Rita woke with a start as one of her cubs leaped playfully onto her back.

      "GRRRRRRARRRRRRR!!!" roared the cub as he nipped his mother's ear.

      "Alright, Calo, I'm up!" Rita laughed. Rita was a huge black bear. She had huge teeth and claws. 

      Calo soon got bord of pestering his mother and tackled his sister to the ground. His sister, Mimi, was expecting the attack and countered it quite skillfully. Rita laughed out loud as the two tiny cubs writhered on the cave floor. Then suddenly, the cubs sprang apart and tumbled in differend directions. Rita scurried back to give her preciouse bundles more room to play. Mimi recovered quick and waisted no time leaping for her brother. The two were a tight knot of clawing, nipping teeth and claws.

     "Ok, you two" giggled Rita fondly, "You are old enough now to forage for food with me."

     "YIPPY!!" screeched Calo as he scurried around his mother. Mimi wasn't quite as enthusiastic. She was always terribly afraid of death.

      "Oh, don't be frightened, little one," comfroted Rita gently, "just be carful and you will be fine."

      "Ok, mother" Mimi growled softly.

      With that, the three bears bounded out through the snow. Rita watched over her cubs lovingly when a strange sent seeped through her nose. Rita lifted her great head high and looked around, ears up and eyes peeled. Then, she heard the crunching of paws through to snow that were far too close to her den for her liking. She beard her teeth.

      "Children," she growled, "go to the den and do not come out untill I say so!"

      "Mother" cried Mimi, "Will you be ok?"

      Rita didn't hear her daughters question as she stalked from tree to tree, looking for the intruter. Suddenly, a goose backed against her belly. She looked down on the bird and two polar bears shook with fright. She nudged the goose away, harder than she ment to. then, a brown dog leaped leaped out and growled. The dog leaped and dug his teeth into Ritas arm. She roard with agony and pinned him down with a paw. She didn't want to kill him, just warn him to never come back. Then, a husky colored like a red fox leaded out of no where and sliced Rita's face. Rita roared again and threw the dog down. Them she turned to the brown dog. She raised a paw, ready to strike. She wasn't going to hit him, she was going to just miss him and maby that would send the dog away. Then, the husky leaped up and yanked at Rita's arm. She once again threw the husky down and then persuided the brown dog into a bush. Rita roared and roared again and again, but the dog wouldn't run away. Then the dog slid down a hill and onto a lake. Rita didn't see the lake under the snow and stalked towards the dog. Then, the ice gave way and Rita sank down to her death.

      Back at the den, in a few days, with no mother to care for them, the two cubs got discovered by a male bare and were killed. If you had once hated the bear that attacked Balto, then try to look at the situation the bears way, and also have sympathy for her and her two cubs.