Little Bear and the Apple Tree – Read and Print

By Rachel Dunstan Muller, copyright 2022

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Little Bear loved her forest home. She loved all the trees – the cedar trees, and the pine trees, and the fir trees. But there was one tree she loved more than all the others. Well, of course she loved it! It was an apple tree, and in the autumn, it was covered with bright, shiny apples. Little Bear feasted on those delicious apples until her belly was full.

The apple tree wasn’t very big, and that’s one of the reasons Little Bear loved it so much – because Little Bear wasn’t very big either.

Now, something else happened in the autumn as well: the apple tree’s leaves began to change colour, from green, to red, and orange, and yellow. At first Little Bear was excited! This was her very first autumn, and she’d never seen the leaves on the apple tree turn new colours before.

But as the days went by and the weather got colder, Little Bear began to grow worried. Not only were the apple tree’s leaves changing colour, but they were beginning to fall to the ground. At first there were just a few leaves scattered on the forest floor. But then a cold, autumn wind came, and shook the poor little apple tree so hard that its leaves began to fall like rain.

“Oh dear,” said Little Bear. And she picked up a handful of leaves from the ground and tried to put them back on the apple tree’s branches.

“What are you doing, Little Bear?” said Little Robin.

“Oh, can’t you see?” said Little Bear. “The little apple tree is losing all its leaves. Pretty soon it won’t have any leaves at all! And the winter’s coming; I can feel it even through my fur coat. So, I’m putting the apple tree’s leaves back on its branches, to help keep it warm!”

Now, this was Little Robin’s first autumn too. She’d never seen the apple tree lose all its leaves either. And so, she began to pick up the fallen leaves as well, very carefully, one at a time in her beak, and she flew them up to put them back on the apple tree’s branches.

Well, it wasn’t long before all the young animals in the forest were trying to save the apple tree – little squirrels, and little racoons, and little fieldmice. But it was no use. The leaves wouldn’t stay where they were put. The wind blew, and one by one, they fluttered back down to the ground – until the little apple tree was completely bare.

“Oh, this is terrible,” Little Bear cried. “What can we do? We must find a way to keep the little apple tree from freezing.”

“I know,” said a little squirrel. “We can wrap ourselves around the tree. If we each hug a little piece of the tree – a twig, or a root, or a branch – we can keep the whole tree cozy and warm.”   

And that’s just what they did. Little Bear and all her young friends each wrapped themselves around the apple tree, until every inch of that tree was covered with fur arms or legs, or feathered wings.

At first it was like a big, group hug. But as the sun sank lower in the sky, the little animals began to get a little squirmy. It’s hard to stay in one place for hours on end!

And that’s just when all the mama animals showed up.

“It’s time for sleep, Little Bear,” said Mama Bear.

“Oh, no,” said Little Bear. “We can’t leave! Don’t you see? The little apple tree has lost all its leaves. We have to stay and keep it warm.”

“Oh, Little Bear. That’s very kind of you,” Mama Bear said, “but the little apple tree doesn’t need your help to stay warm. Did you know that every autumn ALL apple trees lose their leaves? And not just apple trees, but other trees with leaves too.”

Mama Squirrel spoke up next. “That’s right,” she said. “First the leaves begin to change colour. That means the tree is pulling all the water and the nutrients from its leaves, all the good food that it’s been making with the help of the sun. The tree pulls those nutrients back into its trunk and its roots to store through the winter. And when the leaves are dry and empty, the tree doesn’t need them any more, and so it lets them go.”

“But don’t you worry, Little Bear,” said Mama Bear. “The little apple tree will be just fine without its leaves. In fact, it’s getting ready for a long winter’s nap – just like you and me. And in the spring, when we climb back out of our den, the little apple tree will be waking up too, and putting out new leaves and new blossoms, to start all over again.”

Little Bear let go of the tree and clapped her paws when she heard the good news. “Oh, Mama Bear! I can’t wait to see the apple tree’s blossoms!”

Well, now that the danger was gone, Little Bear’s friends let go of the apple tree too. One by one, they climbed down, took their mothers’ paws, and started off through the forest to their own cozy burrows, and dens, and nests.

And as far as I know, that’s where they are still, curled up warm and snug.

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