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“Just call them,” said Little Bear.

“Oh my goodness!” said Duck. “I think I have lost one!”

Little Bear and Emily began to look for it.

Little Bear looked at the tall reeds. He said, “If I were a duckling, I would swim there. It would be like swimming in a forest.”

He looked in the tall reeds. And there was the duckling, swimming and having fun.

“Hello, little one, I see you,” said Little Bear.

“Peep!” said the duckling and swam to the others.

Just in time, too, because his mother came back.

“Hooray!” said Duck. “Now I am free! Now we can go to the party.”

They went to the party.

Emily said, “I think ducklings are lovely.”

“Yes,” said Little Bear, “and owlets are nice, too.”

Emily laughed. “Oh,” she said, “I love all little animals.”

“Me too,” said Little Bear.

Little Bear, Emily, Lucy, Cat, Duck, and Hen all came to Owl’s party.

Cat looked at Lucy. “Who is that?” he said.

“That is Lucy,” said Little Bear. “Lucy is Emily’s doll.”

“Yes,” said Emily. “And she tells me things. She wants to tell me something now.”

Emily put her head down to Lucy’s head.

“What?” said Cat. “I cannot hear her.”

“What is she saying?” asked Hen.

“Yes, tell us,” said Duck.

“She is saying,” said Emily, “that she wants to sit up there.”

And Emily put Lucy in a little tree.

“See?” said Little Bear. “Emily knows what Lucy wants.”

“Let’s eat,” said Cat.

Owl came out of his house. He said, “Here are the party hats. Put them on.”

So they all put on party hats and laughed at each other. Then they sat down to eat.

“Look at Lucy!” said Duck. “She wants to come down.”

They all looked, and there was Lucy, coming down all by herself.

“Oh-oh!” cried Emily. “Lucy will break!”

And Lucy broke. She broke her arm.

“Oh, Lucy!” Emily was crying. She picked up her doll and hugged her.

“Don’t cry, Emily,” said Little Bear, “we can fix her.”

“I will get some tape,” said Owl.

So Little Bear fixed Lucy. “There,” he said. “Ask her how she feels now.”

Emily put her head down to Lucy’s head.

“She says she feels fine,” said Emily. “And she says you are a very good doctor, Little Bear.”

“Tell her thank you,” said Little Bear. “If she breaks an arm or a leg again, I will fix her.”

Owl laughed. “Not today, please,” he said.

Emily sat Lucy at the table.

Hen asked, “Is she saying something?”

“Yes,” said Emily, “she wants us to begin the party.”

And that is what they did. It was a very fine party, even for Lucy.

Summer ended, and Emily was saying good-bye. It was time to go back to school.

Mother Bear baked a cake. Little Bear made lemonade.

Mother Bear said, “Let us eat the whole cake. If we do, then it will not rain tomorrow.”

“Let it rain,” said Little Bear, “Emily will not be here tomorrow to play with me.”

“Oh,” said Emily, “we can eat the whole cake. And we can drink the lemonade.”

So they ate the cake, and drank the lemonade, and talked and talked.

Then it was time for Emily to go home.

Father Bear said, “Do not let Lucy break any more arms.”

“Oh, no,” said Emily. She hugged her doll and said, “Lucy wants to say good-bye, too. Say good-bye to Little Bear, Lucy.”

Emily gave Lucy to Little Bear. Then she said to him, “Little Bear, you can keep Lucy. I will give her to you.”

“Oh,” said Little Bear.

But then Emily took Lucy back. “Oops!” she said. “I forgot. Lucy wants to come to school with me.”

Then Emily opened her pocketbook. She took out a fine new pen.

“This is for you,” she said. “I want you to have it.”

Little Bear took the pen. “Thank you, Emily,” he said.

He ran to his room and came back with a pretty toy boat. “This is for you,” he said. “Keep it. You can play with it in your bathtub.”

“Thank you,” said Emily. “I will. Good-bye, Little Bear. See you next summer.”

Little Bear stood at the door until Emily was gone. Two big tears ran down his face.

Mother Bear saw the tears and took him on her lap. “My goodness, Little Bear,” she said. “You will go to school, too, and you will learn to write. Then you can write to Emily.”

“Little Bear can begin now,” said Father Bear.

He took out some paper and said, “Little Bear can write his name.”

“Yes,” said Mother Bear, “with his fine new pen.” She helped Little Bear to begin.

That made Little Bear very happy. He said, “When can I write to Emily?”

“Soon,” said Mother Bear.

And soon he wrote to Emily, like this:

“Dear Emily,

It is snowing. I love the snow. I want to send you some snow.

Owl, Duck, Hen, and Cat send their love. And the ducklings do, too.

I cannot wait for summer.

Your friend,

Little Bear.”

One day Little Bear came to visit Grandmother and Grandfather Bear in their little house in the forest.

This was something Little Bear liked to do.

He liked to look at all the nice things, the pictures, Grandmother’s flowers, Grandfather’s toy goblin in a jar.

He liked to put on Grandfather’s big hat and say, “Look at me!”