This is a story about two brothers, Eric and his big brother Kyle. They learned about safety in the woods.The boys went camping with their parents up in Maine. The campsite was on the side of a mountain and beside the best fishing lakein the state. They could climb the trails into the woods and watch the squirrels and birds and rabbits. Sometimes they might see a deer or an eagle.

The first day at camp they made plans for the whole week, with hiking trips to the top of the mountain and fishing in the lake, in the canoe. They also made plans to go to the river on the other side of the mountain to look for gold! Dad said, "if you find enough gold you will be rich and can buy anything you want". Kyle and Eric thought that sounded like a lot of fun and could hardly wait to go.

Their parents wanted to relax by the lake on the first morning. They told the boys to stay at the campsite and not wander off. Mom and dad set up lounge chairs for all of them at the shore of the lake and they settled in with a book each and a cooler full of refreshments.

Kyle and Eric played at the beach for a while but were soon bored with it because the sand was too hard to make a fort with a moat around it. They walked around the campsite and made plans for a hike. Mom said", Stay where we can see or hear you, ok"?

They said they would and started to walk around the camp. Eric spotted something shiny at the edge of the woods and went to see what is was. He found a small rock that had some very shiny thing in it. He asked Kyle what it was but he did not know either. "Let's ask dad", said Kyle. Dad thought it was a mineral called mica. The boys were hoping they had found some gold and they were rich. Mom wanted Kyle and Eric to find some gold too! They went back to the spot were the shiny rock was found and looed for some more. Maybe there was a little mine with some gold in it somewhere. They were determined to find out. After searching around the campsite for a while, they went to the edge of the woods up the hill. They could still see the camp, so it was all right to be there.

In the woods a little way was a small pile of dirt with stones and shiny rocks and roots.

Kyle wondered to himself, "was someone digging for gold"? This is something to be looked at. On the other side of the pile they saw a hole that was deep enough to crawl into. It looked like it could be a home for an animal and Kyle and Eric didn't want to meet it if it was in there. The boys were on their way back down to the camp when they heard a faint, crying noise. "What was that", Eric asked? It sounded like a little animal. They walked around the hole and heard it again! "There is something in there", said Kyle. Eric found a stick and put the end of it into the hole. Suddenly, they could hear two cries from little animals and out of the hole came two furry animals. They looked like Teddy Bears. The noise at the opening of their den made them come out to see what was going on. Maybe they thought their mother was coming into the den. "Mother Bear", shouted Kyle "lets get out of here in case she comes back".

The mother bear had heard her little cubs calling her so she was on the way back to see what was the matter. Kyle, Eric and the mother bear all looked at each other at the same time. It was time to think fast and get to safety. The mother bear was coming fast so the brothers climbed up a tall tree as quickly as they could.

The bear cubs and their mother came to the tree and sat down, leaning against the tree. They were having lunch! Back at the camp, mom had made lunch and called to Kyle and Eric to come down from the hill to eat. The boys could hear their mom calling them but were not sure they should yell back to her. They thought, "Maybe the bear doesn't know they are up the tree". Mom called again to them and they decided to answer her. "We are up a tree and there are three bears at the bottom of the tree having lunch", Eric shouted. Dad remarked,"What imaginations these kids have. Come down here for lunch right now". "We can't the bears are still having lunch", was the reply. "Im going up there to get them and there better be a good reason for not coming down to lunch", said mom."Tell them to bring the bears down for lunch too", Laughed dad. About two minutes later, mom came running down the hill shouting, "Get the ranger, get the ranger, oh my goodness, oh my, oh my". Mom made such a fuss that people from other campsites came over to see what was going on.

Dad yelled out, "Is it true, are three bears having lunch at the bottom of the tree"? "Yes",mom said excitedly,"and they are eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches". Dad asked,"Is this an April fools joke"? "No",was the answer. Dad went up the hill to see for himself. About two minutes later he came running down the hill shouting, "Get the ranger, get the ranger, oh my goodness, oh my, oh my".

Before any more was said, Ranger Rick came over to the campsite and asked, "has anyone seen my pet bear and her two cubs"? "Pet bear", they all shouted with relief. "Up the hill", said dad and he led the way. When they got there, the three bears were just finishing lunch and happy to see Ranger Rick. The ranger told the boys to climb down and say hi to Gerty and her cubs, Biff and Bam. Gerty had taken Ranger Ricks lunch off of the picnic table.

With great relief, they came down and asked, "can we have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too"? Everyone laughed and mom said, "We will think about bears whenever we have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch".

What do you think Eric and Kyle should have done to avoid danger? What would you do? Talk about this with your Mom and Dad or your Guardian.

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