Far up on the side of Blue Mountain lived Cuffy Bear
with his father and mother and his little sister Silkie.
Mr. Bear’s house was quite the finest for many
miles around. It was what people call a cave,
being made entirely of stone, and so there was no
danger of its ever catching fire; and since it was
built straight into the side of the mountain the roof
was so very, very thick that Cuffy’s father never
had to worry for fear a tree would fall upon his house
and hurt his family. No matter how hard the wind
blew, Mr. Bear was never afraid of that.
Little Cuffy was not a bad bear at heart. But
often when he was playing with Silkie, his sister,
he would lose his temper and cuff her on the head
and make her cry. Then his father or his mother
would cuff him. Somehow, he never could
learn not to strike out when he became angry.
That was why he was called Cuffy. It happened
sometimes that a day or two would pass without Cuffy’s
cuffing his sister. And Mr. Bear and Mrs. Bear
would begin to think that at last Cuffy had been cured
of his bad habit.
“I do believe the child is growing better mannered,”
Mrs. Bear would say to her husband, as they watched
their son and daughter playing upon the floor.
And then just as likely as not, the first thing they
knew Cuffy would give Silkie a good, hard box on the
ear, or a slap right on the end of her nose.
But for a long time every winter Cuffy was never naughty.
You might think that that was just before Christmas.
But no—it was not then. All winter
long Cuffy was just as good as any little bear could
be. He was good because he was asleep! You
see—when cold weather came, Mr. and Mrs.
Bear and their children stayed in their cozy house,
which was snug and warm, and slept and slept and slept
for weeks and weeks until spring came.
Now, this tale begins on the very first day of spring.
And on that day Mr. Bear waked up. He rose slowly
to his feet, for his bones felt stiff because he had
been asleep for such a long time. And he was hungry—oh!
very hungry, because he had not eaten anything for
months and months, since he went to sleep at the beginning
of winter.
He went to the door of his house and looked out.
And he saw that the weather was warm and fine.
So he stepped back into the bedroom and said—
"Ou-e-e-ee!" Just like that. And then
Mrs. Bear awaked. “Spring has come,”
Mr. Bear told her, “and I am going out to fetch
something to eat. Wake up Cuffy and Silkie and
tell them that it is time to get up.”
Gently Mrs. Bear roused Cuffy and Silkie.
“Come, children! Run out and play and get
your lungs full of nice, fresh air. Now, be good
and don’t go far away!” she said.
CUFFY BEAR FINDS A PORCUPINE
For a few minutes Cuffy stood in the doorway and blinked
and blinked. He rubbed his eyes, for the bright
sunlight hurt them. But soon he and Silkie were
frisking and tumbling about in the front-yard.
