THE BEAR FAMILY AT HOME

What do you suppose that ant-bear did?

The Bear Family At Home

AND HOW THE CIRCUS CAME
TO VISIT THEM

By
CURTIS D. WILBUR

Illustrated By
W. R. LOHSE

INDIANAPOLIS
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

Copyright, 1908, 1923
By Curtis D. Wilbur

Printed in the United States of America

PRESS OF
BRAUNWORTH & CO.
BOOK MANUFACTURERS
BROOKLYN, N. Y.

Dedicated to the Memory of
Ralph Gordon Wilbur

CONTENTS

THE BEAR FAMILY AT HOME

THE BEAR FAMILY AT HOME And How the Circus Came to Visit Them

Once a little cub bear was caught in a big log trap, and taken on a train to a circus. He lived in the circus a long, long while, and every day a great many people came to see the bear, and the lions, and the tigers, and the leopards, and the elephants, and the camels, and the other animals.

Every night the animals would all be put in the wagons made for them, then the wagons would be rolled on the flat-cars of a railroad train. The train would go all night to another town, where a great many people would come to see the animals and the men and women in the circus. The Cub Bear saw a great many wonderful and strange things while he was in the circus and while traveling on the trains. Once he crossed the ocean in a great ship, and came back again in another ship. This story tells:

HOW THE LITTLE CUB BEAR GOT BACK INTO THE WOODS AGAIN

One night, after the wagons and the animals had all been put on board the cars, the fireman rang the bell, and the engineer started the train, and away it went, whistling and coughing down the track. The animals were so used to the train going rattle-te-bang, rattle-te-bang, all night long, that they all went to sleep, and remained asleep a long while. While the animals and every one on the train, except the engineer and the fireman, were asleep, the engineer looked ahead and suddenly saw a big rock on the track. He blew the whistle, "Toot-toot," to call the brakemen, and the brakemen ran as fast as they could and began to put on the brakes to stop the train, but the train came nearer and nearer to the big rock.

The poor engineer couldn't stop the train, and the brakemen couldn't stop the train, so the engine ran into the rock, and was knocked off the track, and turned a somersault, and was smashed all to pieces, and all the cars ran off the track into a ditch, and the wagons were all broken, so that the animals got out of their cages and found they were free in the dark woods.

They were all so glad to be free that they ran away as fast as they could and hid in the woods; all except the Cub Bear and a friend of his, a monkey named Jim. They ran a little way, and then the Cub Bear stopped and looked around. He saw a path, then he looked at the trees and the mountain and he thought he would wait there until morning. As soon as it was light the Cub Bear looked way up on the mountain side and saw a cave, and where do you suppose they were? In the very same forest where the Cub Bear was born. They walked a little way, and the Cub Bear said:

"Why, here is the path where little brother Jimmie Bear lost his foot in a trap."

They ran up that path as fast as they could to the cave in the mountains. The Cub Bear's heart was beating very fast, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, because he knew that this was his old home, and he wondered whether his Papa Bear and Mamma Bear and his little Susie Bear and little brother Jimmie Bear were still there. They went in very quietly, and found a great big brown bear asleep.

When the big brown bear heard them come in, he jumped up quickly and looked at little Cub Bear, and little Cub Bear looked at him. It was the Papa Bear! He ran to the Cub Bear and put his arms around him and gave him a great bear hug. You know bears can hug awfully tight. Papa Bear hugged the Cub Bear, and the Cub Bear hugged the Papa Bear, and they were very, very glad to see each other. The Papa Bear woke up the Mamma Bear, and then the Mamma Bear gave the Cub Bear a great bear hug, because she was so glad to see him. Susie Bear waked up and gave the little Cub Bear a big bear hug. But Jimmie Bear was not there. Did you ever give your papa a bear hug?

After the Papa Bear and the Mamma Bear had talked a little while to the Cub Bear, they said, "We have something to show you," and they took the Cub Bear away back into the back part of the cave and showed him the sweetest, cutest little baby bear you ever saw in your life, and the Papa Bear said:

"We call this little baby bear 'Cub Bear' now. So we will have to call you 'Circus Bear' after this," for the little Cub Bear had told his papa and mamma that he had been in the circus while away.

All this time the monkey Jim had been sitting off by himself in the cave, watching the big bears. They were so big and strong that he was frightened, so he climbed up to the top of the cave, and there he stayed until the little Cub Bear waked up; and the Circus Bear didn't know where he had gone. After a while the little wee Cub Bear waked up and saw the monkey, and said:

"Oh, see that funny little man up there on the root. He has hair all over him, and he has a long tail, and he is making faces at me."

He asked the Circus Bear what it was, and the Circus Bear said:

"It is a monkey, named Jim, a very dear friend of mine. Would you like to shake hands with him?" And the little Cub Bear said, "Yes."

So the Circus Bear told the monkey not to be afraid, and the monkey came down and shook hands with the little wee Cub Bear and they said they would always be good friends. The very first thing this little Cub Bear did was to ask the monkey to tell him a story, for he was the greatest bear for stories you ever saw. He was always teasing his papa and his mamma and everybody that came to the den, to tell him a story. The monkey said:

"All right, I will tell you a story about the time that I went to school."

So that morning when the Papa and the Mamma Bear and the Circus Bear and the little Cub Bear were sitting in the den, the monkey told his story.

HOW THE MONKEY WENT TO SCHOOL

"Now, little Cub Bear, I am going to tell you about the time I went to school, the only time in my whole life that I went to school." The little Cub Bear said he had never been to school in his life, and he would like to hear the story.

The monkey Jim said:

"Well, one night when we were riding on the train, going from one town where the circus had been, to another where they were going to give a show, I was riding in a wagon on one of the cars with a lot of other monkeys. The man who took care of the monkeys forgot and left a door open. A monkey named Joe and I climbed out through the open door and got on top of the wagon, and we just had a lot of fun, jumping around and playing with each other, and pulling each other's hair and climbing down on the car.

"After we had played a long while, the train went into a covered bridge, and I said to Joe, 'Let's jump up and see if we can catch hold of one of those iron rods.' He said, 'All right,' and we gave a great jump, and we caught hold of an iron rod overhead. The train was going so fast that we almost missed the rod, but we hung on, and in a moment when we looked down, what do you suppose had happened? The train had run out from under us, and there was nothing under us except the railway track and ties, and, away down below them a deep, dark river. We were frightened, because it was very dark and very cold. We climbed down as fast as we could, and walked across the ties, until we came to the ground.

"There were a lot of trees near the track, and we ran over as quickly as we could and climbed a tree, but it was very, very cold. We hugged each other very tight and tried to keep warm, but it grew colder, and colder, and colder, until it seemed as though we would freeze, for you know we had always lived in a very warm country, until we came to the circus. By and by, though, it commenced to get light, and when we looked over in the woods a little farther, we saw a little red school house. By and by a man, who took care of the little red school house, came and opened the door and went inside. Pretty soon we saw the smoke coming out of the chimney, for the man had built a fire.

"Joe said to me, 'Let's go down as quickly as we can and run over there, and see if we can get warm by the fire.' So we climbed down the tree, and ran as fast as we could to the little red school house. There we found a window open a little way, and we climbed up and went inside the school house. The man wasn't looking, so we hurried over near the stove, and Joe climbed into one desk where a boy kept his books, and I climbed into another desk where a girl kept her books. The man looked around quickly, for he thought he heard something, but we kept so quiet that he didn't see us. By and by he closed the window, went out and shut the door, and there we were locked up in that little red school house! But the fire was so nice and warm that we were glad to be there.

