"Cat's Short Cut"

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"Cat's Short Cut"
Type	Episode
Part of	Little Bear
Season	2
Episode	3a
Release date	1996 (Canada) 11 September 1996 (USA)
Written by	Michael Thoma
Previous	"Little Bear and the North Pole"
Next	"Little Bear's Bad Day"

"Cat's Short Cut" is the first story in the third episode of the second season of Little Bear. It was written by Michael Thoma. In Canada, it premiered in 1996 on CBC Television. In the United States, it premiered on 11 September 1996 on Nickelodeon.

Summary

Little Bear picking huckleberries

Little Bear and Owl are picking huckleberries. Once they fill their baskets, it is late, so when they begin walking along the long path back to Little Bear's house, Owl comments that it would be much quicker to use Cat's short cut through the woods. Little Bear says that he thinks he remembers the short cut, and Owl reassures Little Bear that he knows the way. They enter Cat's short cut.

Little Bear and Owl, taking the wrong path in Cat's short cut

The forest is dark and spooky. When Little Bear and Owl reach a fork in the path, Little Bear asks Owl if he is sure that he knows the way, to which Owl responds that, yes, he does know the way, before taking the path to the right. A way down the path, Little Bear scares Owl by exclaiming "Owl, look, over there!" and tapping him on the shoulder. Owl flies into the air with fright before coming down and shakily asking who was there. Little Bear then told Owl that he did it to scare him, but Owl retorted that he was not scared.

Little Bear and Owl on the wrong path

As Little Bear and Owl continue, Little Bear says that Owl should have been scared because it might have been a goblin. However, Owl says that there are no such things as goblins, but after Little Bear continued walking with a sure look on his face, Owl asks timidly whether there really are goblins. Little Bear comments that he does not remember the path going this way, but Owl tells him that it just looks different because it is getting late.

As Owl and Little Bear continue along the path, the wind blows a branch that taps Little Bear on the shoulder, scaring him. He promptly asks if Owl tapped him, but Owl denies it. Owl then says that it must have been a goblin, to which Little Bear protests, stating that Owl had previously denied their existence. Owl agrees but says that if there were goblins, they would most likely live in the woods.

Little Bear telling Owl about goblins

Little Bear tells Owl that goblins wear magic shoes which can walk on their own. Owl is skeptical, but Little Bear's statement is verified when they hear the pit-pat of goblin shoes before the shoes kick Little Bear and Owl over a log. When Little Bear and Owl get up, they are chased around by the shoes until they hide behind the log and the shoes jump right over them and continue onward. Before they get up, a goblin jumps over the log and chases after his runaway shoes.

A laughing tree

As Little Bear and Owl begin to laugh after the goblin passes, Owl hears a laugh other than theirs. He tells Little Bear that it is the laugh of a laughing tree, a tree that grabs you and tries to make you laugh by telling bad jokes. You can only escape by making it laugh. Little Bear doesn't believe this, but sure enough, a short way up the path, they run into a laughing tree. It grabs them and starts to tell bad jokes, but luckily, Owl makes a joke that makes the tree laugh, and Little Bear and Owl escape.

Cat

As Little Bear and Owl continue, they come back to the fork in the path they came to before. Realizing that they had come in a loop, Owl admits that he does not know the way, but he further explains that it is due to the short cub being badly laid out that he cannot find the way. At this point, Cat jumps out from nowhere and asks Owl exactly what is wrong with his short cut. Little Bear asks Cat to show them the way home, and Cat obliges.

Little Bear, Cat, and Owl

As Cat leads Little Bear and Owl down the left path at the fork, little do they realize that Little Bear's basket full of huckleberries has a hole. Little Bear and Owl tell Cat about their adventure in the forest, prompting Cat to explain that there is something far scarier: the big black crow who lives in the woods, a crow that is bigger than a house. As the three of them walk along the path, they look out for goblins, laughing trees, and giant crows.

Little Bear, Cat, and Owl, finally home

Being started by a crow's caw, Little Bear, Cat, and Owl rush out of the woods towards Little Bear's house. When they arrive ready to give their berries to Mother Bear for her to make a pie, they find with dismay that all of the berries have fallen through the hole in Little Bear's basket. Luckily, Mother Bear had also picked some huckleberries. Owl, Cat, and Little Bear all come in to have some pie.

Background information

• When the branch knocks on Little Bear's shoulder, it is going against the wind.
• Some or all of the creatures encountered by Little Bear and Owl in this episode may have been in their imagination.
• Near the end of this episode, there are several shots in which Cat's eyes are white instead of green.

Appearances and references

• individuals
  • Bear, Little
  • Bear, Mother
  • Cat
  • goblin, unnamed
  • Owl
• locations
  • Little Bear's house
• other
  • laughing tree