Barnaby the Balancing Bear

Once upon a time, in a cozy, green forest, lived a friendly bear named Barnaby. Barnaby loved to explore, and his favourite spot was a sunny clearing filled with soft moss and yummy berry bushes.

One bright morning, while sniffing for breakfast, Barnaby found something new. Tucked under a big fern was a bright, bouncy, red ball!

He poked it gently with his nose. Boing! He tapped it softly with his paw. Boing!

Barnaby giggled. Then, he had a wonderfully silly idea. “I will balance this ball on my head!” he said to a little ladybug who was watching.

First, he tried to toss the ball up onto his head. But it bounced right off his ear and landed in a patch of flowers. “Oops!” he chuckled.

Next, he tried balancing it on his nose. But his nose was a bit tickly, which made him want to sneeze. He scrunched up his face and… A-choo! The ball flew high in the air and landed with a soft thump on the moss.

Barnaby sat down and thought for a moment. “Maybe,” he mumbled to himself, “I just need to be very, very still.”

He took a big, slow bear-breath. He stood up straight and tall on his big bear-feet and didn’t move a single whisker. He gently picked up the red ball with his paws and carefully, oh-so-carefully, placed it right on the very top of his furry head.

He stood perfectly still. The ball wobbled a little to the left, and a little to the right… and then it stayed! It stayed right there, a perfect red circle on top of his head.

Just then, his friends Squeaky the squirrel and a family of little bluebirds came into the clearing. They saw Barnaby standing so proud and still with the ball on his head. They chirped and chattered with delight!

Barnaby felt so happy. He took a slow, careful walk to show everyone his amazing new trick. From that day on, everyone in the forest knew him as Barnaby the Balancing Bear, the happiest bear with a ball on his head. Just like the letter ‘خ’ (khe), which always has one single dot on top of his head.