"Pretty soon Joe said, 'Let's go out and see if we can find something to eat;' so we got out and looked all over the building. We opened the drawer in the teacher's desk, and in it we found an apple that he had taken away from a little boy in school the day before, for you know that little boys are not allowed to have apples in school. I gave Joe the biggest part of the apple, and we ate it all up; and just as we had eaten it up, a great big boy came to the door and made such a noise that we scampered back and got into the desks. We stayed there very quietly.

"Pretty soon another boy came, and then another, and then another, and then a girl came, and by and by all the scholars had come. Some of them were playing in the yard, and some of them in the room, and just then the teacher came. He rang the bell, 'Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong,' and the pupils came into the school room and took their seats. Then the teacher struck a small bell, and the pupils sat up very straight and sang a song. Just then I reached out and grabbed the ear of the boy who was sitting in my seat, and pulled it very hard. He screamed, 'Ouch, ouch!' And just then Joe reached out and pulled the hair of the girl that was sitting in his seat, and she screamed, 'Ouch, ouch!' The teacher pounded the desk and cried, 'Order, order!' The little boy thought it was the boy behind him that pulled his ear, and the little girl thought it was the girl behind her that pulled her hair.

"When everything was still again, the teacher told the boys and girls to take out their books. The boy reached in to get his book and I bit his finger, and he yelled 'Ouch!' just as loud as he could, and jumped out of his seat. And the little girl reached in to get her book, and Joe bit her finger, and she yelled 'Ouch!' just as loud as she could, and jumped out. All the pupils looked over to see what was the trouble; but we kept very still, and the teacher came down quickly to find out what caused the trouble. He reached his hand into the desk quickly, and I grabbed hold of his hand and hung on. Then he jerked his hand out, and I came out with it, and I jumped on his shoulders and began to pull his hair; and Joe jumped out of his desk, and he jumped on the teacher's shoulders, and the teacher yelled and tried to hit us with a stick, and we jumped over on to the teacher's desk, and then we jumped over the pupils' heads. I jumped out of the window, and Joe ran out of the door, and as he ran out he took one of the boys' dinner pails with him. They all screamed and yelled and ran after us as fast as they could.

"We ran over to a tree, and a couple of dogs saw us, and they barked and barked, and ran after us. The boys threw stones, but none of them could hit us, and pretty soon we got to a tree. We scampered up as fast as we could, and all the pupils, and the teacher, and the dogs, came to the foot of the tree, and the dogs barked, and the boys yelled and threw stones, and the girls danced and shouted. The teacher had something that looked like a gun, but I think it was only a stick, because he didn't shoot at all. Just then Joe reached into the dinner pail, and he found a soft boiled egg. He threw this down at the teacher and hit him right on top of his bald head.

"Then we scampered out on the branches, and jumped into another tree, and then into another tree, and then into another tree, and pretty soon we had gone so far that they couldn't find us. Then we opened the dinner pail, and we found a fine dinner, some apples, and nuts, and bread and butter, and a piece of pie. When we had eaten everything there was in the pail, we left the pail up in the tree, and climbed down to the ground. Then we walked and we ran, until we came to a town, and there was the circus tent. For this was the very town where the circus was going to show! We ran as fast as we could, and a lot of dogs got after us. They barked and barked, but we got away from all the dogs but one, because he could run faster than the others. He was a very little dog, and when he came close to us, Joe ran to one side of the road and I ran to the other, and just as he got between us, we grabbed the dog by his tail and his ears, and pulled so hard that he just yelled, 'Ki-yi, ki-yi, ki-yi!' and ran toward the tent as fast as he could; so we both jumped on his back and rode until we came to the tent. Then we jumped off and scampered into the tent under the canvas and found our wagon. The door was still open, and we got into the wagon, and there we went to sleep, for we had been up all night.

"That is the way I went to school," said the monkey.

And the little Cub Bear said, "I will be glad when I am big enough to go to school."

THE COMING OF THE GREAT BIG ANIMAL AND HOW HE HELPED THE BEAR FAMILY

After the monkey had finished his story, Papa Bear and Mamma Bear and the little Cub Bear were talking about the animals in the circus, and the little Cub Bear said, "I wonder where all those animals are?"

And the Circus Bear said, "Why, I think they are somewhere in the woods."

Then the little Cub Bear said, "Maybe these animals will come to see us. I think it would be fine if we had a nice large cave, big enough for all the animals."

The Mamma Bear said, "I think that would be nice," and the Papa Bear said, "That would be nice," and the little Circus Bear said, "I think that would be nice, too," and the Cub Bear said, "Maybe we can have a bigger cave, and have all the animals come and live with us."

And just as he said it they heard a rustling sound, as though something was coming up the path. The little Cub Bear ran to the mouth of the cave and said:

"There is a very strange looking animal coming up the path. It is the biggest animal I ever saw. It has a nose that reaches clear to the ground, and it has a thumb and finger on the end of its nose, and every once in a while it stops and picks up a piece of straw with the thumb and finger and puts it into its great mouth. It has teeth that are so long that they stick way out of its mouth. The teeth are as large as a small tree, and look like great sharp horns growing out of its mouth, and its legs are as big around as a large stump. Its ears are as large as the mouth of this cave. It can move its nose around and scratch its back with the thumb and finger on the end of its nose. It has no hair at all except on the end of its tail."

Just then the animal made a tremendous noise, a sort of a blowing and trumpeting sound.

The Circus Bear said, "I know who that is; it is Jumbo, the elephant from our show. Ask him to come into the cave."

Jumbo came to the mouth of the cave, and the little Cub Bear said to him very politely, "Come in, Mr. Jumbo!" But of course Jumbo could not come into the cave; it was too small. Mr. Jumbo said:

"I would like to come into the cave and see the Circus Bear, because he was very good to me when we were in the circus together."

So the little Cub Bear said, "Try and see if you can not make the mouth of the cave larger."

Mr. Jumbo said, "I will try."

So Mr. Jumbo commenced to dig with his great tusks and pull with his great trunk at the dirt and stones and the roots that were in the way, until the mouth of the cave was ever so much larger than it had been, but it was still too small for the elephant to get in; so the Circus Bear came to the mouth of the cave and told Jumbo how glad he was to see him. Mr. Jumbo took hold of the Circus Bear's foot with his trunk and shook it, just like two people shaking hands. He was so glad to see the bear that had been so good to get things for him when he was in the circus, for there he was tied to a stake by a great chain. (That is the way they keep elephants with the circus, you know.)

When Mr. Jumbo found that he could not get into the cave, he said to the Circus Bear and to all of the bears, "You know that the other animals are trying to find this cave, and as soon as they find it they will want to live here, and we ought to get the cave ready for them."

Then the Papa Bear said, "What do you think that we ought to do? Do you think that we could make the cave larger for all of the animals?"

Mr. Jumbo said, "Well, I think the first thing we ought to do is to go down to the wreck of the train and get some of the things that we want from the wreck, before the men come back and take everything away."

All of the bears, and the monkey, thought that was the best thing they could do. They went down right away, and found that all of the animals had gone, but there were lots of things that they wanted to take up to the cave. Mr. Jumbo found the beautiful howdah that the circus man used to place on his back.

