nother in their cage and seemed to be having the best time in the
world. She tells the Story Teller all about them after supper; then she
says:

"Do you know any story about little bears? Did the Bear family in the
Big Deep Woods ever come visiting to the Hollow Tree?"

The Story Teller thinks.

"Yes," he said; "or rather, Mr. Bear came once alone, but that is
another story. I know one story, though, about a little bear, a story
that Mr. Crow told one night when he had been over to spend the
afternoon with Mr. Bear, they bring very good friends."

"Mr. Bear told me this afternoon," Mr. Crow said, "about something that
happened in his uncle's family some years ago. His uncle's name was
Brownwood--Brownwood Bear--and he had a little boy named Redfield, but
they called him Reddie, for short. Uncle Brownwood lost his wife one
night when she went over to get one of Mr. Man's pigs, and he and little
Redfield used to live together in a nice cave over near the Wide Blue
Water, not far from the place where Mr. Turtle lives now. Uncle
Brownwood used to be gone a good deal to get food and whatever they
needed, and Reddie would stay at home or sleep in the cave, or play
outside and roll and tumble about in the sun and have a very good time.
He had a number of playthings, too, and plenty of nice things to eat,
and every morning, before Uncle Brownwood Bear started out, he would put
out enough to last Cousin Redfield all day--some ripe berries, and
apples, with doughnuts, and such things, and always some bread and
butter and molasses to finish up on.

[Illustration: "HE DIDN'T EAT THE BREAD AT ALL BUT JUST ATE UP THE
MOLASSES"]

"Little Reddie Bear liked all these things very much, but best of all he
liked the molasses. Not bread and molasses, but just molasses; and he
used to beg Uncle Brownwood to give him a whole saucer of molasses to
dip his bread in; but once when his father did that he didn't eat the
bread at all, but just ate up the molasses, and was sick that night,
though he said it wasn't the molasses that did it, but carrying in some
wood and washing the dishes, which he had to do every evening.

"But Uncle Brownwood didn't give Cousin Redfield any more molasses in a
saucer; he spread his bread for him every morning, and set the
molasses-jug on a high shelf, out of reach, and Reddie used to stand
and look at it, when his father was gone, and wander how long it would
be before he would be tall enough to get it down