A summer evening, when the sun is setting and the air cools, is a good time to visit friends. It was no different with the forest and the field folk who were PearBears friends. Many of them were sitting around under Favorite Pear Tree, just gossiping and telling each other what they had done that day to keep cool. Dragon had appeared once again in the neighborhood, and that was a very exciting happening.

All the forest folk were asking him about where he had been and had he any adventures to tell them about. They were all munching on ripe pears that PearBear generously shared. Excepting for Fox who was thoughtfully eyeing rabbit. Rabbit moved closer to PearBear.

Dragon was telling a story about an enchanted forest he had visited recently.

"How recently?" PearBear asked.

"Oh, about two or three thousand years ago," said Dragon.

"Hmmm," said the bear. "Two or three weeks ago...now that's recent. Two or three thousand years ago is more like ancient history."

"Depends on whether you are a Dragon or not," replied Dragon.

Cow wandered up the trail, with a piece or barbed wire tangled in her tail. She had obviously pushed down Farmer's fence again.

"Cow, I don't understand why farmer even bothers to fix the fence every time you push it down," Spotted Owl said. He was sitting on the top branch of Favorite Pear Tree, as far away from Dragon as possible. He remembered very well the day that Dragon had blown all his feathers off. It was his own fault but Spotted Owl would never admit it.

"Well, hi there, Dragon!" Cow said, when she saw him. "I love your colors this afternoon. Red and white stripes! Very stylish!"

"Dragon was telling about his recent visit two or three thousand years or so ago, to an enchanted forest," PearBear told her.

"Do tell! What is different about an enchanted forest from our own forest here?" asked Cow.

Fox moved a little closer to rabbit. Rabbit jumped into PearBears lap, and PearBear growled ever so slightly at Fox.

"What did I do?" Fox asked innocently. But he moved back several feet, just the same.

"Well", said Dragon. "Enchanted forests are all different, but in this forest everyone could fly, and most had just one wing, like I do. All the trees grew bells instead of fruit, and when the wind blew, the bells sounded like lovely soft chimes."

"All the trees grew bells? No Pears?" asked PearBear, simply horrified at the thought, "What was there to eat?"

"You don't have to eat in an enchanted forest", Dragon told them. "No one is ever hungry."

"You mean you just sit around listening to bells ring?" asked Spotted Owl. "That would drive me crazy in a very short time."

"I think this forest is enchanting, myself," Cow said, as she nibbled a dandelion and then wandered over to a blackberry bush to see if the berries were close to ripening.

"Would you like to have me enchant this forest," Dragon asked, "so you can see how beautiful it is? I'm sure I can do it. I'd have to practice a bit."

Owl remembered the feather-falling incident and decided that he might fly over to Old Growth Forest for a week or so, and hope that Dragon would be gone when he returned. You could never be absolutely sure when Dragon's magic might go wrong.

"Frankly, no, Dragon," said PearBear. "I personally would not like to have our forests and fields changed one bit. But thank you for the generous offer."

He looked up at Favorite Pear Tree, which was just filled with pears, growing fatter and fatter in the summer sun. How beautiful they were, he was thinking. And how delicious they would be by September.

Soon the sun began to go down, and the forest animals wandered home to get their suppers. PearBear walked home with Rabbit so that he was sure not to become supper for Fox. Cow moseyed on home, dragging the barbed wire after her. Farmer would probably untangle it before milking time.

Dragon flew along with Rabbit and PearBear, wondering whether PearBear might have made pizza today. As it turned out, PearBear had made pizza, with three kinds of fruit and lots of cheese on it. A very healthy pizza indeed. PearBear was always careful to have five fruits and five vegetables every day. He started out with pears, naturally, and ended up with pears. But in between he ate grapes and apples, peas and carrots, oranges and yes, even beets.

While PearBear cut the pizza into wedges, he hummed a song that he had made up, about the foods that his forest friends liked to eat. It went like this.

Though Robins say earthworms are really quite edible

The longer I think of it, I find it incredible.

Fox says nothing's more tasty than mice

And though they may contain protein I don't think that it's nice.

Mice on the other hand, Love weed seeds and grain

Which they look for in snow drifts in the wind and the rain.

Rabbits like carrots and lettuce and peas.

And a well rounded diet should surely add these.

My good friend, the Cow, likes to chew on her hay

And gives Farmer her buckets of milk every day.

All of my friends have food that they savor.

And they eat them for health, nutrition and flavor.

I always add most of these things to my diet.

Earthworms or mice, though... I doubt that I'll try it.

My favorite of all remains a fresh pear.

And if I eat two, then I've eaten a pair!

Dragon ate the very last crumb of the pizza, and looked around to see what else there was to eat. There was nothing visible and PearBear had gone fast asleep in his chair. Dragon thought that he looked so peaceful he wouldn't disturb him. PearBear had been very nice to Dragon. He had fed him, and introduced him to his very nice friends. Well, most of them were nice. You had to keep an eye on Fox, and Spotted Owl was a grump. He wanted to do something really special for PearBear, because he had been a real friend.

Dragon wondered what he could do to make a nice surprise for PearBear. And then he had the best idea! If he could remember how to do it he could turn all the pears on Favorite Pear Tree into pretty silver bells. And when the summer breeze came up, they would sound so beautiful. He could try to make each bell tinkle with just a little different tone, and it would sound like a silver symphony through the entire forest and all the orchards. What fun!



Story Continues in Part 2