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Updated: May 19, 2025
"Do you know, husband, sometimes I wonder whether Sprawley can really be my cub. If I could only count them I might find out. If there were only one and one I could count them, but there are more than one and one." "Well," said Father Bear, "I should think that would be easy. Let's see. There's Dumpy, and he's one, and Fatty, and she's one, and Sprawley, and he's one.
"Another one to be eating up our meat," he said. "Just as if there weren't enough of us without." Still he went over with them to the icehill and they all began sliding down. After a while Sprawley said: "I know a great deal nicer hill than this one. It's just a little farther on; come on and I'll show it to you." "Oh," said Fatty, "but suppose we should see some ice-mermen?"
Come, come," he went on, "it's time we were off for our hunting." But the Mother Bear only shook her head. She had been doing nothing since she saw that Sprawley was an ice-merman but sit and rock herself backward and forward and whine. "I couldn't go, my dear; I couldn't indeed," she said.
"I ain't been anywhere," said Sprawley. "I just thought I heard a sea-lion roaring and I went out to see." "Well, there's no use your going to sleep again," said the Father Bear, "for we have to go a long ways to-day, and it's time we were getting ready to start now." With that he shuffled out of the cave, followed by the Mother Bear, and stood looking about him.
"Come," they cried, "let's have a game in the water before you go back." "That I will," said Sprawley, and with that what should he do but strip off his bear-skin just as though it were a coat, and there he was, nothing more nor less than a merman who had been dressed up in an old skin, pretending to be a bear cub.
He listened, but everything was silent except for the rumbling and cracking of the ice in the distance. Again he called, and this time there was an answering cry, and another, and another. Sprawley stood up and waved his paws, and then Teddy saw that the open water was dotted with heads of ice-mermen; there must have been ten or twelve of them at least.
Once he poked him so hard that the little bear gave a snort and stopped snoring for a while, but soon he began again. But after all Teddy found he was not the only one in the cave who was not asleep. Sprawley, who was lying on the other side of Fatty, had began to stir and sit up; he looked about at the sleeping bears, and then very quietly began to edge himself toward the mouth of the cave.
Then not waiting for the mermen to come back he hurried home again over the ice to the bears' cave, and crawling in he laid himself down again between the sleeping cubs. The little bears were beginning to stir themselves and the Mother Bear was yawning and stretching when Sprawley came sneaking into the cave again. "Why! why!" said the Mother Bear, "where have you been?"
As they ran along Teddy saw that Sprawley was shaking all over, and he thought it was because he was afraid, until he caught up to him; then he saw that he was laughing. "What are you laughing at?" he asked, but Sprawley only showed his teeth and growled in answer.
Out shuffled Mother Bear in a hurry. "You naughty cub," she cried, aiming a blow at Sprawley's ear. But quick as a wink Sprawley slipped behind Dumpy, and it was upon Dumpy that the blow fell. And now Dumpy joined in with his sister. "Ou-u-u!" he cried. "There, there!" cried the poor Mother Bear, "don't you cry any more and I'll give you each an extra piece of meat."
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