Ursa
BIGGER SENDS SMALLER HOME
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Ursa is a big brown bear. She has round ears, a soft nose, and a cozy moss-green scarf. Ursa is the biggest animal in all of Hollowmere Valley. When she sits down, the grass goes flat all around her.
In the valley game, animals walk across the meadow. When two animals meet, the bigger one sends the smaller one home for a nap. Nobody gets hurt. It is just a gentle tag on the shoulder, and off you go, back to your burrow.
"Which one is bigger?" Flitter the moth asks. "A bear or a rabbit?"
You look and you think. The bear is bigger! So Ursa gives the rabbit a soft tag, and the rabbit hops home for a nap with a smile.
"Which one is bigger?" Flitter asks again. "A bear or a fox?"
The bear is bigger again! Ursa gives the fox a careful tag. "Home you go," she says kindly. The fox waves and trots back to her den.
Ursa is big, but she is never rough. She tags softly, like patting a puppy.
A grown-up can play this game with you. Hold up two toys and ask, "Which one is bigger?" Then the bigger toy gives the smaller toy a gentle tag home. There is no wrong answer to be sad about, just looking and comparing together.
At the end of the day, Ursa sits by the blue pond and watches the sun go down.
Here is what Ursa loves best: the calm, careful feeling of being big and gentle at the same time. "I'm big, big, big," Ursa hums, "bigger sends smaller home, but I'm gentle as a twig."
Reading together with a grown-up? A card for the grown-up
For the grown-up: ask one question, then wait. When they answer, add one word to what they said. Tap the button when they have said something — that is one turn each, a circle. Nothing is recorded or kept.
Let them finish it
Say “Ursa says: I'm big, big, big — bigger sends smaller home, …” and stop. Let them finish it.
Now wait. Count slowly to five in your head. Their answer is worth the quiet.
Circles together: 0
The HollowTots ensemble
Ursa is one of the friends in HollowTots. Each friend shows you one idea by how they act; meet them all and you have the whole subject.
