"I certainly would like to hear it," your Aunt Amy said when Mrs. Mouser
Cat ceased speaking, as if waiting for some such permission.
"Well, in the first place you must understand that there was once an
Elephant and a Bee that were the very best of friends," Mrs. Mouser Cat
said as she curled her tail around her fore paws to prevent them from
being chilled by the draft. "One day the Elephant had walked a long
distance, and thought he would sit down to rest for a little while. Now
it seems the Bee had been flying around there, and he had got tired too,
so he laid down on the grass and went to sleep.
"Now what do you think? When Mr. Elephant sat down he happened to hit
Mr. Bee's hind foot, and then there was a time! Mr. Bee talked
disgracefully, so it is said, to Mr. Elephant, and you would have
thought they never had been friends; but Mr. Elephant didn't answer him
back, because he was a peaceable kind of an animal, and knew that the
least said is the soonest mended.
"When Mr. Bee got through scolding, they went on their journey again. I
don't know where they were traveling, but that doesn't make any
difference in the story. Off they started, and after a while it seemed
as if Mr. Bee got to feeling better, and Mr. Elephant said:
"'I'm glad to see that you've got over being cross, for it was all an
accident, my hitting your foot.'
"'Oh yes,' Mr. Bee answered, as if he intended to be friendly again.
'We'll try to forget all about it. Have you seen anything of my collars
and cuffs since we started?'
"'Why, no,' replied Mr. Elephant. 'Have you lost them?'
"'I haven't seen them since we left home, and I believe they must be in
your trunk.'
"'I think not,' Mr. Elephant said; 'but you can go in and look for them,
if you choose.'
"Now Mr. Bee hadn't got over his cross fit a little bit, and he was only
waiting for a chance to pay Mr. Elephant back. Well, he crawled into the
trunk just as far as he could get, and then he gave poor Mr. Elephant
the very hardest sting you ever dreamed about.
[Illustration: When Mr. Elephant Sneezed.]
"'Oh me, oh my!' Mr. Elephant howled. 'What a wicked little thing you
are! I'll fix you for that!' and then he hunched himself together, and
gave the biggest kind of a big sneeze. Now if you never saw anything of
the kind, you can't have an idea what a commotion it made when Mr.
Elephant did that, and, bless your heart, that was the last of Mr. Bee.
I don't know what became of him, and neither does anybody else. He must
have been dashed to pieces in the terrible wind that was raised, and it
served him good and right, too, for he deserved it just as much as ever
Mr. Bear did when he got so worn out by Mr. Man's boy Tommy."