An action story. Assign groups to do each of the actions as described,
which they do each time the word is spoken.

How Bear Lost his Tail

BEAR -- "ROAR!"
TAIL -- (arm behind your back and wave)
RABBIT -- "hop hop hop" and do a bunny hop
FISH -- (open and close mouth several times)

In Ancient days BEAR had a long beautiful TAIL, of which he was very
proud.

One day BEAR went for a walk. He felt a little hungry so he walked
around an old tree. BEAR thought there might be some honey in the old
tree. But there was none.

Then BEAR walked around a lake "It is a fine day, even though winter is
here," thought BEAR.

BEAR came upon RABBIT fishing through a hole in the ICE. RABBIT caught
many FISH. BEAR was still very hungry and FISH was his favourite dish,
so he asked RABBIT if he might FISH too.

RABBIT told BEAR to drop his long, bushy TAIL through the hole in the
ice so that the fish could catch the end of it. BEAR sat and sat waiting
for the FISH to catch hold of his TAIL, but he sat too long and his TAIL
became frozen in the ice.

Poor BEAR, in order to get loose from the ice, he had to leave his TAIL
behind.

BEAR was ashamed to have lost his long, beautiful TAIL and to have lost
all those FISH too. He wished he was back in his cave, so he scurried
off.

BEAR saw RACOON scampering along the path towards him so he quickly hid
behind a tree. He did not want RACCOON to know he had lost his
beautiful TAIL in the ice. He was too embarrassed.

Finally BEAR reached his cave and decide that from now on he would
always stay in his cave during the winter.

And ever since that day long ago, BEARS have had short TAILS and
hibernated in their caves during winter.

An action story. Assign groups to do each of the actions as described,
which they do each time the word is spoken.

Why Rabbits Have Long Ears

MAN -- "Hi there!" and wave
RABBIT -- "hop hop hop" and do a bunny hop
FOREST -- wave hands in the air
EARS -- swing and make rabbit ears on your head

One day in the world of long ago RABBIT was sitting on a log in the
FOREST.

Suddenly a MAN appeared. He had travelled from a far away land and was
very weary, so he sat down on the log beside RABBIT.

The man told RABBIT he had lost his way in the FOREST. He was very sad
because he was sure he would never see his camp or teepee again. Now
RABBIT knew the forest very well and he told the MAN he would guide him
home. This made the MAN feel much better.

RABBIT put out his campfire, and RABBIT and the MAN started their
journey.

RABBIT and the MAN took an old path. It had many turns and wove in and
out of the forest.

Suddenly the MAN tumbled over a log and tumbled over and over right
into a deep pit. It was so deep that the MAN couldn't climb out, so he
called RABBIT for help.

RABBIT leaned over the edge of the pit and saw the MAN standing there
looking very sad. RABBIT told the MAN to hold onto his ears and he
would pull him out.

RABBIT's ears were very strong. RABBIT pulled and pulled until the MAN
was out of the pit. But poor RABBIT's ears had been stretched quite a
bit by the MAN's weight. In fact RABBIT's ears had become very long.

RABBIT and the MAN continued on their way along the old trail. This is
the path that many turns and wove in and out through the FOREST. At
last they reached the man's camp.

And now you know how RABBIT got his long ears.

(Thanks to "The Colony Resource Book", published by Scouts Canada,
January 1986, ISBN 0-919062-52-0)
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