Once, there was a cat that watched the scouts every night as they went out and about their duties. Light or dark, wet or dry, hot or cold, they went, and the cat watched all the while.
After a time, the cat told himself, “You know, I do believe I could do that as well as any of those humans do, if I wanted to.” But he didn’t want to, so the cat just stayed where he was.
Over the next while, the cat told himself several more times that he could go a-scouting just as well as any of the humans he watched, if he wanted to; but he never wanted to, so he didn’t.
Finally, one night the cat said it aloud, where he thought no one would hear him.
“I don’t believe you.” So said a young fox lazily lounging in a nearby tree. “You didn’t spot me, so how can you say that you’d be as good as the humans?”
“I would so,” the cat protested, “and I totally knew you were there!”
“Then prove it,” the puppy-fox sneered. “Unless you’re all talk.”
“OK.”
So the cat went to the master of scouts and told him that he wanted to join the scouts.
“Well,” the master of scouts said doubtfully, “you’re a fine, big cat, but all my scouts have to be human.”
“Why?” the cat demanded angrily.
“The good townspeople made us these uniforms, and it would be insulting if we didn’t use them.” The master of scouts held out one of the uniforms for the cat to examine.
The uniforms included long boots that came up over the knees, and long gloves that reached past the elbows. The cat looked at them dubiously.
Eventually, the cat asked, “If I wear the uniform, can I join the scouts?”
“You’ll have to try out first,” the master of scouts replied. “That’s the way it’s done.”
“OK.”
So the cat strained and struggled and finally managed to get into the uniform. It made his balance all wobbly, though, so when he tried out for the scouts, the others just laughed at his efforts to get through their obstacle course.
This only made the cat more determined than ever to show the others that he could be the most best of them all; so every night after that, instead of watching the scouts, the cat practiced.
After a very long time, the cat went back to the master of scouts, who told him, “You already failed your try-out, so I can’t let you join; those are the rules.” But the master of scouts agreed to let the cat try again in front of the town leaders, to see if they might change their minds.
This time, the cat did everything right; he even set a new speed record going through the obstacle course. The town leaders did not want to change their minds, though, because that would mean admitting that they had been wrong.
While the town leaders were busy deciding not to do anything, the cat scouted out the entire town and drew out a map showing where everyone and everything was. This was something not even the best of the other scouts could do, and the master of scouts was both pleased and impressed.
The town leaders still would not budge, so the cat would not become one of their scouts.
“I’ll take him on as a Cub Scout.”
The town leaders gasped, for the speaker was none other than the feared Bear Warrior, Sigrun, the fiercest Bear Warrior ever ever ever!
“Right, Mikkel?” she said, turning to her massive Bear Warrior companion.
“M’yes. This cat could prove most useful as our Cub Scout.”
And that’s how Lalli the cat became a Cub Scout and the Third Bear Warrior...
