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before nightfall.”
    â€œOh,” said Little Bear disappointedly. “OK, then. Bye bye, Ping. Have a nice life.” And with a sad wave of his little black paw he trundled off into the dark forest, leaving Ping all on his own.

    As soon as Little Bear was out of sight, Ping breathed a sigh of relief. Never again, no matter how long he lived, would he ever tell another lie. It was exhausting trying to keep track of what he’d said. He sat down on a rock and rubbed the bottom of his paws. He was tired and hungry. Not only that, but looking around at the forest and not recognizing a single feature, he realized just how far he was from home. The thought made him shudder. He’d never spent a night away from his mother before. He should have taken up Little Bear’s offer of a bed. But it was too late now. As the shadows lengthened and the air turned cold, Ping sat on the ground and curled up with his back against the rock. He didn’t like being alone. Not only that, but those spooky noises had started up again.
    The wind whistled.
    The leaves rustled.
    The twigs snapped.
    Ping gasped, sat up, and opened his eyes wide. Something was out there! It was coming closer! And this time it wasn’t Little Bear, because Little Bear had gone home!

CHAPTER SIX
    P ing decided that there was only one way to conquer his fear. He would walk on. He felt braver when he was moving, and by singing a song about what a fun adventure he was having, he managed to raise his spirits.
    My name is Ping,
    Adventuring.
    A panda bear,
    Without a care!
    Oh, this is fun.
    There goes the sun.
    It’s getting dark,
    Oh, what a lark!
    I am so glad,
    I don’t feel bad,
    That I’m alone,
    And miles from home.
    He then added some loud whistling to scare away any beasts that might be stalking him. But despite the whistling and the singing, he was still feeling nervous. As his eyes flitted from side to side to check that there wasn’t something waiting to pounce on him from behind the bushes, Ping realized that fear was not something he had ever experienced before. Giant pandas did not exactly live life on the edge. There was nothing to fear about sleeping, eating, and going poo forty-seven times a day. Unless you accidentally picked up a snake instead of a stick of bamboo and tried to chew its head off. That would be scary. Or sleeping on a volcano. That would be, too. But, generally, pandas lived a safe life without any nasty surprises. And right now Ping wanted a safe life more than anything else in the world. Seeing his sister again, saying sorry to his mother—anything would be preferable to standing in the middle of this gloomy forest with tree shadows stretching out toward him like ghostly fingers.
    My name is Ping,
    A fighting king,
    A dangerous bear,
    So don’t you dare!
    The sun was starting to set when Ping reached a fork in the track. To the left was a path that continued alongside the river, while to the right was a path that disappeared into the forest. Which one should he take? He couldn’t get lost if he followed the river, but lurking in the rock pools along its banks would be thousands of mosquitoes waiting to bite him. The forest, on the other hand, would be mosquito-free, but would also be darker and full of the bad sounds that Ping did not want to hear. Like that sound he was hearing now. He spun around. Behind him there was an unmistakable sound of dry leaves crunching. Ping strained every bone in his ears. There it was again. He could hear footsteps— actual footsteps gathering pace and running toward him!

    Help! he screamed inside his head. Please don’t let it be a snow leopard! And now that he’d had that thought, he couldn’t get the picture out of his head—of sharp teeth and red eyes and hot, steamy breath in his face. There it was! There was its shadow! Spreading out from between the trees like an oozing swamp of molasses, rolling out toward him like a long, black