Pink for Polar Bear

by valerie Solis


[for my children]

Nanook the polar bear was not like her brother and sister.Her fur was pink.

Some of the big polar bears said that Nanook was different because she had been born at sunset. They thought the sun's pink rays had coloured her fur. Her family calles her Nanook, the "daughter of the setting sun".

"Who was ever heard of a pink polar bear?" said a very large and curious bear. The other bears laughed.

Nanook felt sad and lonely. She very much wanted to be a white polar bear like all the others.

"Maybe, I am not a real polar bear at all?" She thought sadly.
"Polar bears love to chase seals,swim and catch fish. I don't like chasing the poor seals, and I'm not much good at swimming or catching fish."


One day a terrific snowstorm blew up as Nanook and her family were coming home after a day's fishing.

The wind howled and raged all over the north pole. The snow fell so thickly that Nanook couldn't see a thing as she struggled to keep up with her family.

"I'm so tired. The wind is far too strong. Perhaps I should rest and catch up with the others later," she thought.

Nanook curled up in the snow and before long she fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Nanook awoke to find herself covered with snow.

"Oh dear! I must have slept for hours.!" she thought.

Then she realized that she was all alone on an iceberg floating out to sea.

"Oh no! My family will never find me now!" she exclaimed.

Nanook floated further and further out to sea. Soon she began to feel very hungry.

She thought for hours about jumping into the sea to catch a fish, but the rough waves frightened her.

Suddenly, Nannook heard a cry above her.

A beautiful plump fish dropped out of the sky at her feet.

Nanook looked up and saw Gullak, the seagull.

"Oh, thank you a million times, Gullak , thank you!" shouted Nanook.

"You're welcome," replied Gullak.

Every day, Gullak caught the biggest and best fish for Nanook.

Gullak was a great storyteller as well as a great friend.

Nanook loved to listen to his tales about mermaids, flying fish, singing humpback whales, shipwrecks and many other fantastic things he had seen in his lifetime.


Nanook missed Gullak a lot when he wasn;t around. There was nothing much to do on an iceberg except count other icebergs. Sometimes, Nanook saw some seals or walruses but they were either sleeping or too far away to hear her.

One nightm beautiful melodies echoed all over the North Pole, waking Nanook from her dreams.

It was the singing humpback whales! Suddenly, a great spray of water blew high into the air and a family of whales appeared near Nanook's iceberg.

"You must be the humpback whales that Gullak talks about!" cried Nanook. "Your songs are beautiful! I wish I could sing like you and be heard far away. Then I would never be lonely/"

"And so you shall," replied the largest whale called Fluke. "We give you 'the gift of song'. From now on, you will be able to talk to us by singing, no matter how far away we are. You will never feel lonely again. Nanook, daughter of the setting sun."

Then music filled Nanook's heart and she burst into song. Her voice was as sweet as a nightingale.

The delighted whales blew great fountains of water into the air to show their pleasure, and set off to show their pleasure, and set off on their long journey to other sears.

From that moment Nanook never stopped singing.

She sang to the humpaback whales as they travelled to distant seas. The starry skies echoed with her sweet songs.