The Hungry Bear Cub (original title: Лакомото мече ['lakomoto me'che]) is a 1944 compilation of animalistic short stories for children by Bulgarian writer Emilian Stanev.
This work contains the following tropes:
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The whole anthology
The Trickster
Kiki the squirrel is a trickster.
Tropes:
Spring Walk
Kiki goes on a walk.
Tropes:
Kiki and the Oak Sap
Kiki suffers the effect of fermented tree sap.
Tropes:
- Alien Catnip: Kiki and the Oak Sap has the titular squirrel get drunk on tree sap.
The Spiny Thorn
Two bluethroats make a nest in an ungainly but secure thorny plant.
Tropes:
- City Mouse: Even if they're all in a rural setting, the sparrow vragging about having built his nest in a village house's rainwater pipe functions as this trope. In contrast, the bluethroats are nesting in a humble thorn plant in the field. Later they offer their nest to the sparrow when his own gets swept away by rainwater, he refuses, saying he needs to nest next to a street.
- The Hedge of Thorns: Inverted in that the thorns are useful to the main characters. The bluethroats have built their nest in the titular thorn, which despite its dingy (in a sparrow's opinion) appearance serves well to protect them from predators.
Ushi-Mushi
A tiny mouse attempts to survive a night of being hunted by owls.
Tropes:
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The owls' eyes appear to glow green and Ushi-Mushi has the feeling they're about to devour her.
- Mouse World: More so than in the other stories. Ushi-Mushi makes a mad dash all for a pea bean, struggling to cover distances of a few meters without getting caught by the owls.
- Ominous Owl: the titular character is a field mouse who's trying to avoid getting caught by a parliament of little owls. Despite being the size of kittens, through her perspective they are described as nightmarish, lantern-like fiends with all-devouring, glowing green eyes, especially as one lands inches away from where the mouse is hiding and looks right at her.
The Scary Bird
A family of blackbirds loses their young to a mysterious night killer and investigates.
Tropes:
- Murder Mystery: From the perspective of the blackbird family.
- Ominous Owl:It turns out that the villain is an eagle owl.
- Theme Naming: All blackbird chicks are named for things blackbirds are known for doing or being: Blackie-Birdie (Kose-Trose), Hoppity-Hop (Skok-Podskok), Chirpy-Chirp (Chip-Chirlik) and Yellow-Beak (Zhulto-Klyun).
Greyhead
A nuthatch tries to find food in a frozen wintry forest.
Tropes:
- Condescending Compassion: Greyheed, being a nuthatch (a small woodpecking bird) and the other birds she gathers are treated this way by the black woodpecker (Europe's largest species of woodpecker) when they start following him around because unlike him, their beaks can't penetrate the frozen tree bark. The woodpecker, for his part, loves to brag about providing them with food.
The Hungry Bear Cub
A bear finds out that parenting isn't easy.
Tropes:
- Beary Funny: The bear family from the titular story, consisting of a mother and two cubs who act like mischievous kids.
- Mama Bear: The bear is very protective of her children. First she tries to warn her cub against climbing to reach a beehive, then grumpily grabs him my the scruff of his neck and dumps him into the river to chase the bees away.
An Uninvited Guest
Tropes:
The Sun Glitter
Tropes:
Friends
An old horse offers shelter to a hare he has befriended.
Tropes:
Vagabond
Tropes:
Gray Eye
A day in the life of a jackdaw named Gray Eye almost ends fatally.
Tropes:
Old Men
A stork and a raven reminisce on their old age and colorful lives as winter approaches.
Tropes:
Autumn Adventure
Forest birds fall prey to poachers and have to escape.
Tropes:
Near Humans
Tropes:
Beneath the Snow
A bunch of grouse see shelter from a blizzard and come into conflict with a hedgehog.
Tropes:
The Cuckoo Chick
A hunter narrates the life of a pair of small birds in whose nest a cuckoo lays her egg.
Tropes:
Oh Well
A man takes in a sparrow and that gives him more trouble than he bargained for.
Tropes:
- Coattail-Riding Relative: The protagonist takes care of a sparrow and feeds him, then gets attached. The sparrow finally leaves after a few monts, only to come back in winter with his entire family who then make a habit of begging for crumbs.
