September 17, 2009 at 5:37 pm (GMT) by Emilie | 15 Comments Latest by Katie

It’s time for today’s second question! Let’s get back to our three bears… And don’t forget, there is one year subscription to WIRED magazine to win today. A tip for you: Answer the 3 questions (37, 38 and 39 to follow) to increase your chance of winning!

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Unbearable Lightness of Being

The three bears didn’t actually need to catch any mice, as just when they were heading to the shop to buy a wheel of cheese, their phone rang. Baby bear, being the quickest, scooped up the phone.

“Hello,” a tiny voice said, “I don’t have much time. Listen to me very carefully:
NEHIS
STELB
NEDIL
ITTER
Did you get that?”

But before Baby bear could answer, the voice said, “I have to run!”

“Wrong number,” asked Poppa bear?

“Telemarketer,” suggested Momma bear.

“No,” said Baby bear, “I think it was one of the mice. He was stressing part of his words, but I think he got his letters all jumbled. If I draw spaces for the non-stressed letters and circles for the stressed letters like this…” Baby bear drew on the sketch pad next to the phone:
NEHIS
_ O O _ O
STELB
O O O _ _
NEDIL
O _ O _ O
ITTER
O _ O O _

“And then if I rearrange the words into something that makes sense and use the circles letters to… Oh, I see! I know why he was in such a hurry. He was a __ __ __ __ __ __ 
   __ __ __ __ __ __ !”

QUESTION: Rearranged the words from the cryptic message and use the circles letters to piece together what Baby bear said.

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I didn’t do too well at this one… and you?
Answers in your comments please! Remember, you can check the right answers on the blog tomorrow.
New to the quiz? It’s part of MOO’s third birthday celebrations!