Ricky, the bear, loved to eat honey. He didn't like eating nuts and berries. The only thing he'd eat is honey. He had knocked down so many beehives that there were hardly any left in the forest.

His tummy rumbled with hunger. “I want some honey!” He looked at all the treetops. “There are no beehives. Where are you bees?”

He went down to the river. “Bees like to drink water. I'll wait here and see if any bees come and then I'll follow them.”

He waited and he waited. The sun went down and then it came up again the next morning and still no bees. He was about to move on when he heard a buzzing sound. “Is that a bee? It might be a fly, or a mosquito, or it might be a bee.”

A big orange and black bumblebee flew across the river. “It is a bee! I'll follow it.” Ricky chased the bumblebee all the way into the middle of the forest, where it was dark and scary. He didn't notice though because he was too hungry.

“There it is. There's the beehive.” Ricky saw that it was high up in the tree. He couldn't possibly reach it from the ground. “I'll have to climb the tree.” He wrapped his legs around the tree trunk and climbed to the branch. “I can't reach it.” The beehive was way at the end of it.

Ricky inched his way, dangling from the branch until he reached the beehive. He took his big paw and hit it to the ground. The bees buzzed angrily around him. He swatted at them and fell from the branch to the ground, landing in a bush. The bees kept attacking him, stinging his legs and arms. “Ouch! Ouch! Go away!”

By the time he was able to stand up, he had so many bee stings that he hurt. He ran to the river and sat in it, soaking his sore paws. When he felt better, he found the beehive. It was full of honey and the bees were busy making another one in the tree tops. Ricky ate the honey, but all night long he hurt. “I think from now on I'll just eat berries and nuts. At least they don't sting you.”