A howdah, you know, is that big saddle they put on an elephant's back for the people to ride in. It was painted with red and yellow paint, and had beautiful red plush cushions in it. It had a top to keep the sun off of any one that was riding in the howdah, on the elephant's back. The bears said that they could put the howdah on the elephant's back, but that they could not fasten it there, for they had no hands to buckle the straps with.

Then the monkey said, "I can fasten the buckles with my hands, for you know that I have fingers just like a man, and a man buckles the straps by using his fingers."

The Papa Bear and the Mamma Bear, Susie Bear, the Circus Bear, and the little Cub Bear lifted as hard as they could, but of course they could not lift the heavy howdah way up on Mr. Jumbo's back, for they were not tall enough, so Mr. Jumbo said, "I will kneel down, and then you will not have to lift so far, and I can help you with my trunk."

So he knelt, and the bears all lifted at once, and Mr. Jumbo helped them with his trunk, and finally they got the howdah in the right place on his back. Then the monkey buckled the straps, and everything was ready to take the howdah up to the cave, where the bears live.

The Papa Bear said, "Let us fill the howdah with the things we want to take up to the cave." And they commenced to hunt for the things that they wanted, and what do you think they found? A great bass drum, so big that a little bear could get into it; and they also found a smaller drum, and a fife and some big brass horns that belonged to the band. Then they found some harness that was used for the beautiful black and white horses that ran the chariot races. They put all of these things into the howdah.

When the howdah was nearly full, the little Cub Bear asked his papa if he couldn't ride in the howdah. Mr. Jumbo heard the little Cub Bear ask, and he said it would be all right, because he was very strong and could carry a great deal more than they had put on his back. When the little Cub Bear climbed into the howdah, Mr. Jumbo straightened out his front legs to get up, and the little Cub Bear nearly tipped out of the rear end of the howdah; and then he straightened his hind legs and stood up, and the little Cub Bear nearly fell out again.

Just as they started up the hill, the monkey said, "You need a driver;" and he grasped Mr. Jumbo's tail and climbed up the tail just as if he were going up a tree; then he scampered along Mr. Jumbo's back, clear over the top of the howdah, until he sat right on top of Mr. Jumbo's head, just as the drivers do, when they drive elephants. Then the monkey asked Mr. Jumbo to hand him a stick with a sharp hook in the end of it, that the drivers used to guide the elephants with. Mr. Jumbo reached over with his long nose that had a thumb and finger on the end of it, and picked up the stick and handed it up to the monkey, for he knew the monkey was not strong enough to hurt him much.

Mr. Jumbo reached over and picked up the stick.

The monkey said very proudly, "Get up, Mr. Jumbo," and away they went to the bears' cave. When they got there, Mr. Jumbo knelt down, and the little bear nearly tumbled out again, but he jumped out all right, and they took the howdah off Mr. Jumbo's back. The bears and monkey took everything out of the howdah and carried it into the cave.

Then the animals all went back again to the place where the train was wrecked, to see if there was anything else they could get. This time they found a chariot, that had two wheels, and it was all covered with gilt and with angels made of gold, and it was very, very beautiful. Mr. Jumbo said that if the bears and the monkey could hitch him to the chariot, they could fill it with things and take them up to the den. So they looked and looked, and finally found a harness, that was used for the elephant. The monkey and the bears harnessed Mr. Jumbo to the chariot, and then they looked for things to put into the chariot.

The monkey found the clothes that he used to wear in the circus—a pair of red trousers, with a green coat, and a little red hat with a black feather in it, and he put them in the chariot. Mr. Jumbo found a bale of hay, but they all said that would have to wait until the next time, because there would not be room in the chariot for this bale of hay and the other things they wanted to take up. They found the little drum that the monkey used to play on in the circus, and put that in the chariot. Then they found a lot of biscuits that the dog in the circus had to eat, and they put these in the chariot, too. And soon the chariot was full.

The little Cub Bear thought there was just room enough for him to ride in the chariot, and he asked Mr. Jumbo if he could ride; and as soon as Mr. Jumbo said "Yes," he climbed in on top of the things in the chariot, and they all started up to the cave. They had not gone very far before the monkey got hold of Mr. Jumbo's tail and scampered up to his place on top of Mr. Jumbo's head. They soon reached the cave, and there they unhitched Mr. Jumbo and left the chariot and all the things in it, and went back to the train wreck, because they knew that there was another chariot there even more beautiful than this one; and when they reached the wreck again, Mr. Jumbo went over to where the big bale of hay was; and how do you suppose he carried the bale of hay?

He knelt down, and he ran his great teeth, called tusks, under the bale of hay, then he wrapped his long nose, or trunk, as it is called, around the bale, and stood up and carried the hay over and put it in the chariot. Then he went for two more bales in the same way, and placed them in the chariot. The monkey then hitched Mr. Jumbo to the chariot, and they again started up the hill. In this way they hauled two or three loads of hay, and then they unhitched Mr. Jumbo and left the chariot up near the bears' cave.

Then the bears, the monkey, and the elephant went back to the wreck, and each one carried everything he could. The bears got their arms full, and walked all the way up to the den on their hind legs. The monkey got his little arms full—of what do you suppose? Bags of roasted peanuts. The elephant carried up three great sacks filled with barley. They worked so hard that it took them nearly all day.

That night as they were wondering whether any of the animals would find the cave in the dark, they suddenly heard the flapping of wings. The little Cub Bear ran at once to the mouth of the cave to see what it was.

"Oh! Circus Bear," he said, "here is a great bird. He has great big eyes as large as marbles. He has the funniest pointed ears. He has a hook nose; he has great claws, and he is as big as half a dozen doves."

The Circus Bear said, "That is Mr. Owl. Ask him to come in."

So the little Cub Bear said to the owl very politely, "Come in, Mr. Owl," and the owl came into the den.

He blinked his great eyes, and looked solemn and wise, and the little Cub Bear said, "Mr. Owl, we are going to build a house, so that all the animals can come to live with us if they want to, and we want to know if you can help us to build the house."

And Mr. Owl said, very solemnly, "I would be very glad to help you, because when we lived in the circus, your brother was very good to me, and I should like to do anything I can to help you."

The little Cub Bear said, "What can you do?"

And the owl said, "If you want me to I can be door-keeper, and when any one comes I can ask who he is, because, you know, I can say, 'Who-o-o? who-o-o?'"

The little Cub Bear danced up and down, and said that would be very fine. And he said, "I am very glad that my brother was kind to you when you were in the circus."

So the owl went out to the mouth of the den, and there was a great big tree, and away up near the top of the tree was a long limb sticking out like an arm, and the owl flew up to this limb and sat there, looking very solemn and very wise, as all owls do, blinking his great eyes. And there he sat day and night, winking and blinking his great eyes, so solemn and wise, keeping watch for the bears and the animals, just like a soldier sentry standing guard at the General's tent.

Now the little Cub Bear, like all little cubs, was very fond of stories, and was always teasing the Papa Bear to tell him stories about little bears, and all sorts of things. The little bear liked the stories that his papa told him about the "Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa."

That night after the owl had flown up to the limb of the dead tree, the little fellow said, "Papa, please tell me another story about the 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his papa.'"

