Kate Oosthuizen - Little Bear

Until one cold day when
the wild wind blew
through the shop window
and knocked his box skew. Out tumbled Little Bear onto the mat
and rolled and rolled until upright he sat. And because the shop was closed for the day
Little Bear knew on the floor he would stay
So hiding from the wind he curled up real tight
and closed his eyes shut until the cold day was night. Then later the wailing wind
stopped in a hush
as the bright winter moon softly
told it to shush.

When Little Bear peeked out,
in amazement he saw
tiny lights twinkling through
a hole in the floor.

Down into the hole peered Little Bear
waiting for something to give him a scare. But suddenly he heard a sweet trilling giggle
so he climbed through the hole
with a bit of a wriggle. He wondered whose voice was making a noise
could it be a girls or maybe a boys? He thought he might find
a friend under the floor
to bring back with him to live in the store. So he landed with a bounce, in a tumble and a thump
but stood up quite quickly with only a bump. There were trains and trinkets and trunks of stuff
with planes and soldiers and rabbits with fluff
And round and around they whistled and whirred
with the puppies that played and kittens that purred. Little Bear saw behind all the
balls and the bats
three mice that danced in their
shoes and their hats. Little Bear saw behind all the
balls and the bats
three mice that danced in their
shoes and their hats.

And with them he twirled under bright Christmas lights
past buildings of blocks and ballerinas in tights
While happy puppets played
and made the drums bang,
the dolls that were watching
clapped loudly and sang.

That morning a mother came
in with her boy
and together they went in search of a toy. So Little Bear said goodbye to the store
with cuddles and kisses and hugs galore
To a lovely warm home with his happy new friend
from the shop to the cottage
just round the next bend. He never did look for a hole in the floor
For now he was not alone anymore. Published in 2017 by Struik Children
(an imprint of Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd)
Company Reg. No 1953/000441/07 The Estuaries, 4 Oxbow Crescent, Century Avenue, Century City 7441
PO Box 1144 Cape Town 8000 South Africa www.penguinrandomhouse.co.za Copyright in published edition:
Penguin Random House South Africa (Pty) Ltd 2017
Copyright in text: Kate Oosthuizen 2017
Copyright in illustrations: David Oosthuizen 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,