Simple Stories in English: The Curious Bear

Season 1, episode 8

Most people know the story of Goldilocks and the three bears, but what if the bear is the intruder? Barry is a curious bear. He just wants to know what life is like inside of a house. Barry looks through the windows and sees and touches a lot of different things. What will this curious bear find?

This short, simple story is told in the present tense and focuses on the words “wants”, “observes”, “walks”, “perfect”, and “touched”. 

THE CURIOUS BEAR

Many bears live in the mountains of Colorado. There is a bear named Barry. Barry is a brown bear. Barry is not big, but he is not small either. Barry is not fat, but he is not skinny either. Barry is a perfect bear. 

Barry lives in the mountains of Colorado in the United States. From the mountains Barry the bear sees a town. He observes the town and thinks that it is interesting. The bear observes houses and cars. Barry the bear does not live in a house. He lives in a cave. The bear is curious. Barry wants to see the houses. What do they have inside? 

Barry the bear walks to town. He sees a small white house. The bear is curious. He walks to the house and looks through the window. There is a small girl in the house. The small girl is curious. She walks to the window and says “Hello, bear.” 

The bear is happy. The bear wants to talk with the girl. But the girl has a mother. The mother is not curious. She is scared. She sees the bear in the window and screams, “Aaaaaah! A bear!” 

Barry is scared too. Barry the bear runs from the house. But Barry doesn’t run far. Barry is a curious bear. He wants to enter a house. Barry sees a green house. The green house is very big. The bear is curious. Barry looks through the window. He sees a big man on a sofa. The big man eats a big pizza. Barry runs from the house. He does not like pizza. He prefers pancakes with strawberries. 

Barry continues walking on the street. He sees a red house. Red is Barry the bear’s favorite color. He likes the house. The house is not small, but it isn’t big either. The house is perfect. 

Barry is curious and looks through the window. He doesn’t see anyone. He doesn’t hear anyone. Barry opens the door and enters the red house. 

The red house has tables and chairs. The house has food and computers. The house has a sofa and the house has a refrigerator. The house has boots and jackets and paper and Legos. Barry thinks that the house is marvelous. Barry jumps on the sofa and opens the refrigerator. Barry reads the papers and builds a house with Legos. 

Barry is very happy. But he is also curious. In the living room of the house there are three computers. One computer is very big. Another computer is very small. But the third computer is red and perfect. 

The bear opens the perfect computer. Barry touches some buttons and opens his email. Barry has 53 emails. They are not interesting. There is a lot of spam. 

After reading his mail, Barry is hungry. He wants to eat. He walks to the kitchen. In the kitchen he sees three strawberries. Barry really likes strawberries. It is his favorite fruit. One strawberry is green and very big. Another strawberry is white and very small. But the third strawberry is red and perfect. Barry opens the refrigerator and sees yogurt. Barry eats the strawberry with the yogurt. It is perfect! 

After eating Barry is tired. He wants to sleep. He looks for a bed. In the house there are three bedrooms. The first bedroom has an enormous black bed. The other bedroom has a small, blue bed. The third bedroom has a perfect red bed. Barry lays down in the perfect bed and sleeps.

After one hour, the family of the red house arrives. In the family there is a father, a boy and a girl. The family enters the house. There is a problem in the house. The house is a disaster. the father looks at the big computer.

“Someone touched my big computer,” he says.

The girl looks at her little computer. The computer has a mark on it. She cries, “Someone touched my little computer!”

The boy looks at his red computer. He is curious. He opens the computer and sees a gmail account. “Someone touched my computer and read their email,” the boy observes.

The family walks to the kithcen. There is a problem in the kitchen. They see the container of yogurt and the strawberries.

“Someone touched my green strawberry,” the father says.

“Someone touched my white strawberry,” the girl cries.

“Someone ate my perfect strawberry. It’s not here,” the boy observes.

The family walks to the bedrooms. First they see the father’s bedroom with the big black bed.

“Someone touched my big bed,” the father says.

Then the family walks to the girl’s bedroom with the small blue bed.

“Someone touched my little bed,” the girl cries.

Then the family walks to the boy’s bedroom with the perfect red bed.

“Someone is sleeping in my perfect bed,” the boy observes.

The girl and the father shout. Barry the bear gets up and sees the family. Barry wants to introduce himself and he opens his mouth. Barry wants to say “Hello, I’m Barry,” but there is a problem. Barry is a bear, so the family hears “roooaaar”. The family yells and runs from the house. 

Now, Barry the bear does not live in the mountains, he lives in a perfect red house.

The end.

You can also watch a video of this story on YouTube!

I really enjoy creating and sharing simple, comprehensible stories. I work hard to provide tools and supports for those who want to learn and I like to keep it ad free. Please, consider buying me a taco to support my work!

You can download a printer-friendly PDF of this story.

Author: Camilla Given

I'm Camilla! I teach at the high school and college level in a small town in western Colorado. My goal is to teach the world Spanish through stories. I truly believe that stories make learning Spanish easier - and even fun! Feel free to contact me at smalltownspanishteacher@gmail.com

error

Enjoy this blog? Please spread the word :)