8 o'clock in the morning.
The postman Mr. Bear leaves the post office.
Mr. Bear gets on his red bicycle,
carrying a bag full of letters
to deliver to Sunrise Village.
The road from the post office to Sunrise Village
is empty. There are no houses or trees.
Just dirt.
It is very far away.
It takes 30 minutes, even if you ride the bicycle really fast.
"Ah, I hate this road."
Mr. Bear still rides his bicycle
whether it rains,
whether it snows,
and even when it is very hot.
It was a spring day at
Sunrise Village.
There were colorful flowers at all the houses.
When the scent of flowers tickled his nose,
Mr. Bear sniffed
and felt happy, and delivered the letters.
However, on the way back to the post office
there was nothing but dirt and dust in the air.
Mr. Bear thought,
"How great it would be
if the road I traveled every day was full of flowers?
Yes, that's a great idea!"
Mr. Bear ran into the flower shop
and bought a bag full of flower seeds.
The next morning,
Mr. Bear left the post office 30 minutes early.
Mr. Bear went to the field on his bicycle
and used a small shovel to dig a small hole.
Then, he planted the flower seeds.
He patted the dirt
and watered it with the water bottle he packed.
"Okay, that's enough for today."
A little bit today,
a little bit the day after,
a little bit more,
and a little bit more.
Then, a few days later,
the spot where he first planted flower seeds
started to grow!
"It's a sprout! I see a sprout!"
Mr. Bear was so happy
he felt like he could fly.
Then, a few weeks later,
the sprout grew more
and there was a leaf. Then, the stem grew thicker,
and then a flower blossomed!
"Wow, look at those pretty flowers!"
Mr. Bear felt like he could cry.
Mr. Bear planted and took care of flowers
every day.
A little today, a little tomorrow,
a little bit more, a little bit more.
He had to carry more water bottles on his bicycle
each day,
but Mr. Bear was not tired at all.
He was happy and smiling.
One year passed…
Then, ten years passed…
and twenty years passed…
The empty dirt road
turned into a colorful flower road!
Today is Mr. Bear's last day as a postman.
The animals of Sunrise Village respected Mr. Bear
for making the flower road.
Mr. Bear laughed and said,
"Delivering letters was rewarding,
and planting flower seeds made me happy."