“come on out and have some fun!” called tommie kat, the little kitten boy, to neddie stubtail, the little bear chap, one afternoon when all the animal children had come home from school. “come on out, neddie!”
neddie had just entered the cave-house, where he lived with his mamma and papa and the rest of the bear folk. neddie tossed his books into one corner, his hat into another and then he called out:
“oh, i’m hungry, i want something to eat!”
“never mind about eating,” said tommie kat, “come on have some fun.”
“no, i must eat!” cried neddie, and he rushed out toward the kitchen.
well, as it happened, just then aunt piffy, the fat lady bear who lived with mrs. stubtail, being her sister, in fact; aunt piffy, as it happened, just then, was coming in from the kitchen with a large plate of doughnuts she had just baked.
42and, of course, neddie, being in such a hurry, ran right into aunt piffy, doughnuts, plate and all, and then——
oh dear! such a time as there was!
aunt piffy suddenly sat down, and it is a mercy she didn’t sit on neddie, for if she had there would have been quite a sad happening, as aunt piffy was very large and stout. and the plate fell from her paws, and broke into twelve pieces, or maybe thirteen, for all i know, and the doughnuts rolled all over the floor, one even bumping down the cellar stairs.
“oh, dear! what happened?” gasped aunt piffy, and she could hardly breathe, she was so excited.
“i—i guess i happened,” said neddie, looking all around at the scattered doughnuts. “but i—i didn’t mean to,” he added. “i’ll help pick up the cakes.”
“first, if you please, help me up,” said aunt piffy, puffing and blowing to get her breath.
“i’ll help you!” exclaimed tommie kat, for he had heard, from out on the porch of neddie’s cave-house, the noise of the fall and had come in see what had caused it.
so tommie and neddie helped aunt piffy get up on her hind paws, and then neddie began gathering up the spilled cakes.
43“may i help at that, too?” asked tommie, and aunt piffy answered:
“i should be glad to have you. and you may have a doughnut, tommie.”
“how about me?” asked neddie, thinking perhaps he did not deserve one for having been in such a hurry as to make his aunt piffy tumble down.
“oh, well; yes, i guess you may have one also,” said the bear lady. by this time she had her breath again and soon neddie and tommie had picked up the doughnuts. they each kept one and ate them as they went out to play.
but they had not been out long before mrs. stubtail called to her little bear boy:
“neddie, come right in here and pick up your things! you have scattered your books all over, and your school cap is on the floor.”
“oh, ma, i don’t want to!” exclaimed neddie; but his mamma made him, because it is not good for boys to be careless and scatter things all over the room.
then neddie could play, and he and tommie had lots of fun. they frisked about in the woods, for it was cold and jumping about made them warm. then tommie said:
“oh, let’s go over and see uncle wiggily, the rabbit gentleman.”
44“all right, we will,” spoke neddie. “and i’ll ask him if he has yet made up his mind about giving his old automobile to uncle wigwag.”
so the kitten boy and the little bear chap went over to the hollow stump where the old gentleman rabbit lived, but he was not at home, having gone for a ride with grandfather goosey gander, the duck gentleman.
“well, let’s take a walk in the woods and see if an adventure will happen to us,” suggested tommie.
“all right,” agreed neddie, and off they went. they had not gone far before they met dickie chip-chip, the sparrow boy, flying through the air, and dickie said:
“oh, tommie kat, your mamma is looking all over for you. she wants you to go to the store.”
“then i’d better go home,” said tommie, and off he ran with his tail up in the air like a fishing pole. that left neddie all alone, for dickie chip chip could not stay to play with him.
“never mind,” thought neddie, “i’ll look for an adventure by myself.”
he went on and on, and pretty soon he came to a big hole in the ground. he was looking down in it, thinking perhaps some new bear might live there, when, all of a sudden, up from the hole 45was poked a long nose, and then neddie saw a big mouth, filled with shining white teeth, and a voice cried:
“ah, ha! now i have you!” and the first thing neddie knew the skillery-scalery alligator, with the humps on his tail, had grabbed him by the back of his neck.
“oh, let me go! let me go!” cried neddie.
“no, i’ll not!” said the alligator, speaking in a thick voice, like cold potatoes, for you see he had hold of neddie by his teeth, and he could not talk very well, that alligator couldn’t.
neddie wiggled this way and that and tried to get loose. it did not hurt him very much, for there was thick fur on the back of his neck, and the alligator’s teeth did not go through. it was just like when the mamma cat carries her little kittens, you know, in her mouth by the backs of their necks. only you must not carry the kittens that way unless papa or mamma shows you how, for you might choke them. and i know you wouldn’t do that for the world.
anyhow, there the alligator had hold of neddie by the loose skin at the back of the little boy bear’s neck, and the skillery-scalery creature was trying to drag neddie down into the hole in the ground.
“let me go! let me go!” begged neddie.
46“nope! nope!” said the ’gator, pulling harder than ever.
neddie braced with his claws in the dirt, but, in spite of this, he was being dragged along, for the alligator was bigger and stronger than the bear boy.
neddie was almost down in the hole and he was wishing he had not gone off alone to look for an adventure, when right behind him, he heard a large bear growling. at first he hoped it was his papa or uncle wigwag, the joking bear, or even mr. whitewash, the polar bear gentleman, who had come to save him. but when he looked he saw it was a strange man-bear.
however, that strange man-bear was very kind to neddie. rushing up to the alligator, the big bear just tickled him on his thick and scaly hide with his sharp claws, and that ’gator was so tickled, and he had to laugh so hard, that he let neddie go.
“quick now!” cried the big bear, “jump out of the way, little bear boy!”
and you may be sure neddie got out of the hole and the skillery-scalery alligator, still laughing at being tickled, went and hid in the woods and did not come out for a day and a half.
then neddie looked at the bear gentleman who had saved him. this bear was very nice and 47kind-looking, only he had an iron ring in his nose, and fastened to the ring was a long chain.
“what is that for?” asked neddie, after he had gotten over being frightened.
“that is so i will not get lost,” said the other. “you see i am a tame bear, and do tricks, and my master has this ring in my nose, and leads me around by it so i will not go away. and he feeds me buns and popcorn. oh, it’s nice to be a trained bear!”
“a trained bear, eh?” said neddie. “are you like a train of cars that i got for christmas?”
“no, i am trained to do tricks,” said the tame bear. “see, i will show you,” and he stood on his head and turned a somersault, and then waltzed around in a circle. “would you not like to learn to do those things?” he asked neddie.
“maybe,” said the little bear boy, who was not quite sure.
“then come with me,” invited the tame bear.
but just then there was a rustling in the bushes and out came a real man with a long pole and a brass horn. and he took hold of the tame bear’s nose chain and looked at neddie, the man did. and as neddie had been taught to be always afraid of men, the bear boy ran home through the 48woods as fast as he could, and told all that had happened to him.
“it was a narrow escape for you,” said his papa. then supper was ready and neddie and beckie, his sister, ate as much as was good for them, and not a bit more, i do assure you.
and in the next story, if the raisins in the rice pudding don’t all hop out and leave it as full of holes as a swiss cheese sandwich, i’ll tell you about the little stubtails running away.
