Sleepy Cave was big and warm and dry. There was
no chance for snow to drift in the doorway because it
was sheltered by a broad overhanging rock, and its back
was toward the wind. There was blackberry jam put
away in that cave, and combs of honey and other good
things to eat in case the family should wake up and feel
hungry before spring.

But Little Bear did not like to hear a word about Sleepy
Cave. It was the same old story with him, beginning,
"I don't want to sleep all winter! Mrs. Maria Wildcat,
she said, "Young cub, you won't be anything but a Baby
Bear, eating porridge out of a little bowl, and sitting in a
wee, wee chair, and sleeping in a wee, wee bed, for another
hundred years if you lie around and sleep all winter!
You'll never grow up!' She always says that! And
Mr. Bob Wildcat, he said--"

"There, there," Mother Bear interrupted, "don't let
me hear another word about Maria Wildcat or any of
the Wildcat family! I think I said this to you once
before!"

"But I don't want to sleep all winter," wailed Little
Bear. "I want to stay in our own little house in the
woods and see the snow in the evergreens. I'd love to
play in the snow and go sliding on the ice. I want to
stay here and eat porridge out of my little bowl and sit
in my little chair and sleep in my little bed! Father
Deer's children do not sleep all winter. They make