The bear came right up to the man who was lying on the ground and sniffed him all over. The man hiding in the tree saw watched the bear's every move. "That is amazing," he thought to himself. "I wonder what the bear is saying to my friend."
A little while later the bear shuffled back off into the woods. The man on the ground, pale and shaking, stood up and looked around for his friend who was still up in the tree. "It's alright!" he shouted to the man in the tree. "You can come down now."
"I'm coming, dear friend!" he shouted as he clambered down from the tree. "What an adventure we have had! Will you tell me what the bear was whispering in your ear?"
The man glared at his friend and replied, "The bear was giving me some very good advice. He said that I should beware of having a cowardly friend like you who would leave me alone to face a bear!"
The moral of the story is that you only know the true value of your friends when you face adversity together. As the saying goes, "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