The Papa Bear said, "Little one, you are always asking me to tell you stories; it is hard for me to think of so many, but if you want me to do so, I will tell you of:

THE "LITTLE-CUB-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT-MIND-HIS-PAPA" AND HOW HE TOOK AN UNEXPECTED BATH

"This 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' was a tame little bear that lived with his papa near a great saw-mill. You know what a saw-mill is? It is a place where they take great pine trees that have been chopped down and cut up into logs, and saw the logs into boards, and shingles and lumber, to make houses for men to live in, with their little cubs, that they call 'boys' and 'girls' and their little wee cubs they call 'babies.' This saw-mill was on a great river, and near the saw-mill was a place where the water fell straight down from a place higher than this house, and of course the stream ran very swiftly above the falls and below the falls. These falls were not so large as the Niagara Falls, but they were so large that the water poured over with a great roaring sound, and the water whirled about, after it reached the bottom of the falls, and great waves dashed up against the banks of the river.

"Above the falls, the water ran so swiftly that no one could swim in it. The Papa Bear knew this, but the 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' didn't know that the water ran so swiftly. The Papa Bear had told his little son many, many times not to go too near the river, and never to try to drink out of the river, above the falls.

"But one day the little fellow was very, very thirsty, and he ran up to the bank of the river, and saw the beautiful, cool water, and thought how nice it would be to have a drink. He was so thirsty he didn't want to go away down below the falls, where he and his papa usually took a drink of water, so he thought he would see if he couldn't get a drink right where he was, there above the falls. He went down to the very edge and reached way over and began to lap up the water, and, oh! how good it was. Just then he heard a noise, and as he looked up quickly, his foot slipped, and into the river he went, kersplash!

"Now, this little bear could swim. That is one reason he wasn't afraid to drink from the river, because he thought if he fell in, he could swim out very easily and very quickly, so he started to swim as hard as he could for the shore, but he soon found that the water was so swift, that instead of getting nearer the shore, he was getting farther and farther away all the time. And then he looked around to see where he was going. He found that he was going nearer and nearer to the falls, where the water went over with such a great roar, so he swam harder and harder and harder, and faster and faster and faster, but all the time he was going closer and closer to the terrible falls! Finally the little bear gave up trying to swim out, and just kept his nose out of the water, so that he could breathe, and down the stream he went faster than you could run. Sometimes great waves would cover him up completely, and when his nose would come up above the water, he would blow almost like a whale, to get the water out of his nose. Almost before you could think, that little bear came to the edge of the falls, and over he went!

"Do you think that was the last of him? Well, if he had been a little boy, I suppose he would have been drowned; but this little Cub Bear was so light and so strong, that after a long, long while, he came up to the surface of the water, right in the middle of a great whirlpool. He went round and round and round in the water, and it seemed as though he never would stop. But finally, he found a big log that had come over the falls, and he got one foreleg over the log, and swam as hard as he could toward the bank, and finally succeeded in getting ashore.

"There he lay on the grass, all wet and tired out, and all he could think was, 'I am so glad I wasn't drowned. I will never again disobey my papa.' And he thought this over and over in his mind. Soon the 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' went to sleep right where he was, for he was too tired to go home.

"After a long while, his papa began to look for him, and finally found him lying there all wet, and sound asleep. His papa knew what had happened, but he felt so bad he didn't waken the little bear, but picked him up in his great arms and carried him back to the den and laid down close beside him to keep him warm. And the little fellow slept all that night, and all the next day, until four o'clock in the afternoon.

"Then he wakened and put his arm around his papa and said, 'Oh, I had the most terrible dream in the whole world. I thought I was nearly drowned, and I was too tired to get home.'

"And the Papa Bear said, 'I guess that wasn't a dream, but I am so glad that you are alive, that I am not going to scold you for disobeying me.'"

When this story about the "Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa" was finished, our little Cub Bear, who lived away up in the cave in the mountain, said, "I should think that every little bear ought to mind his papa and do just as he says, else they might get drowned, you know."

Then the little bear went off to bed and to sleep.

The next morning early the little Cub Bear got up and rubbed his eyes with his paws, instead of washing them as little boys do.

Just then he heard a noise as if some animal was coming, and he ran to the mouth of the den and looked out, and said:

"I see the queerest looking animal coming up the path. It has long ears and a great big mouth, and a queer looking tail, and looks something like a horse, but still it looks different from a horse."

And just then the owl saw the animal and said, "Who-o-o? who-o-o?" and the animal answered, "Hee-haw, hee-haw, hee-haw."

And the Circus Bear said, "I know who that is. That is a mule. Her name is Jenny."

Just then Jenny came to the mouth of the den, and the little Cub Bear said, very politely, "Come in, Mrs. Jenny."

And she came into the den, and the little Cub Bear said, "Mrs. Jenny, we are going to try to build a house big enough for all the animals, so if they come to see us we will have a place for them to stay. Can you help us?"

Then Mrs. Jenny said, "I would be very glad to, because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus."

And the little Cub Bear said, "What can you do?"

And Jenny said, "I haven't worked for a long while, but I can kick like everything."

The little Cub Bear said, "Well, here is a soft place in the rock. Perhaps if you will kick, it will fall down and make more room."

And Jenny turned around and kicked the rock, and it fell down, and she kicked and she kicked, and more rocks fell down; and she kicked, and more rocks fell down; and she kept on kicking, and more rocks fell down, and the bears picked up the rocks and carried them out, and when she got through there was a nice large room.

And the little Cub Bear said, "We will call this Jenny's room. I am very glad that my brother was good to Mrs. Jenny when she was in the circus, because if he hadn't been, maybe she would have kicked me instead of the rocks."

That day the bears worked hard all day trying to find enough to eat for themselves and for all of the animals that were coming to see them from the circus. The Circus Bear told them just what things the animals liked to eat; so the Papa Bear and Susie Bear went one way and the Mamma Bear went another. The elephant looked all over the mountain, to see if he could find some grass to eat.

That night, when the animals came to the cave, the elephant told them that he thought he had found a fine place for the animals that liked to eat grass. He said there were a great many horses where he found the grass, but that they said they were not going to come with him because they did not want to live in a cave. They said they wanted to live out in the open air; and that if any one came to take them back to the circus, they would run away as fast as they could.

The bears were very tired that night, but the little Cub Bear teased his papa for a story about the "Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa." Finally the Papa Bear said that he would tell just one story, if the Cub Bear would promise that he would not ask for another one, and would go to bed as soon as the story was finished. So the little Cub Bear and Susie Bear came as close as they could to the Papa Bear, and he told this story:

HOW "LITTLE-CUB-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT-MIND-HIS-PAPA" WAS NEARLY DROWNED AMONG THE LOGS

"Just on the edge of the stream which flowed by the saw-mill where the 'Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa' lived, there was a pond of still water, and in this pond there were a great many logs that floated down from the forest away up the river. These logs were in this pond waiting to be sawed up into boards and timber, to be used in building houses. Now, this was a very dangerous place for little boys, and for little bears. The Papa Bear had told his little son never to go out on the logs, and the little fellow had promised that he never would go out on the logs. But, day after day, the little Cub Bear saw men going out on the logs with long sticks that had big spikes in the end of them, and long sticks with hooks on the end of them; and they pushed the logs here and there, to bring them over to the saw-mill, where they were hoisted into the mills by great chains, and then were moved over in front of a great saw to be sawed into lumber.

"As the little Cub Bear watched these men every day he would think how easy it was, and how nice it was to ride around on those logs, and to step from one log to another, and how foolish his papa was to tell him not to go down on the logs, when it was so easy.

