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.
Paragraphs 10 to 29:
For the complete story with questions: click here for printable
