Chapter I: Introduction

A LITTLE brown bear, no bigger than a house cat, that the Ranger found near drowning, is brought up with the orphaned fawn his children tamed, a rascally young burro, a ring-tailed cat, an owl, a tame canary, and a valiant yellow pup.

The scene is laid in the high Sierras, where trout-filled streams cascade down fragrant cedar slopes.

The author has turned natural science into story form. With the enterprising bear cub, we meet pine squirrels and painted chipmunks, the pika of the snow-clad peaks and the rattler of the sun-baked low-lands, the weasel and the wapiti, and have at least a glimpse of the cougar and the coyote.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I MOTHER BROWN BEAR 1

II THE CINNAMON CUB 5

III THE YOUNG SCREECH OWL 8

IV WITH THE RANGER’S CHILDREN 12

V FUZZY RUNS AWAY 16

VI THE COYOTES 19

VII THE SPOTTED FAWN 22

VIII WILD PLAYMATES 27

IX THE HUNTER 31

X TINY FOLK AND THEIR TROUBLES 34

XI CHUCK AND CHIPPER 38

XII MOTHER CHIPMUNK’S ADVENTURE 43

XIII THE HOME UNDER THE ROCK 46

XIV THE CACHE 50

XV THE PINE NUTS 54

XVI FUZZY-WUZZ PLAYS FATE 58

XVII BUCKY, THE BURRO 62

XVIII “AS STUBBORN AS A MULE” 66

XIX THE PINTO PONY 70

XX THE PACK-HORSE TRIP 75

XXI WHEN THE WORLD TURNED WHITE 79

XXII THE RING-TAILED CAT 83

XXIII THE BABY CANARY 87

XXIV “JEST AN ORNERY PUP” 92

XXV A REGULAR DOG 97

XXVI CHUMS 101

XXVII PRETTY PAWS, THE PINE SQUIRREL 105

XXVIII THE RATTLESNAKE DEN 110

XXIX MOTHER BROWN BEAR AND THE BULL 115

XXX PIKA OF THE PEAKS 121

XXXI FUZZY AND THE WEASEL 125

XXXII WAPITI 129

XXXIII DAPPLE DISAPPEARS 133

XXXIV DAPPLE’S SECRET 136

XXXV OLD FRIENDS 139

FUZZY-WUZZ