The Quest Begins Read Online Free PDF Page A

breathed.
    â€œThere used to be,” Stella said. “And one of them lived right here in the Bowl, long ago, before you were born.”
    â€œWhat happened to him?” Yogi asked.
    â€œHe grew old—very old,” Stella said. “He was much older than King. His muzzle was grizzled with gray fur, and when he walked he creaked like the branches of a tree in the wind.”
    â€œWhat was his name?” Lusa asked.
    Stella stopped and thought for a moment, scratching her ear with one paw. “His name was Old Bear,” she said. Lusa wondered if she was making that up. “Anyway, one day we came out for our morning meal, and he was lying under his favorite tree. He used to sit in its branches all day long, but on this day, he was just lying there on the ground. We went over and poked him with our paws and our noses, but he didn’t move. His scent had changed, too. He was dead.”
    Lusa and Yogi both shivered, shaking the chills out of their fur.
    â€œThe flat-faces came in and took him away, but we could feel his spirit was still here in the Bowl. It whooshed around us like the wind all that day, making our fur prickle and our claws sting like ice. And then, as the sun was sinking beyond the edge of the Bowl, we saw something new in the pattern ofthe bark on the tallest tree in the Forest.”
    â€œWhat was it?” Yogi asked, wide-eyed.
    â€œIt was the face of a bear,” Stella said. “You can see it on the side that faces the Mountains. The spirit of Old Bear lives in that tree still.”
    Lusa and Yogi stared at the tallest tree in awe, wondering if Old Bear’s spirit was staring back at them. Lusa thought she wouldn’t like to be trapped in a tree. She’d rather have paws for running and a nose for smelling.
    â€œLet’s go look for the face,” Lusa suggested, and Yogi bounded after her over to the trunk of the tree. They padded around it in a circle, staring at the knots in the trunk. Lusa stopped and lifted onto her hind legs, peering at the bark.
    â€œI think I see it!” she cried. “I see a face!”
    Yogi stood up beside her. He tilted his head. “I don’t see anything,” he rumbled.
    â€œIt’s right there ,” Lusa insisted, waving her paw. “See, this is his eye, and this—” As she leaned forward to bat the small black spot that looked like a bear’s nose, suddenly it moved!
    â€œIt’s alive!” Lusa yelped, leaping back. “Old Bear is coming out of the tree!” She fled to the nearest boulder, her heart thumping wildly. But when she turned around, Yogi was rolling on the ground laughing.
    â€œWhat’s so funny?” Lusa demanded.
    â€œIt’s a beetle,” Yogi huffed. “You ran away from a beetle!”
    â€œOh.” Lusa sat down and licked her paw. “I knew that.”
    Just then the bears heard a voice calling their names in the flat-face language. Two of the feeders had come to the edge ofthe railing with the bears’ evening meal. Yogi ran over immediately, grunting with pleasure, and the other bears followed. King lumbered to his paws slowly and wandered over. He always ate last, and Lusa knew, like the other bears, that she should leave the least rotten fruit for him, since he was the biggest and oldest bear in the Bowl.
    Lusa picked through the berries, choosing the ones she liked best. With a cooing sound, one of the feeders reached down and scratched her back with a long stick. Lusa wriggled happily, letting him get to all the parts that itched. She was still full from the morning meal and didn’t really care if she ate or not tonight.
    As the flat-faces moved on to the grizzly bear, Yogi found a rotten apple and nudged it toward Lusa.
    â€œYuck,” Lusa said, kicking it back to him. “No rotten apples for me, thanks.”
    â€œNow, now,” Stella said. “That’s no way to show respect for your