bear. “Here is my fur coat. Now I am not cold.”
And he was not cold.
A Kiss for Little Bear
Little Bear made a picture of a monster.
“This picture makes me happy,” he said.
Hen came to visit.
“Hello, Hen,” said Little Bear. “Look, this picture is for my Grandmother. Will you take it to her, Hen?”
“Yes, I will,” said Hen.
Grandmother loved the picture. She was very happy.
“This kiss is for Little Bear,” she said. “Will you take it to him, Hen?”
“Yes, I will,” said Hen.
So Grandmother Bear gave Hen a kiss.
Then Hen saw some friends. She stopped to chat.
“Hello, Frog. I have a kiss for Little Bear. It is from his Grandmother. Will you take it to him, Frog?”
“OK,” said Frog. “I will.”
But then Frog saw a pond. He stopped to swim.
“Hi, Cat. I have a kiss for Little Bear. It is from his Grandmother. Will you take it to him?”
“OK,” said Cat. “I will.” He came and got the kiss for Little Bear.
Then Cat saw a nice place to sleep.
“Little Skunk,” said Cat, “I have a kiss for Little Bear. It is from his Grandmother. Will you take it to him?”
“OK,” said Skunk. “I will.”
But then he saw another little skunk. She was very pretty.
He gave the kiss to her. And she gave it back. And he gave it back again.
But then Hen came. “This was Little Bear’s kiss from his Grandmother! And where is it now? Who has his kiss?”
Little Skunk had it. He gave it back to Hen.
Hen ran to Little Bear. She gave him the kiss.
“It is from your Grandmother,” Hen said. “It is for the picture you sent her.”
“Take one kiss back to her then,” said Little Bear.
“No,” said Hen. “Too much kissing!”
And the skunks soon got married. They had a lovely wedding. Everyone came.
Little Bear Goes to the Moon
“I have a new space helmet. I am going to the moon,” said Little Bear to Mother Bear.
“How?” asked Mother Bear.
“I’m going to fly to the moon,” said Little Bear.
“Fly!” said Mother Bear. “You can’t fly.”
“Birds fly,” said Little Bear.
“Oh, yes,” said Mother Bear. “Birds fly, but they don’t fly to the moon. And you are not a bird.”
“Maybe some birds fly to the moon, I don’t know. And maybe I can fly like a bird,” said Little Bear.
“And maybe,” said Mother Bear, “you are a fat little bear with no wings and no feathers. Maybe if you jump up you will come down very fast.”
“Maybe,” said Little Bear. “But I’m going now. Just look for me in the sky.”
“Be back for lunch!” said Mother Bear.
Little Bear thought: “I will jump from a high spot, up into the sky, and fly up, up, up. I will be flying too fast to look at things, so I will shut my eyes.”
So Little Bear climbed to the top of a little hill, and climbed to the top of a little tree, a very little tree on the little hill, and shut his eyes and jumped.
Down, down he came, and down the hill he rolled.
Then he sat up and looked around. “My goodness!” he said. “Here I am on the moon.”
“The moon looks just like the earth. Well, well,” said Little Bear. “The trees here look just like our trees. The birds look just like our birds. And look at this! Here is a house that looks just like my house. I will go in and see what kind of bears live there.”
Little Bear went into the house.
“Look at that,” he said. “Something to eat is on the table. It looks like a good lunch for a little bear.”
Mother Bear came in and said, “But who is this? Are you a bear from Earth?”
“Oh, yes, I am!” said Little Bear. “I climbed a little hill, and jumped from a little tree, and flew here, just like the birds.”
“Well,” said Mother Bear. “My Little Bear did the same thing. He put on his space helmet and flew to Earth. So I think you can have his lunch.”
Little Bear put his arms around Mother Bear.
He said, “Mother Bear, stop fooling. You are my Mother Bear, and I am your Little Bear, and we are on Earth, and you know it. Now may I eat my lunch?”
“Yes,” said Mother Bear, “and then you will have your nap. You are my little bear, and I know it.”
Birthday Soup
“Mother Bear, Mother Bear, where are you?” called Little Bear.
“Oh, dear, Mother Bear is not here, and today is my birthday. I think my friends will come, but I do not see a birthday cake. My goodness – no birthday cake! What can I do? The pot is by the fire. The water in the pot is hot. If I put something in the water, I can make Birthday Soup. All my friends like soup. Let me see what we have. We have carrots and potatoes, peas and tomatoes. I can make soup with carrots, potatoes, peas and tomatoes!”
So Little Bear began to make soup in the big black pot.
First, Hen came in.
“Happy Birthday, Little Bear,” she said.
“Thank you, Hen,” said Little Bear.
Hen said, “My goodness! Something smells good here. Is it in the big black pot?”
“Yes,” said Little Bear, “I am making Birthday Soup. Will you stay and have some?”
“Oh, yes, thank you,” said Hen. And she sat down to wait.
Next, Duck came in.
“Happy Birthday, Little Bear,” said Duck. “My goodness! Something smells good here. Is it in the big black pot?”
“Thank you, Duck,” said Little Bear. “Yes, I am making Birthday Soup. Will you stay and have some with us?”
“Thank you, yes, thank you,” said Duck. And she sat down to wait.
Next, Cat came in.
“Happy Birthday, Little Bear,” he said.
“Thank you, Cat,” said Little Bear. “I hope you like Birthday Soup. I am making Birthday Soup.”
Cat said, “Can you really cook? If you can really make it, I will eat it.”
“Good,” said Little Bear. “The Birthday Soup is hot, so we must eat it now. We cannot wait for Mother Bear. I do not know where she is.”
