one morning, bright and early, papa no-tail, the frog gentleman, started for the wallpaper factory where he worked at making patterns on the paper by dipping his feet in the different colored inks and jumping up and down. and when he got there he saw, standing outside the factory, the man who made the engines go, and this man said:
“there is no work to-day for you, mr. no-tail.”
“ah ha! what is the matter?” asked bully’s papa.
“that bad pelican bird came again in the night and chewed up all the ink,” said the engine man. “so you may have a vacation until we get some more ink.”
“this is very unexpected—very,” spoke papa no-tail. “but i will enjoy myself. i’ll go take a nice long hop, and perhaps i will see something i can bring home to bully and bawly.” so off he started, and he had no more idea what was going to happen to him than you have what you’re going to get for next christmas.
papa no-tail was hopping along, thinking what a fine day it was when, all of a sudden, he came to a place in the woods where there were some nice flowers.
“ha! i will take these home to my wife,” thought mr. no-tail, as he picked the pretty blossoms. then he hopped on some more, and he came to a place where there were some nice round stones, as white as milk.
“ah! i will take these home for bully and bawly to play marbles with,” said the frog papa. then he hopped on a little farther and he came to a place in the woods where was growing a nice big stick with a crooked handle.
“ho! i will take that home to grandpa croaker for a cane that he can use when he gets tired of carrying the one with the pink paint on it,” spoke mr. no-tail, and he pulled up the cane-stick, and went on with that and the flowers and the round white stones, as white as molasses—oh, there i go again! i mean milk, of course.
well, it was still quite early, and as he hopped along through the woods papa no-tail heard the school bell ring to call the boy and girl animals to their classes.
“i hope bully and bawly are not late,” thought their father. “when one goes to school one must be on time, and always try to have one’s lessons.” still he felt pretty sure that his two little boys were on time, for they were usually very good.
on hopped mr. no-tail, wishing he could see the bad pelican bird, and make him give up the wallpaper-printing ink, when all of a sudden, as quickly as you can tie your shoe lace, or your hair ribbon, papa no-tail heard a great crashing in the bushes, and then he heard a growling and then presto-changeo! out popped nannie goat, and after her came running a black, savage bear! oh, he was a most unpleasant fellow, that bear was, with a long, red tongue, and long, sharp, white teeth, and long claws, bigger than a cat’s claws, and he had shaggy fur like an automobile coat.
“oh! oh! oh! stop! stop! stop! don’t catch me! don’t catch me! don’t catch me!” cried nannie, the goat girl, running on and crashing through the bushes. but the bear never minded. on he came, right after nannie, for he wanted to catch and eat her. you see he used to be in a cage in a big animal park, but he got loose and he was now very hungry, for no one had fed him in some time.
well, papa no-tail was so surprised that, for a moment, he didn’t know what to do. he just sat still under a big cabbage leaf, and looked at the bear chasing after nannie.
“oh, will no one save me?” cried the poor little goat girl. “will no one save me from this savage bear?”
“no; no one will save you,” answered the shaggy creature, as he cleaned his white teeth with his red tongue for a brush. “i am going to eat you up.”
“no, you are not!” cried papa no-tail, boldly.
“ha! who says i am not going to eat her?” asked the bear, surly-like.
“i do!” went on papa no-tail, hopping a bit nearer. “you shall never eat her as long as i am alive!”
“and who are you, if i may be so bold as to ask,” went on the bear, stopping so he could laugh.
“i am the brave mr. no-tail, who works in the wallpaper factory, but i can’t work to-day as the bad pelican bird took the ink,” replied bully’s and bawly’s papa.
“oh, fiddlesticks!” cried the bear, real impolite-like. “now, just for that i will eat you both!” he made a rush for nannie, but with a scream she gave a big jump, and then something terrible happened. for she jumped right into a sand bank, which she didn’t notice, and there she stuck fast by her horns, which jabbed right into the hard sand and dirt. there she was held fast, and the bear, seeing her, called out:
“now i can get you without any trouble. you can’t get away from me, so i’ll just eat this frog gentleman first.”
oh, but that bear was savage, and hungry, and several other kinds of unpleasant things. he made a big jump for the frog, but what do you think bully’s papa did? why he took the bunch of flowers, and he tickled that bear so tickily-ickly under the chin, that the bear first sneezed, and then he laughed and as papa no-tail kept on tickling him, that bear just had to sit down and laugh and sneeze at the same time, and he couldn’t chase even a snail.
“now for the next act!” bravely cried mr. no-tail, and with that he took the stick he intended for grandpa croaker’s cane, and put it under the bear’s legs, and he twisted the stick, papa no-tail did, and the first thing that bear knew he had been tripped up and turned over just like a pancake, and he fell on his nose and bumped it real hard.
then, before he could get up, papa no-tail pelted him with the round stones as white as milk, and the bear thought it was snowing and hailing, and he was as frightened as anything, and as soon as he could get up, away he ran through the woods, crying big, salty bear tears.
“oh, i’m so glad you drove that bear away! you are very brave, mr. no-tail,” said nannie goat. “but how am i to get loose in time to get to school without being late?” for she was still fast by her horns in the sand bank.
“never fear, leave it to me,” said papa no-tail. so nannie never feared, and papa no-tail tried to pull her horns out of the sand bank, but he couldn’t, because the ground was too hard. so what did he do but go to the pond, and get some water in his hat, and he threw the water on the sand, and made it soft, like mud pies, and then nannie could pull out her own horns.
after thanking mr. no-tail she ran on to school, and got there just as the last bell rang, and wasn’t late. and the teacher and all the pupils were very much surprised when nannie told them what had happened. bully and bawly were afraid the bear might come back and hurt their papa, but nothing like that happened i’m glad to say.
now in case the tea kettle doesn’t sing a funny song and waken the white rabbit with the pink eyes that’s in a cage out in our yard, i’ll tell you to-morrow night about mamma no-tail and nellie chip-chip.
