Two men were walking acros s a moor when they startled a bear.
They turned and fled as quickly as they could but bears are very fast runners.
It was gaining on them.
Here was a little tree.
One of the men elbowed the other out the way,
scrambled up the trunk
and sat on the only branch that was out of reach.
The other man, he had no choice.
He had to lie down under the tree.
If he could just stay still, the bear wouldn’t eat him
because bears don’t eat dead meat.
Paragraph: The bear stopped beside him.
It sniffed him, batted him,
pressed its nose up to his ear
then ambled away.
When they were safe the man climbed down from the tree.
They continued their journey.
Paragraph: ‘As you lay there,’ said the man from the tree,
‘I swear the bear whispered in your ear.’
Paragraph: ‘Yes he did,’ said the other.
Paragraph: ‘Well, what did he say?’
Paragraph: ‘He said,
“Choose your friends more carefully in future.”’