Ursa
BIGGEST IS NOT ALWAYS SAFEST
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Ursa is the biggest bear in Hollowmere Valley. She has soft brown fur, a green scarf, and paws as wide as dinner plates. When Ursa walks across the meadow, the grass bends and the ponds go plip.
In the hiding game, Ursa is the strongest piece of all. When Ursa meets a wolf, the wolf goes home to nap. When Ursa meets a badger, the badger goes home too. Big tags small. That is the rule.
One evening Ursa marched toward the Reed village. "I am the biggest," she said, very pleased. "Nobody can send me home."
She tagged a hare. Tap. "Home you go, little runner."
She tagged a badger. Tap. "Home you go, digger."
Ursa felt tall and proud and a little bit bouncy. She stopped watching where she stepped.
Behind a mossy log, something small was waiting. Something with round pink ears and a long thin tail.
It was Puck the mouse.
Puck did not run away. Puck tiptoed out, quick as a whisper, and reached Ursa's big furry toes first.
"Tickle, tickle!" said Puck.
Ursa giggled. She wobbled. She sat down with a soft flump. "Oh no," she laughed. "The tiny one got me first! That's the one thing I can't stop."
And off Ursa went, home to her den for a nap.
Lying in her den, Ursa thought about it. She was not cross. She was surprised, and a little bit wiser. I was so busy being big, she thought, that I forgot to look for small.
The next game, Ursa walked more slowly. When a piece stood very still near her, she wondered, Could that be Puck? She did not rush in. She let her friends go first, to find out.
That is Ursa's lesson. The biggest piece tags every smaller animal home. (If she meets the other village's bear, they are the same size, and they both go home. And she keeps clear of brambles, which pop even a bear.) But the tiny one, if he reaches her first, tickles even the biggest bear home. Big can be strong and still be careful.
The HollowPals ensemble
Ursa is one of the friends in HollowPals. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.
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Lupa
A wolf - next biggest; only Ursa is bigger, and a bramble pops her too
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Puck
A tiny mouse - the smallest, but he tickles Ursa home when HE strikes first
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Burdock
A badger - the only one who can clear a bramble
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Skipwell
A hare - runs many squares in a straight line, so moving far gives him away
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Hopwell
A hare - looks first and runs fast; cheap to send, often goes home
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Briar
A bramble - never moves; anyone who bumps her goes home, except Burdock
