1 "Mama, Mama," cried the two young polar bear cubs. "Where are we going?"
2 "Shh," growled their mother. "I am looking for seal holes in the ice."
3 "What's a seal?" asked Paul.
4 "It is a very tasty animal," said Mama bear. "It spends much of its life in the water."
5 "There is no water here," said Pasha. "How will we find a seal?"
6 "The water is under the ice," said Mama bear patiently. "They keep an air hole open so they can breathe. You must be very quiet so the seal doesn't hear us and swim away."
7 The cubs were quiet for a little while. They followed their mother over the ice and whispered to each other. From time to time the family climbed over dunes of snow.
8 It was hard to remember to be quiet. They raced to get ahead of Mama going up the drift and tumbled laughingly down the other side.
9 Once they saw another white bear at a distance. Mama sniffed the air coming toward them. It was a male polar bear. Mama quickly moved down the side of the drift and away from him. He would kill her cubs if he could. She would not give him a chance.
10 Finally, Mama bear found what she was looking for. The hole did not look like much, but she could already smell the seal's warm body hidden from sight.
11 "You cubs will not be able to stay quiet beside me. You may play on that snow drift," she pointed at it with her nose. "I can see you there. Stay out of trouble."
12 The cubs nodded and scampered off in the direction she pointed. It was a lovely snow drift. They tried to play on just the one side so they could still see their mother.
13 Up they went, plowing through the snow. Then they would leap off the top and slide or roll to the bottom. When they were tired, they rested on the top of the pile and watched their mother's progress.
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