Chapter Five
Image description: A colourful, hand-drawn illustration shows a jungle clearing where all seven Wombles and all seven Care Bears stand facing each other, ready for a friendly showdown. On the left, the Wombles are lined up, each with their own distinct hat and outfit — Great Uncle Bulgaria with his tartan scarf, Orinoco looking slightly sleepy, Tobermory in his workshop gear, Madame Cholet in a chef-style outfit, and the others in bright caps and waistcoats. They appear determined but curious. On the right, the Care Bears stand in a neat row. Tenderheart Bear is at the front with his red heart symbol. The others include Funshine Bear with a sun, Good Luck Bear with a four-leaf clover, Cheer Bear with a rainbow, Grumpy Bear with a rain cloud, Share Bear with lollipops, and Harmony Bear in calming purple. They look cheerful but focused. In the background, green jungle trees and palm leaves surround the clearing under a bright blue sky. Across the top of the image, large yellow and black text reads: THE WOMBLE IN THE JUNGL
Chapter Five – Bear Hugs and Bin Bags
The jungle clearing was buzzing with excitement. A family of chameleons had taken front-row seats by a patch of moss, several tree frogs were waving pom-poms made from shredded banana leaves, and the parrots had donned tiny referee whistles for dramatic effect.
Bungo bounced into the clearing like a furry spring.
“I’ve made a checklist! And a backup checklist! And three litter maps! And a whistle shaped like a pineapple!” he shouted, waving his clipboards with pride.
Across from him, Cheer Bear skipped in under a rainbow beam, pink and beaming, trailing a swirl of glitter and positivity.
“Hiyaaaaa!” she sang. “Isn’t this exciting? A caring competition in the middle of a jungle! I love it already!”
Bungo blinked. “Are you… always like this?”
“All the time!” said Cheer Bear, spinning in place. “It’s exhausting and wonderful!”
The parrots shouted “ROUND FIVE!” with a triple whistle blast, and the chaos began.
Bungo sprinted to the nearest tangle of vines and yanked out a half-buried wheelbarrow, three bottle caps, and a glitter pen. “Litter logged! Sorted! Categorised!”
Cheer Bear zoomed past on a vine swing, throwing heart-shaped leaflets into the air that read “Clean Spaces, Happy Faces!”
Bungo blew his pineapple whistle. “That’s not efficient!”
“It’s delightful!” she giggled, tossing sparkly confetti made from shredded juice cartons.
The round became a joyful storm.
Bungo tried to label a family of bins he’d set up with leaves tied into colour-coded tags.
Cheer Bear turned the bins into smiley-faced recycling mascots and taught the jungle creatures a catchy chant:
“Glass in green! Paper in blue! Sort your stuff — it’s good for you!”
Bungo began to panic. “There’s no column for singing!”
But then a strange thing happened.
The jungle animals — the monkeys, frogs, beetles, and even a grumpy old jaguar — were smiling. They were dancing. They were cleaning up. Bungo looked around and saw his carefully labelled system in use, his bin signs shining in the sun, and his maps being waved around like flags.
Cheer Bear cartwheeled past and handed him a cupcake with a tiny recycling symbol on top.
“You’re very organised,” she said.
“And you’re… very pink,” Bungo admitted.
They looked at the transformed clearing — tidy, joyful, humming with life.
“I suppose cheer is contagious,” Bungo muttered.
Cheer Bear hugged him.
He dropped his clipboard, but didn’t mind.
Blind Man Makes 