Honey, the bear,  planted a garden in the spring. By the time summer came, she had a lot of vegetables growing. She had planted some cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans and pumpkins, but the favorite thing growing in her garden were the turnips. When they were ready to be picked, she went into her garden, carrying a green bucket. She picked the purple-topped turnips, washed them off in the sink, and then boiled them with potatoes and sausages. That night she had them for supper. Oh, how she loved turnips. Yummy.

          The next day she went out to her garden to pick some more and gasped. Someone had been to her garden during the night and stolen every last turnip. The cucumbers were still there; so were the tomatoes and green beans and pumpkins, but no turnips.

          Honey dropped her green bucket and looked around. She saw some paw prints. “Aha! I think it must be a raccoon. Those look like raccoon prints to me.” She marched into the woods behind her house and went from tree to tree, searching for the culprit.

          A giant oak tree sat off by itself. When Honey reached it, she noticed some turnip tops lying on the ground. She picked up the purple top. “Aha! My turnips.” She tipped her head back and looked up into the branches. “You come down here right now, raccoon. I know it’s you who has been eating all my turnips.”

          The raccoon looked down and saw the angry bear. “Uh oh!” She climbed down and jumped on the ground next to Honey.

          “Well? What do you have to say for yourself?” Honey stomped her foot.

          “I’m sorry? I was hungry?” The raccoon shook with fear.

          Honey saw how scared the animal was. “I’ll tell you what; if you’ll come and help me dig weeds, you can take one turnip home every night. Is that fair? Since you’ve eaten every turnip, you can come and help me plant some more.”

          The raccoon smiled. “That sounds great!”