The Little Lost Polar Bear

“Wherever has he got to?”, said Mother polar bear, her black nose pressed up against the ice window of her igloo with worry, “It’s almost time for his tea and I can’t see him anywhere”.

“Oh”, said Father polar bear, stirring sugar lumps into his Earl grey, “I am sure that he’s alright, you know, he’s always wandering off on some little escapade and he always comes back safe and sound”.

“Perhaps I should go out and have a look for him”, worried Mother polar bear, “I told him not to go too far from our house but one minute he was out there building a snowman and the next I couldn’t see him anywhere”.

“Oh”, said Father polar bear, sipping his Earl Grey, “You know what young polar bears are like. I’m sure he’s just playing arctic explorer the way that I used to when I was his age”, and Father polar bear started to get misty eyed and whistful about his youth.

But mother Polar bear was not content with her husbands reassurances and her mind was all full of the worst things that could happen to a little polar bear lost in the snow.

“But what if he’s fallen through some ice or what if he’s been buried by a landslide or been eaten by arctic wolves or been shot by hunters?!”, she said.

“Calm down”, said Father polar bear, “He’s most likely just hiding. That’s what it is. He’s probably hiding in the snow. Practicing using his white fur as camouflage”.

Mother polar bears eyes darted about the snowy landscape, “Well, if he is then he’s very good at it- I can’t see him anywhere!”.

Father polar bear got up and went to the window, “What a fusspot you are, Mother Bear. It isn’t even dark outside”, he said.

But Mother polar bear was not satisfied, “I’m going out to have a look and see if I can find him”, she said, putting on her wooly hat and scarf, “If anything happened to my little cub, I don’t know what I’d do”.

Her husband shook his head, tutt-tutting but she merely gave him an angry sideways glance and headed out into the snow.

A blizzard was starting to blow outside of her igloo and there was no sign of her little cub's paw prints anywhere but Mother polar bear knew the scent of her cub well and, just by sniffing, thought that she would be able to find him.

The scent led her over a snow hill and her worries grew greater, the further away she got from the safety of her igloo, “Oh”, she thought, “He has wandered away quite far. I really hope that he’s safe”.

Suddenly, she saw a bird coming the other way, flying in the face of the blizzard.

“Have you seen a little polar bear cub?”, asked Mother polar bear, “About this tall”, and she piled up some snow into the shape of her cub to demonstrate his height, “wearing a green hat and a blue scarf”.

“I did see a young polar bear”, said the bird, “fitting your description, playing near the edge of some water. Sorry I can’t be of more help than that but I must get home to my chicks before it gets dark”.

Mother polar bear thanked the bird but she was now more worried than ever, “Playing near the edge of water?”, she thought, “That sounds awfully dangerous. I really hope I find him soon”.

Fortunately for Mother polar bear, the scent of her lost cub was growing stronger with every minute and so she knew that she was getting closer to finding him and before long she came across what looked like his paw prints leading off around the side of a
Hill.

“Oh thank goodness!”, she thought, seeing the paw prints, but unfortunately, the moment that her sniffing nose had located the source of her cubs smell, she also discovered that her cub was in terrible danger for, when she looked up from the paw prints on the ground, she saw, through the blizzard, that her cub was floating on an iceberg that was slowly drifting out to sea.

“Cub!”, she called out.

“Mummy!”, cried the cub, running to the edge of the iceberg.

“Stay where you are”, she shouted, worried that he might fall off of the edge of the iceberg, “Mummy’s coming to get you”.

The cub did as his mother instructed and watched, hopefully, as his mother took off her long scarf and threw it out over the watery divide between the mainland and the drifting iceberg.

“Catch and hold onto the end of this scarf”, said Mother polar bear, “Mother will pull you to her”.

The cub did as his mother told him and, when he did, he felt his mother pull on the other end and the iceberg underneath him float back towards the mainland.

But, just as the bear cub was almost within reach of his mothers paws she saw an arctic wolf doggy paddling towards them and it was licking its lips as it eyed up the little cub for lunch.

Reaching out with both paws, Mother polar bear grabbed hold of her cub and pulled him to safety but, as she did so , she saw that the big arctic wolf was getting closer.

“Mummy”, cried the cub, shivering with fear and holding on tight to his mother, "What will we do?”.

Fearless, Mother polar bear picked up a pawful of snow and, rolling it into a snowball, placed the snowball into her scarf , whirling it round like a slingshot and sending the snowball crashing into the arctic wolf’s nose.

The arctic wolf cried out in pain as one snowball after another came hurtling towards it and, frightened, it turned itself around and started doggy paddling, hastily, in the other direction.

The little polar bear was now safe in its mothers arms but so tired out by its ordeal that it could not manage to walk back to their igloo and so Mother polar bear lifted her little cub up onto her back and carried him home.