Page 21 - Sophie's Christmas With Teddy & Mouse

She looked up at Teddy and he said surprised, "Have I been looking at your book all these years? It is the most beautiful thing I have ever found. I picked it up near the big tree, with its fairy seats scattered in the branches."
"I did indeed read my book there on a beautiful summer day," said Sophie. 'But when the sun shone brightly through the leaves I fell asleep, and woke up when it was well after dinner-time and quickly ran home. I forgot my book and I've searched for it so many times but never found it.”
"It’s no coincidence," said Teddy, "that we've found each other. Will you teach me your human children language so I can nally read the book and understand what the story is about?"
Sophie nodded eagerly and giggled softly too.
Teddy laughed again, his happy tears dripping down his coat, right into Mouse's box.
Mouse got a big tear splash on his head.
"Hey ..." he grumbled. "I'm still here too you know."
"Oh," said Teddy, "of course. Sophie, can you help us? This is Mouse, he's injured his tail and needs to be taken care of. After he gets better he will have to return to his family, they will be missing him by now."
Sophie thought quickly and said, "Come on in and I'll ask Mum for help!" Teddy spluttered and became scared again.
"But what if the pot is hanging over the hearth where the bear meat is stewing?” At the thought of that he got more frightened, and wanted to turn around and run away, to run as fast as he could. But where could he go?
Teddy knew there was no going back.
"Dear Teddy,” Mouse intervened, and told Teddy to calm down. "I know you’re afraid and want to run away but you must make a choice now, a difcult choice."
"Yes ..." Teddy sighed. He thought very deeply. "When I go back to Father and Mother Bear I will most likely be locked up in the closet again and maybe end up in the pot over the hearth. If I'm lucky I can occasionally escape to the big wooden shed, to keep on dreaming about a beautiful life, but then I will never get beyond dreaming and dreaming alone. And ... I want my dreams to come true!" Now Teddy knew what he had to do.