There was a bear who loved to play. He often ate while playing, which caused him to eat a lot of dirt along with his food.
Mama Bear knew that if this continued, the little bear would get sick, but she didn’t have the time to follow him around and stop him.
What could she do?
Later, Mama Bear heard from Doctor Woodpecker that sunflowers can absorb toxic substances from the soil. So, Mama Bear planted many sunflowers near their home. Although she knew this wouldn’t fundamentally solve the problem of the little bear’s poor hygiene, she thought it was better to reduce the toxins a bit than not at all.
As the sunflowers grew day by day, Mama Bear was very happy, and the little bear was happy too. However, he wasn’t concerned about hygiene; he was looking forward to eating sunflower seeds in the fall.
The little bear often played under the sunflowers and, when tired, would sit under them and daydream.
One day, the little bear was sitting under the sunflowers daydreaming again. Suddenly, he noticed something.
He rushed to Mama Bear and said, “Mom, Mom, I discovered something strange!”
“What strange thing?” asked Mama Bear.
The little bear said, “The big sunflower heads always follow the sun!”
“Oh, I thought it was something big!” Mama Bear said. “Of course, the sunflower heads follow the sun. Otherwise, how could they be called sunflowers?”
“Why don’t the sunflower heads follow the moon?” the little bear asked seriously.
Mama Bear said, “They’re not called moonflowers, so they don’t follow the moon!”
“Mama Bear, your explanation is incorrect!”
At that moment, Doctor Woodpecker’s voice echoed in the air.
Mama Bear quickly greeted Doctor Woodpecker and then asked, “What’s the correct explanation?”
Doctor Woodpecker said, “Sunflowers have a characteristic: from sprouting until their flower heads fully open, their leaves and heads follow the sun from east to west during the day. After the sun sets, they slowly move back, facing east again around 3 AM to wait for the sunrise.”
“Oh!” Mama Bear and the little bear nodded in unison.
Doctor Woodpecker continued, “But once the sunflower heads fully bloom, they stop following the sun. However,” Doctor Woodpecker observed the sunflowers and said, “the heads of these sunflowers haven’t fully opened yet, so you can still see them following the sun. If you don’t believe me, wait until the heads fully bloom and observe again. I’m sure I’m right.”
“Of course, we believe the doctor’s words!” Mama Bear quickly said.
But the little bear was skeptical. He thought, “I must see if the sunflower heads stop following the sun after they bloom.”
Doctor Woodpecker then talked to Mama Bear about other things before leaving to treat the trees.
Mama Bear went to look for food. The little bear wanted to see if any sunflower heads had bloomed, so he examined each one closely.
Time passed unnoticed. The little bear grew day by day, and the sunflower heads grew bigger too.
One day, the little bear went to observe the sunflowers again. Suddenly, he saw some people approaching. The little bear was very scared and ran quickly to find Mama Bear.
He told Mama Bear about the people entering the mountain.
Mama Bear was shocked and said, “They might be here to steal our sunflowers! No, we can’t let them take these sunflowers that absorb toxins!”
Saying this, Mama Bear led the little bear towards the sunflowers.
Even the strongest wild animals are naturally afraid of humans. When Mama Bear and the little bear reached the sunflowers, they saw several people pointing and discussing the sunflowers. Instinctively, Mama Bear and the little bear didn’t rush over to drive them away.
“Mama, what should we do?” The little bear was also afraid of being caught because he had heard from Mama Bear that once caught by humans, they could never return.
Mama Bear said, “Let’s first listen to what they want to do. As long as they don’t steal our sunflowers, we won’t disturb them!”
Mama Bear and the little bear hid behind a bush, quietly listening to the humans’ conversation.
A loud voice said, “I didn’t expect to find such a beautiful patch of sunflowers in this deep forest!”
A strong voice said, “I guess a bird dropped a sunflower seed, and over the years, the sunflowers increased.”
“That makes sense,” the loud voice said. “Have you heard? There’s a type of charger that scientists invented inspired by sunflowers following the sun to seek light and heat!”
“Oh, I know!” the strong voice said. “The sunflower charger has six ‘petals’ that can maximize the absorption of sunlight and convert it into electrical energy for storage. This new charger is more efficient than ordinary solar chargers and easy to carry. On trips, after using the charger, the user can fold the ‘petals’ and put it in their bag for the next use. With the sunflower charger, travelers like us won’t have to worry about our phone running out of battery and missing important calls.”
“Mama, what are they talking about?” The little bear saw Mama Bear listening intently and asked curiously.
Mama Bear said, “I don’t understand either. But as long as they don’t steal our sunflowers, we don’t need to worry about them!”
The little bear nodded.
They continued to watch the humans.
These people were just hiking in the mountains. After discussing the sunflowers for a while, they followed the mountain path and left.
Short stories are shared for free on our ” Sitestorys “. Thank you for reading!