"One day after watching the men for a long while, the little Cub Bear thought he would go down very, very carefully and walk out on one of the logs, and this he did. There he waited for a long while, sitting on the log. It was great fun, and didn't hurt at all, so finally he stepped over on to another log, and then on to another. My! how he enjoyed it. The little bear felt sure that his papa had make a great mistake in telling him to keep off the logs.

"Just then, as the little bear stepped from one log to another, both logs rolled, and down he went into the water. But he didn't mind that much because he could swim very well. The little bear swam to the surface as quickly as he could, but instead of getting his head out of the water, he bumped his head into the logs, for the surface of the water was all covered with floating logs.

"Then the little bear saw why his papa had told him never to play on the logs, because if he once fell into the river, he was very apt to be drowned. The little Cub Bear didn't give up and drown like that. He began to swim as hard as he could, and held his breath as long as he could, and after he had swum just as far as he possibly could, he came up to the surface again, and this time his nose came out between two logs, and there was just room enough for his nose to get up out of the water, so he had a chance to breath again. And oh, how good it seemed. And he took such long, deep breaths, and it seemed as though he could never get enough air. Then he thought he would see if he couldn't find a way out, and he tried and tried, but there wasn't room between the logs for his head to come up out of the water. He couldn't even get his eyes above the surface of the water, and so he couldn't see where he was. Pretty soon the logs began to move closer and closer together, and then he knew if he stayed where he was he would surely be killed. So he took a long breath, just as deep a breath as he could.

"Can you take a long, deep breath, little Cub Bear?" (And the little Cub Bear said, "Yes, papa," and he took a long, deep breath to show his papa how the little bear breathed when he just had his nose above the water.)

"Then the little bear dropped down again under the water, and he swam as hard and fast as he could, hoping that the next time he came up he might possibly find another place where he could breathe. He knew that if he did not, he surely would be drowned and would never see his papa again.

"When the little Cub Bear came up, he found a place just big enough for his nose, and again he took a very long breath, and waited until the logs began to come together again, then he dropped down and swam under the logs. And as he was swimming he could feel the logs scrape his back, and he knew that he was still underneath the great log raft.

"Finally, just as he had to breathe anyway, whether he breathed water and drowned, or breathed air and lived, he saw a little light place under the water where the light shone down between the logs and he swam to the surface, and this time his whole head came out of the water, and he got a deep breath of fresh air, and another and another, but he couldn't get out. He stayed there, and pretty soon he found that the logs were moving apart just a little bit at a time, so that his head could come up farther and farther. And finally he got his whole back out of the water. Then the logs moved so that the little bear was able to crawl clear out of the water; and there he lay on the logs, tired out, and it was a long, long time before he could move or walk or do a thing. He was terribly frightened. But after a while, he managed to walk clear to the shore on the logs, and he was very careful not to fall in the water again. He walked home and lay down and went to sleep. His papa came home after a while with something to eat for supper. He shook the little bear, but the little bear was so tired he didn't wake up. And so his papa let him sleep all night."

When the Papa Bear had finished telling his little cub the story about the "Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa," he said: "Little Cub Bear, what do you think of this story?"

And our little Cub Bear scratched his head, and thought quite a long while, and then he said, "I think it is best to try, try again, and not to give up too easily, or you might get drowned."

The Papa Bear said, "I think so, too, little Cub Bear. Now, run to bed and go to sleep."

So the little bear went to bed, and went to sleep. During the night he seemed to be dreaming. He moved his paws just as though he was swimming, and then he snorted like a whale, and took long, deep breaths, and then he moved his paws again, and then he breathed deep breaths again, and finally he sighed a great sigh, and slept quietly. The little bear was dreaming about something? Can you guess what it was?

The next morning the little Cub Bear waked up early and wondered if any other animal would come from the circus. He rubbed his eyes and listened.

Just then he heard a sound of small hoofs pattering along the path. The little Cub Bear ran to the mouth of the cave and looked down to see what it was, and he saw something white. He said:

"I see something coming up the path. It looks something like a sheep, but has long, straight horns, and it has a beard, and long, straight hair."

Just then the owl saw the animal, and said, "Who-o-o? who-o-o?"

And the animal answered, "Ba-a-a, ba-a-a." And the Circus Bear said, "I know who that is; that is Billy the goat;" and just then the goat came to the mouth of the den, and the little Cub Bear said, very politely, "Come in, Mr. Goat," and the goat came in, and he looked around and saw the Circus Bear and the big bears.

The little Cub Bear said to him, "Mr. Goat, we are going to try to build a house large enough for all the animals, so if they come to see us we will have a place for them to stay."

And the goat said, "I will be very glad to help you in any way I can, because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus."

And the little Cub Bear said, "What can you do?"

And the goat said, "I don't know. I can butt like everything."

And then the little Cub Bear said, "Well, there is a very soft place in the ground, perhaps you can knock some of the dirt and rocks down, so we can carry it out and make more room."

And then the goat said, "All right;" and he butted, and he butted, and he butted, and knocked down more dirt, and they carried it out, and he kept on and butted and butted and butted, and when he got through butting, there was a fine large room.

And the Cub Bear said, "Thank you. We will call this room Billy's room. I am very glad that my brother was good to Billy when he was in the circus, because if he hadn't been, maybe Billy would have butted me instead of the rocks."

The animals worked hard all that day trying to make the cave bigger. They scratched and dug the dirt, and the rocks, and worked as hard as they possibly could, for they were sure that soon the animals would be there and the cave would not be large enough.

At night they all sat down and rested, and just as soon as the Papa Bear was seated, the little Cub Bear ran over to him and asked for another story about the "Little-Cub-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa." The Papa Bear was very tired, but he loved the dear little cub, and so he began the story:

THE "LITTLE-CUB-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT-MIND-HIS-PAPA"

"A saw-mill, you know, is a very dangerous place for any little bear to play, because there are so many saws and knives and wheels, whirling around in every direction. This little bear, you remember, lived near a saw-mill, and belonged to his papa, who belonged to the man that owned the mill.

"The Papa Bear told the little bear not to touch anything in the saw-mill, for if he did he would be sure to be hurt. The little bear said that he would not touch a single thing, for he didn't want to be hurt any more than his papa wanted him to be hurt. So the Papa Bear said that he would rather that his little bear would stay away from the mill; but the little bear teased so hard, that finally the Papa Bear told him he could go into the mill if he would be sure not to touch a single thing. The little bear said that he would be very careful, so Papa Bear let him go into the saw-mill, where all of the wheels were going around and around. My! How the little bear did enjoy the mill.

"The great wheels and saws were going around so fast, with a whir-r-r-r, whir-r-r-r, and buz-z-z-z, buz-z-z-z. The great saws looked like shining wheels, and they went around so quickly that you could not see their teeth at all. A big log would come up to the saw on a sort of a carriage, and then buz-z-z-z, buz-z-z-z the saw would go clear through the big log from one end to the other, and before the little bear could think, the log would be made into boards. At first the little bear was very careful, for he remembered what his papa had told him, but after a while the little bear went close to the biggest saw in the whole mill and watched it go through the logs.

"Now, you know that bears always smell of a thing when they want to know what it is, so this little bear said to himself, 'Papa didn't tell me not to smell of the saw; he told me not to touch it. I think that I will smell of this wonderful thing that eats through the logs and makes them into boards.' He went closer and closer. He was a little afraid even to smell of the saw after all that his papa had told him, but he went closer and closer to the saw, until finally he reached out as far as he could with his nose to smell. Ouch! ouch! ouch!! The awfullest howling and squealing that you ever heard from a little bear.

