All Around the Circle

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with my buddy, James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know. He says he's older than dirt. That must be really old--at least 20 years!  Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? I'm holding Chance on my lap. He likes to sit on my lap 'cuz when he sits here I tell him stories and sing songs to him. I'm a good story teller. James says so. When Chance is on my lap he doesn't climb things and get into trouble. Yesterday he climbed to the top of the curtains and he couldn't get down. He made little squawky noises 'cuz he was afraid. I have to say, "My son, come down from there, right now!" Then I help him get down from there.

Chance has a favourite story. He likes me to tell him about The Little Brown Bear and the Three People. He makes little squeaky noises when I tell him that story. That's 'cuz he's happy. He has a favourite song, too. It's All Around the Circle. 

I's the b'y that builds the boat,
And I's the b'y that sails her,
I's the b'y that catches the fish,
And brings them home to Liza.

Chorus:
Hip yer partner, Sally Tibbo,
Hip yer partner, Sally Brown,
Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton's Harbour,
All around the circle!

 Chance claps his paws and makes little squeaky noises when we sing All Around the Circle. He likes the song a lot. Miss Jackie sings it to us at the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre. She says it's a Newfoundland song. I know where Newfoundland is. It's in O Canada, our home and native land.

James says it's nice that Chance and me play together and don't fight. That makes me a good citizen, you know. We laugh and laugh and laugh when we play.  Know what? Singing makes us hungry. Chance doesn't have any teeth--he just drinks condensed owls' milk out of his bottle. I'm eating  gummy worm soup for lunch and for dessert I get to eat wallermellon. I l-o-v-e wallermelon. It's yummy and that's one of the four food groups in the Canada Food Guide.

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Who's as hungry as a bear? Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're as hungry as bears. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed. We're gonna eat soup and wallermelon, too!

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Play nice. Then you can eat gummy worm soup and wallermelon, too. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can play nice together and sing All Around the Circle! Okay! Over and out!"