Farfour the Penguin and the Polar Bear Cub

At the far end of the earth, where snow is white everywhere, the sea is cold and blue, and the wind whistles between mountains of ice, there lived a little penguin named Farfour. Farfour was the smallest penguin in his colony, but he was the most curious and the most eager to explore. He always wore a red woollen scarf that his grandmother had knitted for him with her needles before winter. As she wrapped it around his neck she had said, "This scarf will keep you warm, Farfour, and it will always remind you that someone loves you." Farfour loved his scarf very much and never took it off, not even at bedtime.

One evening, while the penguins were huddling together to sleep and keep warm, Farfour saw something amazing in the sky. There were green, pink and purple lights rippling above the horizon like silk curtains blowing in the wind. "Those are the northern lights, Farfour," said his grandmother. "They appear on clear, cold nights." Farfour's eyes widened in wonder. "They're so beautiful! I want to see them up close!" And before his grandmother could say anything, Farfour had slid on his tummy toward the edge of the ice to find a better place to watch.

Farfour sat at the edge of the ice watching the dancing lights and forgot everything around him. He didn't notice a soft sound beneath his feet: crack! The piece of ice he was sitting on had slowly broken away from the big shore and was drifting off across the calm water. By the time Farfour noticed, his colony had become tiny black dots far away. He jumped up in fright and shouted, "Grandma! Grandma!" But the wind carried his voice away. He looked around and saw nothing but water, ice and the colorful sky.

Farfour sat on the ice floe, wrapped his red scarf tightly around his neck and tried to be brave. He told himself, "Don't be afraid, Farfour. The sea is calm, the current will take me somewhere, and I can swim if I need to." But the night was long and the cold was bitter. After a long time, his ice floe bumped gently into another, bigger one. On that floe Farfour saw a big white heap moving and shivering, and he heard a faint sound of crying coming from it.

Farfour moved closer carefully, his heart beating fast. Then he saw that the white heap had a black nose and two small, tearful eyes. It was a polar bear cub! Farfour stepped back, because he had often heard that bears were big and strong. But the little bear was crying and shivering, and he didn't look scary at all. "Hello..." said Farfour hesitantly. "Why are you crying?" The bear lifted his head, wiped his nose with his big paw and said, "My name is Snowy. I was playing near my mother, the ice broke, and now I'm here all alone. I'm cold and scared."

Farfour was surprised. "But your fur is so thick! How can you be cold?" Snowy said, "My fur is still young, and I'm used to sleeping cuddled up to my mother. The wind here is strong, and my ears and neck are freezing." Farfour looked at his red scarf, then at Snowy. The scarf was the most precious thing he owned, a gift from his grandmother. He thought for a moment, then remembered her words: "This scarf will remind you that someone loves you." Farfour said to himself, "And right now Snowy needs to know that someone cares about him."

Farfour untied his scarf, went up to Snowy and said, "Here, this is my red scarf. It will warm you up a little." Snowy looked at him in surprise. "But you're small, you'll get cold!" "I have an idea!" said Farfour. The scarf was very long, because Grandma had knitted it long so Farfour could grow into it. Farfour wrapped one end around Snowy's neck and the other end around his own, then sat snuggled up right beside the little bear. "I feel warm!" said Snowy, smiling for the first time. "Me too," said Farfour. "Your fur shields me from the wind, and my scarf warms your neck."

The two new friends sat close together on the ice floe, watching the northern lights dance above them. "You're very different from me, Farfour," said Snowy. "You're small and black and white, with short wings, and I'm big and all white, with claws." "And you walk on four legs," said Farfour, "while I walk on two and waddle." Then they both laughed. "But right now we feel the same thing," said Snowy. "We both miss our families, we were both scared, and now we're both less scared."

The two friends talked all night long. Farfour told Snowy about the penguin colony, how they slide on their tummies across the snow and catch silver fish under the water. Snowy told Farfour about his mother, how she was teaching him to smell scents from far away, and how they dug a warm den in the snow together. Farfour taught Snowy how to slide on his tummy, and the little bear slid across the ice, rolled over and laughed until tears ran down his face. And Snowy taught Farfour how to lift his beak and sniff the wind.

At dawn, as the sky began to turn pink, Snowy suddenly raised his nose and sniffed the wind hard. "Farfour!" he said happily. "I can smell my mother! She's close!" Soon a big polar bear appeared on the distant shore, walking and calling in a worried voice. "Mama! Mama! I'm here!" shouted Snowy. The current had carried the ice floes close to the shore. The mother leapt into the water and swam strongly toward the floe. Farfour was a little frightened when he saw the big bear, so he hid behind Snowy.

The mother arrived, hugged her cub to her chest, and licked and sniffed him, saying, "My darling, I searched for you all night!" Then she saw the red scarf around his neck and the little penguin hiding behind him. "Mama, this is my friend Farfour," said Snowy. "He shared his scarf with me and kept me warm all night." The big bear bent down, looked at Farfour with kind eyes and said, "Thank you, brave little one. You have been a true friend to my son. Now let us help you get back to your family."

Snowy and his mother carried Farfour on the mother's broad back, and she swam with them along the shore while Snowy sniffed the wind, until they heard penguin voices in the distance. Farfour's grandmother was standing at the edge of the ice, looking anxiously out to sea. When she saw her grandson riding on the back of a polar bear, she nearly fell over in surprise! Farfour slid down onto the ice, ran to her and hugged her. He told her everything, and she stroked his head and said, "I'm proud of you, Farfour. You shared your warmth with someone who needed it. But promise me you'll never wander off alone again!" And Farfour promised.

Snowy wanted to give back the scarf, but Farfour said, "Keep it, Snowy, so it always reminds you that someone cares about you." In the days that followed, Snowy came with his mother to the edge of the nearby shore, and the two friends sat together watching the northern lights on clear nights. Grandma knitted a new red scarf for Farfour, exactly like Snowy's, so that everyone would know they were friends. The penguins and the bears looked at them in amazement and said, "A penguin and a bear, friends! Who would have believed it?"

And so Farfour and Snowy learned that true friendship does not care about shape, color or size. Friends may look very different on the outside, yet be alike on the inside, all needing warmth, love and safety. So never judge anyone by how they look. Be kind to those who need you and share what you have, because in the place you least expect, you may find the best friend of your life.