"The Papa Bear ran in as fast as he could, and what do you think he saw? The poor little bear's face was all covered with blood, and he was howling and screaming as hard as he could. You see, the little bear could not see the teeth of the great saw, for they were going around so fast, and he had put his nose too close, and the saw had sawed the end of his nose right in two.

"Well, the poor Papa Bear was very, very sorry. He licked the blood off the little bear's face, and took him over to the house that the man had made for them. After a long time the little bear went to sleep. But his nose hurt so badly that he awoke in the night many times.

"The next morning the little bear said to his papa, 'Papa, I am sorry that I didn't obey you; you knew best; you always do, and I'll try not to be a bad little bear again.' The Papa Bear said, 'That's right, my little one, I am sorry that you were so badly hurt; I will not scold you, for I am sure that you have learned it is really best to do what papa tells you to do, and not to do the things that your papa tells you not to do.' The little bear said, 'I have, papa.' What do you suppose they called the little bear after that. They called him the 'Split-Nosed Bear.'"

When the Papa Bear had finished the story, he said to the Cub Bear, "What do you think of that story?"

And the little Cub Bear answered, "I think that it is best to do what papa says."

Then the Papa Bear said, "That is right. Now you must run back into the cave and go to sleep."

That night the little Cub Bear dreamed a bad dream. I do not know what it was, but he spoke aloud in his sleep and said, "I am always going to mind my papa," and then he felt the end of his nose with his paw. Can you guess what he was dreaming about?

The next morning the little Cub Bear wakened very early and rubbed his eyes and wondered whether any of the animals would come from the circus. He listened and listened.

Pretty soon he heard a very faint little patter, as if made by very small feet, and the Cub Bear listened and listened, and then he went to the door and looked out, and he said:

"I see a very strange animal coming. He has the shortest little legs. He is smaller than a very small dog, about as large as two cats, and he has a funny little sharp nose, and he has black and white stripes down his back."

Just then the owl saw the animal, and he said, "Who-o-o? who-o-o?" but the animal didn't answer him. He came right along to the mouth of the den.

Just as he reached there, the Circus Bear said, "I know who that is. That is Mr. Badger. Ask him to come in."

So the little Cub Bear said very politely, "Come in, Mr. Badger;" and the badger came in.

The Cub Bear said, "We are going to try to build a house large enough for all the animals, so if they come to see us we will have a place for them to stay. Can you help us?"

And the badger said, "I would be very glad to help you if I could, because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus."

And the little Cub Bear said, "What can you do?"

And the badger said, "I can dig a round hole, just as big around as I am, and dig very fast."

And the little Cub Bear said, "That is nice. Perhaps you can make us a chimney. Here is a place in the side of the den where there is nothing but earth and dirt."

He took the badger over and showed him, and the badger said, "Yes, I can make you a fine chimney." So he commenced to scratch, and he scratched and he scratched very fast, digging up, instead of down; and he scratched and scratched, and the first thing you know, when the little Cub Bear looked, he didn't see any badger, but he saw the dirt falling out of the hole where the badger was; and the badger scratched and scratched, and more dirt came down. First thing you knew, no more dirt came down, but the little Cub Bear went and looked up the hole, and he could see clear out to the blue sky. Just then they heard a patter at the door, and there was Mr. Badger. He had made a hole clear out into the open air, a nice chimney, and he came in and sat down with the other animals.

That day the animals all worked as hard as ever, and at night when the Papa Bear sat down to rest, the little Cub Bear ran over to him and said, "Papa, please tell me another story about the 'Little-Split-Nosed-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa.'"

"All right," said the Papa Bear, "I will, if you will promise me to go to bed as soon as I have finished."

The little Cub Bear said, "I will, papa." So the Papa Bear told:

THE STORY OF THE "LITTLE-SPLIT-NOSED-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT-MIND-HIS-PAPA"

"You remember that the little bear that had his nose split by the great circular saw lived with a man who owned a large saw-mill. For a long time after the little bear had his nose sawed in two, he kept away from the mill.

"He said to himself, 'I will never go in that mill to be hurt again, and I will mind my papa.' For his papa had told him to keep out of the saw-mill.

"But one day the little Split-Nosed Bear was playing with a dog that belonged to the man who owned the saw-mill. They were having a fine time, playing bear hunt. The little Split-Nosed Bear was playing the bear, and the little dog was playing that he was a big bloodhound dog running after the bear. The dog was really a very small dog, white, with brown ears, and a stub tail. You see he lived in a saw-mill, too. The little Split-Nosed Bear would growl, g-r-o-w-l, g-r-o-w-l, and the little dog would run away as if he was terribly frightened. Then the dog would run after the little Split-Nosed-Bear and bark, and he could bark very, very loud for so small a dog. Bow! wow! wow! Bow! wow! wow! Then the little Split-Nosed-Bear would run away just as if he was terribly frightened. Then the little Split-Nosed-Bear would hide, and it would take the dog a long time to find him.

"They were having a splendid time jumping around and running in and out of the dark places, when the little Split-Nosed-Bear ran into the saw-mill, for he was playing so hard that he forgot all about the saw and what his papa had told him. The little dog was so close to the little Split-Nosed-Bear that the little bear ran as fast as he could, and jumped up on to an iron platform that looked just as if it were made on purpose for a little bear to jump up on, and there the little Split-Nosed-Bear stood looking down at the dog and g-r-o-w-l-i-n-g, g-r-o-w-l-i-n-g, at him. The little dog jumped up as far as he could and bit the Split-Nosed-Bear on his heel. Then the little Split-Nosed-Bear whirled around like a flash, and what do you suppose happened?

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

"And such growling and howling and squealing you never heard. The little dog ran away as fast as he could, for he was really frightened this time. 'K-i-yi! K-i-yi! K-i-yi!' he howled, as he ran out of the door.

"The Papa Bear heard the noise. He was afraid that the Split-Nosed-Bear was really killed this time, so he ran as fast as he could to the little bear, and—what do you suppose he saw? There was the little Split-Nosed-Bear rolling about on the floor, and up on the iron platform where he had been playing was a little brown bear's ear. Oh! how sorry the Papa Bear felt to think his poor little bear had lost his ear, just because he had forgotten to do as his papa had told him to do. You see the little Split-Nosed-Bear had been standing on the iron platform of a band saw. What he thought was a strap whirling around two wheels was really a saw. When the Split-Nosed-Bear had turned around quickly, his ear had come against the saw, and it was sawed off quicker than you could think, with a zip-p-p and a buz-z-z.

"The Papa Bear licked the stump of the ear and said, 'I am so sorry, dear little Split-Nosed-Bear, that you forgot and did not mind your papa.'

"As soon as he could talk the little Split-Nosed-Bear said, 'I'll always mind my papa after this.'

"The Papa Bear put him to bed, but his ear hurt so that he wakened several times in the night. After the little Split-Nosed-Bear got well they always called him the little 'One-Eared-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa.'

"This is the end of my story about the little Split-Nosed-Bear," said the Papa Bear, as he finished. "Now, little Cub Bear, run to bed in the back of the cave, and go to sleep as quickly as you can."

The little Cub Bear ran quickly to bed, and went to sleep in the dark alone, for he wanted to be a brave little bear. But after he had been sleeping a while, he talked in his sleep and said, "I am always going to mind my papa." Then he felt of his ear and m-o-a-n-e-d. Can you guess what the little Cub Bear was dreaming about?