“Now, here is some soup for you, Hen,” said Little Bear. “And here is some soup for you, Duck, and here is some soup for you, Cat, and here is some soup for me. Now we can all have some Birthday Soup.”
Cat saw Mother Bear at the door, and said, “Wait, Little Bear. Do not eat yet. Shut your eyes and say ‘One, two, three.’” Little Bear shut his eyes and said, “One, two, three.”
Mother Bear came in with a big cake.
“Now, look,” said Cat.
“Oh, Mother Bear,” said Little Bear, “what a big beautiful Birthday Cake! Birthday Soup is good to eat, but not as good as Birthday Cake. I am so happy you did not forget.”
“Yes, Happy Birthday, Little Bear!” said Mother Bear. “This Birthday Cake is a surprise for you. I never forgot your birthday, and I never will!”
Little Bear’s Wish
It was late. Mother Bear came to kiss her Little Bear good night.
“Little Bear,” said Mother Bear. “You are not asleep.”
“No, Mother,” said Little Bear. “I can’t sleep.”
“Why not?” asked Mother Bear.
“I’m wishing,” said Little Bear.
“What are you wishing for?” asked Mother Bear.
“I wish that I could sit on a cloud and fly around the world,” said Little Bear.
“You can’t have that wish, my Little Bear,” said Mother Bear.
“Then I wish that I could find a Viking boat,” said Little Bear. “And the Vikings would say, ‘Come with us! Come with us! Here we go! Away! Away!’”
“You can’t have that wish, my Little Bear,” said Mother Bear.
“Then I wish I could find a tunnel to China,” said Little Bear. “I would go to China and come back with chopsticks for you.”
“You can’t have that wish, my Little Bear,” said Mother Bear.
“Then I wish I had a big red car,” said Little Bear. “I would go fast, fast. I would come to a big castle. A princess would come out and say, ‘Have some cake, Little Bear,’ and I would have some.”
“You can’t have that wish, my Little Bear,” said Mother Bear.
“Then,” said Little Bear, “I wish a Mother Bear would come to me and say, ‘Would you like to hear a story?’”
“Well, maybe you can have that wish. That is just a little wish,” said Mother Bear.
“Thank you, Mother,” said Little Bear. “That was what I really wanted all the time.”
“What story would you like to hear?” asked Mother Bear.
“Tell me about me,” said Little Bear. “Tell me about the things I did.”
“Well,” started Mother Bear, “once you played in the snow, and you wanted something to put on.”
“Oh, yes. That was fun!” cried Little Bear. “Tell me something more about me.”
“Well,” said Mother Bear, “once you put on your space helmet and played going to the moon.”
“That was fun, too!” cried Little Bear. “Tell me something more about me.”
“Well,” said Mother Bear, “once you thought that you had no birthday cake, so you made Birthday Soup.”
“Oh, that was fun!” cried Little Bear. “And then you came with the cake. You always make me happy.”
Mother Bear smiled and looked at her Little Bear. “And now you can make me happy, too,” she said.
“How?” asked Little Bear.
“You can go to sleep,” said Mother Bear.
And Little Bear shut his eye and went to sleep.
Little Bear and Owl
“Little Bear,” said Mother Bear, “can you be my fisherman?”
“Yes, I can,” said Little Bear.
“Good,” said Mother Bear. “Will you go to the river? Will you catch a fish for us?”
“Yes, I will,” said Little Bear.
So Little Bear went to the river, and there he saw Owl.
Owl was sitting on a log. “Hello, Little Bear,” said Owl.
“Hello, Owl,” said Little Bear. “Father Bear is not home. He is fishing on the ocean. But Mother Bear wants a fish now, so I need to catch one.”
“Good,” said Owl. “Catch one!”
Little Bear fished. “I have one!” he said. “Is it too little?”
“It looks good to me,” said Owl.
“Well,” said Little Bear, “Father can catch big fish. He sails in a big boat, too.”
Owl said, “Some day you will be a big bear. You will catch big fish, and you will sail in a boat like Father Bear.”
“You know what?” said Little Bear. “We can play. The log can be a boat. I will be Father Bear. You can be you. And we are fishing.”
“Where we are fishing?” asked Owl.
“On the ocean,” said Little Bear.
“All right,” said Owl.
“Hooray!” said Little Bear. “See what I have?”
“What is it?” asked Owl.
“An octopus,” said Little Bear.
“Oh,” said Owl. “But see what I have?”
“What is it?” asked Little Bear.
“A whale,” said Owl.
“But a whale is too big,” said Little Bear.
“This is a little whale,” said Owl.
Just then Mother Bear came. “Where is the fish?” she asked.
Little Bear laughed, “How about an octopus?”
“An octopus?” said Mother Bear.
“Well, then,” said Owl, “how about a little whale?”
“A whale?” said Mother Bear. “No, thank you. No whale.”
“Then how about this little fish?” said Little Bear.
“Yes, thank you,” said Mother Bear, “this is just what I want.”
Little Bear said, “You will see. When I am as big as Father Bear, I will catch a real octopus.”
“Yes, and sail in a real boat,” said Owl.
“I know it,” said Mother Bear.
Owl said, “Little Bear fishes very well.”
“Oh, yes,” said Mother Bear. “He fishes really well. He is a real fisherman. Just like his father.”
Little Bear and Emily
Little Bear sat in the top of a high tree. He looked at the wide, wide world.
He saw the green fields. He saw the river. And far, far away he saw the blue sea.
He saw the tops of trees. He saw his house. He saw Mother Bear.