The Trip to Panama. Janosch

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      The Trip to Panama

      The Story how the Little Tiger and the Little Bear travel to Panama

      by Janosch

      Translated by Anthea Bell

      Once upon a time, a little bear and a little tiger lived down by the riverside. Where you can see smoke rising into the air, beside the big tree.

      They had a boat too.

      They lived in a nice little house with a chimney.

      »How happy we are!« said Little Tiger.

      »We have all we could wish for, and we don’t have to be afraid of anything.

      That’s because we’re so strong, aren’t we, Bear?«

      »Yes« said Little Bear. »I’m as strong as a bear, and you’re as strong as a tiger. That should do.«

      Every day, Little Bear took his rod and went fishing

      and Little Tiger went out in the woods looking for mushrooms.

      Litte Bear cooked their dinner eyery day, because he was a very good cook.

      »Would you rather have the fish cooked with salt and pepper or lemon and onion, Mr Tiger?«

      »All of them!« said Little Tiger. »And I want the biggest helping!«

      After the fish they ate stewed mushrooms, and then they had bilberry jam and honey.

      They really did lead a very happy life in their nice little house down by the riverside. Until one day…

      … a crate came floating down the river.

      Little Bear fished it out of the water, sniffed it, and said, »Oooh…bananas!«

      The crate did smell of bananas. And what was that word written on it? »Pa-na-ma,« read Little Bear. »This crate comes from Panama, and Panama smells of bananas! Oh, Panama is the land of my dreams!«

      He ran home and told Little Tiger. He went on talking about Panama far into the night.

      »Everything is much nicer in Panama, you know,« he said. »Panama smells of bananas all over. Panama is the land of our dreams, Tiger. We must start for Panama first thing tomorrow, mustn’t we, Tiger?«

      «First thing tomorrow,« agreed Little Tiger. »Because we don’t have to be afraid of anything, do we, Bear?

      But we must take my stripy tiger duck with us.«

      Next morning they got up much earlier than usual.

      »If you don’t know your way,« said Little Bear, »the first thing you need is a signpost.« And he made a signpost out of the crate.

      »We must take my fishing rod too, because if you have a rod you can always catch fish, and if you can catch fish you needn’t go hungry …«

      »And if you needn’t go hungry,« said Little Tiger, »there’s nothing to be afraid of, is there, Bear?«

      Little Tiger took the red cooking pot too.