The next morning the little Cub Bear wakened very early, and as soon as he had rubbed his eyes, he wondered if any of the animals would come that day. He listened, the Circus Bear listened, and Susie Bear listened. Pretty soon they heard something coming up the path, and little Cub Bear rushed to the mouth of the den to see what it was, and he said:

"I see a very strange animal coming up the path. It has the most beautiful fur I ever saw, ever so much finer than bear's fur, and the animal looks something like Mr. Badger, only its fur is all one color, and it has the funniest tail, almost as big as a shovel, flat and broad."

Just then the owl saw the animal and said, "Who-o-o? who-o-o?"

But the animal didn't answer at all, except he gave two slaps with his broad flat tail on the ground.

And the Circus Bear said, "I know who that is. That is Mr. Beaver. Ask him to come in."

Mr. Beaver came to the door, and the little Cub Bear said very politely, "Come in, Mr. Beaver."

The beaver came in, and the little Cub Bear said, "We are going to try to build a house big enough for all the animals, so if they come to see us we will have a place for them to stay. Can you help us?"

And the beaver said, "I will be very glad to, because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus."

The little Cub Bear said, "What can you do?"

And the beaver said, "I can build dams across streams so as to make beautiful lakes, such as they have in parks, and I can build a nice, round house in the lake to live in and large enough for a little bear to live in, if he can only get inside without getting wet."

And the Cub Bear said, "That would be fine, because we could have a park for the animals to play in, and some of the animals would rather live in the water, anyway, than live in a cave."

So the beaver said, "All right; I will make you a dam and a beautiful lake."

So they all went down to the stream, and the beaver went up to a tree, and he commenced to bite it. He bit, and he bit, and he bit, and the chips just flew, and he bit, and he bit, and he bit, and the chips just flew, and the first thing they knew, the tree fell over. Then he went to another tree, not a very large tree, only about so thick (three inches). Then he went to another tree, and he bit, and he bit, and bit, and the first thing they knew, that tree fell over. So he kept on until he had cut down a great many trees, and then he took them down and put them in the stream, and he put in leaves; and then the water began to rise higher and higher, and the beaver kept piling in and piling in leaves and trees, and soon he had a high dam clear across the stream. The next morning when they looked, the water had filled up above the dam and made a beautiful lake. Soon the beaver went to work, and made a house out of mud. He used his fore feet like hands, walking on his hind feet, and he used his flat tail to make a beautiful mud house, big enough to live in himself, and big enough for little Cub Bear to get in, if he could only get in without getting wet. Could you make so nice a mud house?

And the little Cub Bear said, "Thank you, Mr. Beaver," very politely. "I am very glad my brother was good to Mr. Beaver in the circus."

As soon as they had seen the dam built by the beaver, all of the animals began to work again as hard as they could work to make the cave larger, because it was much too small for the animals that were already there, and the elephant could not get in at all.

At night they were all very tired, but as soon as the Papa Bear sat down, the little Cub Bear ran over and got as close as he could to his papa and asked him to tell another story about the "Little-One-Eared-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa." So although he was very tired, the Papa Bear began the story of:

THE "ONE-EARED-BEAR-THAT-WOULD-NOT MIND-HIS-PAPA"

"You remember that the little bear had promised that he would not go into the saw-mill at all; but one day the little One-Eared-Bear was very lonesome. He wanted to go into the mill, but he remembered that his papa had told him again, that very morning, that he must be sure to keep away from the saw-mill. He thought a while, and then he said to himself, 'Papa didn't tell me to keep out of the planing-mill. I think that I will go in there.'

"Now the planing-mill was just as bad a place for little bears as the saw-mill itself, and the little One-Eared-Bear knew this, but you see he wanted to go in, and so he went in any way. What do you suppose happened to the One-Eared-Bear this time?

"He played for a while, and had a very fine time. He enjoyed it so much that he said he would come again; he liked to see the wheels go round and round with a whiz-z-z-z-z-z and whir-r-r-r. Just then the little One-Eared-Bear saw a funny machine with a thing buzzing around that looked like a roller such as a cook uses to roll out cookies with.

"The little bear said, 'I want to feel the wind that must be made by this roller going so fast, but I'll not get close enough to touch the thing, for I might get hurt, and I don't want to get hurt again.'

"So the little One-Eared-Bear reached out his paw very carefully, closer and closer. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Such howling and squealing you never heard. What do you think had happened? The little One-Eared-Bear had touched the sharp knives or planes that whirl round and round in a planer. You see they go around so fast that you can not see them at all, for they look just like a solid roller. Well, the poor little One-Eared-Bear's foot was bleeding and looked terrible.

"The Papa Bear heard the little One-Eared-Bear's howling, and ran in to the mill as fast as he could, and there he saw that the little one had lost all the toes of one foot. The Papa Bear licked the little one's foot, and did everything that he could to make his little bear feel better, but he could not put back those poor little toes. The little One-Eared-Bear was very, very sorry, too. Once he whimpered, and told his papa that he was ever so sorry that he had not done as his papa had told him to do, and said that he would never, never again do anything that his papa told him not to do. But that didn't make his toes grow again.

"The little One-Eared-Bear went to bed that night, but he didn't sleep very well, because his foot hurt him so much. After a long while the foot healed, so that the little bear could walk around, but he always limped as long as he lived. He said that he could never again forget to do as his papa told him to do, because every step that he took he remembered that foot, and how he had lost all his toes by not doing as his papa told him. After that they didn't call the little bear the little One-Eared-Bear any more. They always called him—what do you suppose? The Club-foot Bear."

When the little Cub Bear's papa had finished telling the story of the little One-Eared-Bear, the little Cub Bear said, "I think that it is best to do what papa says."

And the Papa Bear said, "That's right, dear little cub. Now run back into the cave and go to sleep."

The little Cub Bear ran quickly to the back part of the cave, where it was all dark, and went to bed on some roots and brush and was soon asleep. When he was fast asleep, he talked in his sleep and said, "I am always going to do what my papa tells me to do." And then he felt of one of his paws and moaned, m-o-a-n-e-d, a sad little moan. Can you guess what the little Cub Bear was dreaming about?

The next morning the beaver and the owl and the monkey were talking together, and the beaver said:

"I am going down to live in that beautiful mud house that I made yesterday in the lake. The house has several rooms inside, and the door is under the water. I can swim out there, and then dive under the water and come up inside the house. No one could find me in there. When I am swimming around in the lake, or working on the dam, if I see any one coming, I will jump into the water and hit the water two great slaps with my tail."

And the monkey said, "Yes, I know how that sounds. That sounds just like a gun."

The owl said as soon as he saw any one coming he would say, "Who-o-o? who-o-o?"

And the monkey said that he thought he would go out every morning and see if he couldn't find some of the animals and bring them up to the cave, and see if they would like to live there in the cave, if it could be made big enough for them.

So the beaver went down to the dam to work, and the monkey went out to see if he could find any of the animals, and the old owl flew up into the tree, and sat out on the end of a dead limb and waited.

Before very long the little Cub Bear heard, "Bang! Bang!" He knew the beaver had seen some animal coming, and had struck the water with his tail, so he ran to the mouth of the cave to see what it was. Soon he heard a rustling noise and looked down the path.

