The Real Charlie Bear

November 20, 1967

One day little Charlie was down by the stream trying to find some fish for supper, when his little friend Craig the chipmunk came up to him and said, “Hello little Charlie, what are you doing?”

Little Charlie Bear looked at his little chipmunk friend and said, “I’m trying to get some fish for his dinner. Do you want to help me?”

Little Craig said, “How can I help you? I can’t fish in the water like you do. I’m little. The fish are bigger than I am.”

“But you can help me. You can run up the stream and look into the water. When you see a fish swimming down you can call to me and I’ll be ready for him” explains Little Charlie, “as soon as I catch two fish then I can take them home to mother for supper and you and I can go to play.”

“Oh wonderful! Yippy, yippy,” said little Craig the chipmunk as he scampered off up over the rocks to take a look out over the stream.

It wasn’t very long before Craig called out to little Charlie, “Here comes a fish, a big one!”

Little Charlie got ready. He looked up the stream and there was one of the biggest fish he had ever seen. He put his paw in the water to take him out as he swam by, but the fish was too big for little Charlie. He didn’t catch it. So little Charlie called to Craig, “Craig, he got away. Keep on watching, maybe I can catch the next one.”

Little Craig called back, “Okay.”

It wasn’t very long before Craig said, “Here comes another one. It isn’t as big as the other one. Maybe you can catch it.”

So little Charlie got out into the stream a little farther. As the fish came around the bend little Charlie was ready. Like lightning he had that little fish.

“I got him!” he called out to little Craig. “I got him!”

Little Charlie ran out of the water and put the fish up on the bank. He called back to Craig, “Now watch again. Maybe we might catch another one and we can go and play.”

Little Craig said, “I hope the next one comes as soon as the first one.”

Little Charlie got back into the water. They waited and waited and no fish came. Little Charlie called to Craig, “Don’t you see any fish coming down the stream?”

“No, I don’t see any,” called back little Craig. “Do you think we should go somewhere else?”

“I don’t think so,” called little Charlie. “We better wait just a little while longer. Two came by. Maybe there’s a third one following along.”

So they waited and they waited and they waited. Then little Craig called, “Charlie, here comes three. All together!! Maybe you can catch just one of them.”

So little Charlie got ready. He put his eyes right onto where he thought they were coming and around the curve came three beautiful trout. Little Charlie put his paw in and aimed at one… but it got away. And so did the other two.

“They got away!” called little Charlie.

“Oh shoot,” called little Craig. “Oh well, where there’s some fish maybe there’s some more. We’ll just keep watching for a little minute longer.”

So little Charlie stood in the water and watched because maybe one fish would come down the stream that little Craig didn’t see. Little Charlie watched and little Craig watched, and they watched and they watched.

Suddenly Craig called, “Charlie! Here comes another one.”

So little Charlie put his paw in the water and like lightning he caught that fish.

“Yippy, yippy! I caught it! Now we can take the fish home and we can go and play.”

So little Craig came scampering back over the rocks. The two children ran to Charlie’s home with both fish. When Mama Bear saw them, she said, “little Charlie, what beautiful fish these are. I’ll fry them and we will have them for supper.”

“Now can I go play with little Craig?” said little Charlie Bear.

“Yes, but don’t be long. Your father will be home soon and we will have supper at 5:00.”

With that little Charlie and Craig ran out the door to play hide and seek.