"I see a large animal coming," he said. "He looks very fierce. He is as large as a large bear, but he is yellow all over, and has long, shaggy hair all over his head, and beautiful, large eyes, and a long tail, with a tassel on the end of it."

Just then the owl saw this animal and said, "Who-o-o? who-o-o?"

The animal opened his mouth and gave the most awful, "Roar!! Roar!! Roar!!! Roar!!!!" you ever heard. It frightened the little Cub Bear so that he didn't stop to hear what the Circus Bear said, or find out what kind of an animal it was at all, but he ran clear back in the very back of the cave, into Jenny's room, and there he waited, almost frightened to death.

As soon as the little Cub Bear got over his fright, he noticed the air blowing through a crack. It seemed to come right out of the mountain. He did not understand, and thought he would ask his brother about it. Just then the Circus Bear said, "Come out, come out, little Cub Bear; don't be afraid; the animal is a lion, and he won't hurt you, because he is a tame lion, and is a very good friend of mine."

So the little Cub Bear came out and went to the mouth of the cave, just in time to meet the lion and the monkey, and he said very politely, "Come in, Mr. Lion." And the lion came in, and the little Cub Bear said, "We are going to try to build a house big enough for all the animals, so if they come to see us, we will have a place for them to stay. Can you help us?"

And the lion said, "I would be very glad to help you if I could, because your brother was very good to me when we were in the circus."

And little Cub Bear said, "What can you do?"

And the lion said, "I don't know. I never built a house, because I always lived in the jungle, where there are lots of trees and grass, and we found our houses already built, just like your den. But I will do anything you want me to. I can jump ever so far."

And the little Cub Bear said, "That is nice. Let's see how far you can jump."

Then the Papa Bear and the Mamma Bear, and the little Cub Bear, and the monkey all went out to see how far the lion could jump. The owl flapped his great wings and said, "To-whit! To-whit! To-whit!"

The lion crept away, then he said:

"Now, I will show you how I catch things to eat."

And he pointed to a log of wood ten or fifteen feet away, and he said, "I will show you what I would do if that log were a deer."

The lion crouched and lay as still as a little mouse, and the bears were all still, waiting to see what the lion would do. There was not a sound in the forest. Suddenly, little Cub Bear saw a yellow flash through the air and heard a thud. Then he looked at the log of wood, and there was the lion on the log with his claws stuck into it.

And the little Cub Bear said, "My! I am glad I am not a deer, and that the lion does not want me for his dinner."

The animals worked all morning, trying to make the cave larger, but the Papa Bear went off with little Susie Bear to see what they could find to eat. When dinner time came, the animals all rested for a while.

As they were sitting there talking, little Cub Bear said to the lion, "Mr. Lion, I wish you would tell me a story about the most narrow escape you ever had in your life."

THE LION'S STORY OF HIS MOST NARROW ESCAPE

"Well," said the lion, "you know I used to live in Africa, and used to eat deer and other animals. You remember I showed you this morning how I would catch deer?

"Well, one night it was very dark, and I climbed up on a bank, and there I waited. I could not hear a sound. Everything was just as still as could be. Suddenly, a long way off, I heard a sound as if an animal was moving. Below the bank there was a path that the animals took when they went to get water, and it seemed to me that this animal was coming along the path, and would soon be right under the place where I was waiting. I watched and watched, and the animal came nearer and nearer and nearer; but it was very dark, and I couldn't see a thing, and I was very sure, any way, that it was a deer, and that I could have him for my supper. The animal came nearer and nearer, and, finally, I gave a great leap; and what do you suppose I landed upon? The back of a rhinoceros.

"You know a rhinoceros has a skin almost as hard as iron, and right on the end of his nose two horns, very sharp. If I had landed on those horns, it surely would have killed me. The rhinoceros was terribly frightened, and so was I. He snorted and roared almost like a locomotive. I tried to dig my claws into his back, but I couldn't get through his tough hide at all. It was just like trying to scratch a locomotive. He jumped and rolled over and hurt my foot, and I found I couldn't move, because he had one of his great feet on my claws."

Then the lion pointed to his claw and showed how it was all bent and twisted and scarred, and said, "That is where the rhinoceros stepped on my foot.

"Finally the rhinoceros grew so angry that he put his tongue out. I reached up and bit a hole clear through his tongue, and then he ran away as fast as he could, and I ran away as fast as I could, but I had to run on three feet. And that is the end of my story."

The little Cub Bear looked at the lion, then he looked at the lion's lame foot, and then he scratched his head and said, "I think it is a good plan to 'look before you leap.'"

And the lion said, "I wish somebody had told me that a long time ago."

After the lion had finished his story, and the animals had eaten their dinner, they commenced to work again, and worked all afternoon. Late that night the Papa Bear came home with a lot of strawberries that he had found, and all of the bears had a fine supper. The elephant ate hay and grass and the other animals found something they liked to eat.

After the lion had finished the story, the little Cub Bear commenced to tease his papa for a story about the "Little-Club-Foot-Bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa," but the Papa Bear said that he was tired of telling stories about the "Little-bear-that-would-not-mind-his-papa," but would tell a story about a club-foot grizzly bear, if the little Cub Bear wanted to hear it. The little Cub Bear said that he did, and snuggled up as close as he could to his papa, for grizzly bears are as large as four or five grown-up brown bears all put together, and they have great teeth and claws. They like to eat little pigs, and little calves, and such things instead of berries and honey. When the little Cub Bear had snuggled up as close to his papa as he could the Papa Bear commenced.

THE TRUE STORY OF HOW TEN MEN DID NOT KILL CLUB-FOOT

"When I was a little cub bear, long before I met your mother, and long before you were born, I lived in a small cave near a store, where men used to meet and talk about the bears that they had killed, and mountain lions that they had seen, and all sorts of stories of that kind. Well, I used to come down in the dark sometimes, and put my ear up to the crack between the logs, and listen to what the men said.

"One evening, while the men were telling stories, one of them said, 'Did you ever hear of the big grizzly, called Club-Foot?'

"And all the men said that they had heard of Club-Foot, except one of the men that had not lived there very long. He said that he had never heard of this grizzly. The men told this newcomer that Club-Foot was a very large bear, one of the largest that had ever been seen. The men said that a great many men had tried to kill this giant grizzly, because he would kill their little pigs and their little calves and colts. Then, too, they wanted to get his great skin to make a carriage robe. But they had never been able to get the bear. For even if they hit him with bullets from their guns, it did not seem to hurt him much, but made him very angry. This grizzly, instead of running away from a man with a gun, would run right up to him and knock the gun out of his hand. No one could kill this bear.

"They said that the bear lived in the San Bernardino Mountains, and that his great tracks had often been seen, and that all of his toes were missing from one foot. That was the reason they called him 'Club-Foot.' Probably when he was a little bear he had been caught in a trap and lost his toes. They said that the bear made regular trips from Mount San Bernardino to the Antelope Valley, sixty miles away. He had made the trips so often, that he had made a sort of trail through the mountains. This trail, the men said, was only a mile or so back of the store.

"While the men were talking, another man came in and said, 'Old Club-Foot has started from his den, in the side of Mount San Bernardino, and is coming this way. He ought to be along here some time to-night.'

"Then one of the men that they called 'Alex' said, 'It is a fine moonlight night to-night. Let's all get our guns and go up to the old grizzly's trail, and see if we can't kill him. There is a pig-pen right near the trail, with little pigs in it, so that the grizzly will be sure to stop there long enough for us to shoot him.'